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Bonneville(no lbc)

To: <spridgets@autox.team.net>
Subject: Bonneville(no lbc)
Date: Mon, 20 Nov 2000 03:24:32 -0600
A little about Bonneville... First for the new folks... you need to
understand I am a Healey Geek First foremost and always.... When I read the
Books on Healey's the one thing that always got tattered was the pages on
Bonneville... Landspeed racing is unlike any other form of motorsports...
it's the LAST true vestage of the amatuer racing.... Period.... Money won't
buy you a record there...( thou I understand It helps ) People at Bonneville
will loan you the Tires off thier car if you are trying to break a
record.... even if it's thier record!!!  We don't win money the only thing
you win is the respect of your peers and Maybe if your lucky you get into
the  Two club...

First off there are 4 sites in the US that you can run a Land Speed car...
Bonneville Salt Flats Utah.... East Coast Timing association NC.... El
Mirage Ca... and Muroc Ca... each of these has different course lengths from
1mile to the Long Course at Bonneville which is 5 miles...

Okay Bonneville itself is a VERY pretty Place.. the sun rises and sunsets
are awesome.... you get there and drive out to the pits which are set up in
the middle of nowhere.. it's so flat you can see the curvature of the
earth...

They have Two Courses... a 3 mile one for the slower cars and then the 5
mile course for the fast ones... to qualify for the long course you have to
run 175 in the second mile of the short course..( we did this in 99)

After a trip to tech and going through the Pit set up you tow the car 3
miles down to the starting line and wait your turn at the course... Pre heat
the car.... and move up to the starting line....Bob Higbee walks up to you
and checks your belts....( very VERY tight ) makes sure your  fire systems
are armed and checks the car over.... tells you to fire it up.... and for
the next few moments.... you own the Bonneville salt flats... it's Your
Birthday cake...

As we push the car off the line rev it up to around 7 grand and let the
Triple disc Tilton clutch out... it grabs and spins the 5" wide rear
tires... hopefully it spins them real hard or the damn thing stalls and you
get to inch out on the motor smoking the clutch and the tires...( and feel
like a FOOL as everyone is watching ) Once you get it rolling the noise goes
away and you concentrate on the tach...second and third come pretty
quick..... wait for the shift light.... at 8 grand you pop it in fourth and
wait again....only now your watching the course... long black line with
little tiny mile markers coming out of the horizon .... I usually pass the
one mile marker in 4th gear.... as the car builds up speed in fourth you
have to wait until it's above peak torque to hit the button.... but then you
hit the Nitrous and it's like a whole new driving experience.... just take
it easy and hold the wheel lightly... corraling the car to the black
line....As long as the car is picking up speed it is a Smooth ride... but if
you hit terminal velocity and quit accelerating the car starts to float
around a bit....( very uncomfortable at 226mph ).... after all the work it's
just a time to sit there an wait.... you have about 60 full seconds of Wide
open throttle before the 15 lb bottle of nitrous is empty... and the 5 mile
marker blows past... then you VERY slowly roll out of the throttle and grab
the red handle for the Parachute... car gets real violent when the chute
snatches you but the feel of deceleration is wonderful trust me going Two
bills is alot more fun to talk about then Do....

as you roll to a stop off the course the safety crew arrives and hands you
the time slip.... they measure the average speed through each of the last 3
miles and speed that you exited the 5 mile marker.... at this point if you
set a record you have to go to the Impound area and then make a second run
the next morning .... then the average of those two runs is the new
record....

all the other courses you set the record with one pass... Bonneville has a
tradition of averaging two passes...If you did your homework and everything
is right you get into the Two Club..... In my case.... I just haven't put it
all together twice.... I will ... someday.... It's always been my goal to
join Donald Healey in the Bonneville Two Club... and I want to do it in a
Healey.... but for now I am using the Camaro as a Learning Tool to get all
the motors and knowledge nessesary to make the Bugeye a safe car....

Well That is enough for now.. trust me when I say it's been one of the years
of my life that I will tell my grand children about.... what a great time...
wonderful folks... and chasing my dreams.... how can you beat that...

Keith Turk ( 100.. bugeye... to many box sprites... and that stupid
Camaro)( last time slip read 228.305 at the 3 mile marker... and the
sputtering of the motor told me not to continue... bummer oh well NEXT
year )

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