El Mirage November 2017 meet

[RichFox]

They went 183 on Saturday on Bob's first pass. On Sunday Bob and Don decided to put in the Bonneville gears to attempt to reduce the tire spin. Seemed to work. He went 283 on Sunday.

[NathanStewart]

decided to put in the Bonneville gears to attempt to reduce the tire spin.

But I thought the course was good?

Guys, you have to understand how the rookie program works.  Everyone regardless of their previous experience or SCTA license level MUST make a rookie run if you've never driven at El Mirage before.  99% of the time, the rookie run will be limited to 150 mph.  In rare and extreme cases, like when a 400 mph car shows up, you'll see the min speed bumped up.  Unless you show up with a car that seriously struggles with going that slow, you can expect to make a sub-150 pass your first time out, just like everyone else has had to do.  El Mirage is nothing like Bonneville and if you think you're just going to go out there and go for it the first time down the track, you're sorely mistaken.

In most cases, a new driver must license up.  SCTA licenses apply to both El Mirage and Bonnevile so if you already have an SCTA license, you can then run to your license level after successfully completing a good rookie run.  When I did the rookie program, I'd let people "graduate" out of rookie status early if they were running close to their records.  In the few years I did it, none I graduated early actually ever set their record - it's not as easy as one would like to think. Either way, this is at the discretion of the rookie coordinator and race director and is handled on a case by case basis. 

But like I said before, except for being flat and not paved, there's very little in common between El Mirage and Bonneville.  Two very different track surfaces. You've got all the time in the world to slow down after a run at Bonneville.  That is certainly not the case at El Mirage.  I was on the far end of the track when Bob went 283 and he used up every last foot of the shut down area getting the car stopped.  The last thing you want is to be Mr Hot Shoe and do something stupid like blow out the back door otherwise that'll likely be your last pass at El Mirage.

[NathanStewart]

I'm not so sure the course was that good for some of us.

Saturday -- 184 @ 6400 RPM
Sunday -- 183 @ 7100 RPM

Something slippery there.  The Sunday run should have been in the 90s.

Same basic set-up for 15 years including when it went 194 last year.

Add more weight?  Then you gotta accelerate it, too.  Be a bigger problem if we didn't already have the record.

Yep, it's super mushy in the middle.  Decent in the beginning, pretty good at the end and total mush in the middle.  We did some round-a-bout math knowing our hp, current weight, wheel slip and best achieved speeds and figured that the track CF is only 66% of what it was last year.  We're just under 4000lbs now and calc'd that we'd have to be up at 5200lbs in order to get the traction we had last year.  No physical way to make the car that heavy plus that much weight would seriously slow us down. 

Last year went 216 on a 217 record.  Same power this year plus 250lbs of added weight netted a best speed of only 208.  I didn't have a single pass this year where I didn't have lift off the throttle at least once to keep the car going straight.  After adding wheel speed sensors I can see now that the car will tolerate 10mph of sustained wheel slip and still go straight.  Above that and the back end starts to come around.  Hopefully next year is better.

[deep in debt motorsports]

decided to put in the Bonneville gears to attempt to reduce the tire spin.

But I thought the course was good?

Guys, you have to understand how the rookie program works.  Everyone regardless of their previous experience or SCTA license level MUST make a rookie run if you've never driven at El Mirage before.  99% of the time, the rookie run will be limited to 150 mph.  In rare and extreme cases, like when a 400 mph car shows up, you'll see the min speed bumped up.  Unless you show up with a car that seriously struggles with going that slow, you can expect to make a sub-150 pass your first time out, just like everyone else has had to do.  El Mirage is nothing like Bonneville and if you think you're just going to go out there and go for it the first time down the track, you're sorely mistaken.

In most cases, a new driver must license up.  SCTA licenses apply to both El Mirage and Bonnevile so if you already have an SCTA license, you can then run to your license level after successfully completing a good rookie run.  When I did the rookie program, I'd let people "graduate" out of rookie status early if they were running close to their records.  In the few years I did it, none I graduated early actually ever set their record - it's not as easy as one would like to think. Either way, this is at the discretion of the rookie coordinator and race director and is handled on a case by case basis. 

But like I said before, except for being flat and not paved, there's very little in common between El Mirage and Bonneville.  Two very different track surfaces. You've got all the time in the world to slow down after a run at Bonneville.  That is certainly not the case at El Mirage.  I was on the far end of the track when Bob went 283 and he used up every last foot of the shut down area getting the car stopped.  The last thing you want is to be Mr Hot Shoe and do something stupid like blow out the back door otherwise that'll likely be your last pass at El Mirage.

Understood  see ya in May

[RichFox]

 I was on the far end of the track when Bob went 283 and he used up every last foot of the shut down area getting the car stopped.  The last thing you want is to be Mr Hot Shoe and do something stupid like blow out the back door otherwise that'll likely be your last pass at El Mirage.
[/quote]The comment I heard over the radio was "Beautiful Chute" And your dad complemented Bob's shut down within the cones.

[Stan Back]

My favorite "400 MPH Car".

Top time of the year.  Great to see success with that beautiful car.  So I look in the Rule Book, not remembering whether it was a Streamliner or Lakester -- doesn't matter -- no record.

Sure could easily do it next time from what we saw at the far end.  Hope they give "us" another try next year.

[POPS]

We will have Flashpoint on the dirt in May. 

[SPARKY]

Yea   

[TWKundrat]

Anyone know what happened to the guy who put his bike down in the first run Saturday morning?  Hope all is well with him.

[Nortonist 592]

Anyone know what happened to the guy who put his bike down in the first run Saturday morning?  Hope all is well with him.

Scroll down to the health and welfare forum.

[Seldom Seen Slim]

Look for "John Noonan"

[RichFox]

Apparently the SCTA board has decided that Bob Dalton's 283 mph run on Sunday, didn't happen. So now Rick has Top Speed of the Meet. Well it wasn't a record and Bob isn't running for points in 2017. So it's not all that bad. Everybody knows who really went fastest.

[gas pumper]

I read about this and I guess if I have nothing nice to say about SCTA, I shouldn't say anything. Congratulations to Bob Dalton and the Flashpoint team!!! This is a great accomplishment.

[RichFox]

This is just something that happened. No one wanted it to happen and no one benefits from it. It makes Top Speed of the Season meaningless to Rick and Bob. But life goes on.

[turborick]

Apparently the SCTA board has decided that Bob Dalton's 283 mph run on Sunday, didn't happen. So now Rick has Top Speed of the Meet. Well it wasn't a record and Bob isn't running for points in 2017. So it's not all that bad. Everybody knows who really went fastest.

The SCTA will release an official statement on monday