Part 2.
As I got close to the start line, I finished getting ready to run. Let
me tell you, that an SFI 20 fire suit, Funny Car SFI 15 booties, a head
sock, a helmet and Funny car drivers gloves in 100+ degree heat is very
hot! I nearly had a meltdown, lol. When we get to the line, the starter
takes a pull on the straps, asks if you are ready and when the course is
clear, tells you to start it up. Turn the fuel on, hit the starter,
burbles to life. Turn on the radiator pump and the water transfer pump.
All the gauges look good. As the waves me off, I pulled the tranny shift
down into the 1,2,3 gear set without overdrive. Still leary about that
after last year, lol. Off I go. Course is rough. Motor pulls like a son
of a gun! I made it to about 5300 rpm very quickly in 3rd gear which is
over 180 mph. Ran through the 2 to 2 1/4 mile trap at 184 and the rpm
dropped just abit to about 5100 rpm. This was around 175 mph and that
held through the 3rd mile.. As soon as I hit mile three marker, I
pulled the chute. Man, hits pretty hard. 175 to about 40 mph in about
3/8s of a mile. Turned out to the return road. Pulled all of that hot
fire suit off and gathered up the chute and put it into the car. Tow is
there now. We took the car to impound because at that time there was no
record for the class I was in. Did all the things necessary to run next
morning. Grabbed the laptop and headed to the motel where I printed out
all the data. It showed the high boost, high injector duty cycles, etc.
And the little dip in rpm. I thought we had a record even if it would
hold up for only a day or 2. Got up next morning for the return record
run. Pulled down to the start and waited our turn as there were 80 cars
and bikes that had qualified to make record runs. We set up like before
and started exactly the same....except the car simply would not run and
we turned out before we got to the 3 mile marker. No record for us. Back
to the pits where we started looking for problems. Pulled the plugs and
they were very sooty and showed evidence of being very very rich.
Removed the throttle body top hat where boost air comes in and there was
a bad gasket. big piece of it missing. Went through the motor. Silicone
so I don't think it hurt anything. Put in 1/8 inch of paper gaskets that
we made on the sport, added some high temp silicone pucky and put it all
back in place. Let all that set up over night. Next day, which was
Wednesday by now, we tried again. This time, top speed was only 118 mph,
so I gave up and turned out. Didn't even have to pull the chute... 4
runs and we were done. But what fun!
Roger Davis came by a couple of times with his sound recording apparatus
and chatted. Then we met an Australian man who had brought his red tiger
through the salt water and joined us in our pit! Very nice gentleman
and I have his name somewhere.... Absolutley gorgeous Tiger, Red. We
have pictures of it and our car together. I plan on making a cd of every
picture taken in the construction and running of this car, so hang with
me to see the pictures. Some are made by really good photogs (not me, lol).
We had a great time except for the miserable heat. I wish I had met more
of you there but it was an iffy meet to begin with. Right now, I am in
the throes of trying to find out what went wrong and getting salt off of
everything. There is a LOT of salt on everything! If I can get the
trouble shooting done and fix a few things, then we will go to World of
Speed starting on the 11th of September. But I do have a lot to get done
before then. Keep posted!
And thanks to each and everyone of you for your support and well wishes.
This is a Team Beam effort and you are all part of it!
mayf
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