Arkansas mile

[Mbowling]

My best friend bought an ex bad car cup car to do land speed racing with. It’s an early2000’s Ford Taurus & he bought it 8-9 yr ago.  He had intentions of letting all his gearhead buddies run it. It’s not got the latest FR9 cup motor but the previous generation of what they used.  It was built by one of the guys at Roush-Yates and has a sheeetal intake with 2 4500’s. 
So a few weeks ago at the event it was gonna be my turn in the seat. I owned & drove 410” wing sprint cars for many years but had never ran anything like this.
They restrict rookies to a 1/2 mile the first run,  3/4 the second and the full mile the third. I went a pretty easy 154 the first run and the car running after me crashed causing a 1/2 hr delay.  I went 194.8 the second run still running fairly easy.  In line to make the third run and someone a few cars ahead of me broke something and oiled the track and they ended up canceling the rest of the day.  We had to go home. He’s registered for bonneville in august and I’ll have to find out if I’m on the driver rooster! LOL!!

[Stangman]

Nice sounds fun. Keep us informed

[cammerfe]

You're doing well!! I'm very interested to see what you get out of the whole mile. Please DO let us know what happens. (Be prepared for much less traction on the salt.)

KS

[cjshaker]

You're doing well!! I'm very interested to see what you get out of the whole mile. Please DO let us know what happens. (Be prepared for much less traction on the salt.)

KS

Not sure how much salt there is in Arkansas

[Mbowling]

But there is at bonneville in august.

[Mbowling]

You're doing well!! I'm very interested to see what you get out of the whole mile. Please DO let us know what happens. (Be prepared for much less traction on the salt.)

KS

The car has been 223 in a standing mile.... we are thinking 250 or so on the salt

[drdano]

Bonneville is super fun, def. a different place to race all together.  The times I've run out there I've been lucky with rock hard surface that had all the traction I could have wanted.  In fact, I had to behave with the bike because the front end wanted to come up.  The altitude, unrelenting sun and changing track conditions through the day add challenge to it. 

[Mbowling]

Bonneville is super fun, def. a different place to race all together.  The times I've run out there I've been lucky with rock hard surface that had all the traction I could have wanted.  In fact, I had to behave with the bike because the front end wanted to come up.  The altitude, unrelenting sun and changing track conditions through the day add challenge to it.

I’ve been out there maybe a dozen times but have never raced in it.  It should be good

[cammerfe]

When I was running ECTA, the racing was happening at Maxton, NC, on the airport there. Looking forward to going to Arkansas. (I still hold the E/F CC/S record from my time at Maxton.)

KS

[winr1]

Friend had a 69 Camaro that used to be some sort of car built for racing on a track

We went over 160 mph on 6-10 in Houston in the early 70s

From Gulfgate to the Astrodome are a lot of overpasses

We were talking later after how it felt to hit the overpasses so quickly

After he slowed down, we were all jittery.. cant imagine 200+ mph
............................

KS.... ya have a car ya buildin ??





Ricky.

[Mbowling]

Friend had a 69 Camaro that used to be some sort of car built for racing on a track

We went over 160 mph on 6-10 in Houston in the early 70s

From Gulfgate to the Astrodome are a lot of overpasses

We were talking later after how it felt to hit the overpasses so quickly

After he slowed down, we were all jittery.. cant imagine 200+ mph
............................

KS.... ya have a car ya buildin ??





Ricky.

I went 195 and it was like driving down the street. One hand on the wheel.  But that’s what it was built to do,  I was still very much in its comfort zone

[winr1]

Do these cars have belly pans or such and are the alignment specs different or such ??

Was curious as my 65 F100 at 100 mph sounds like its bein beat by the wind  .. ya can feel it as well




Ricky.

[cammerfe]

I'm planning a Cobra Daytona/FE on methanol with hairdryers & 'spray'. (Yes you do have to redo the suspension. I was required to run a bellypan in E/F CC/S. Part of the class definition)

KS

[cleandan]

Do these cars have belly pans or such and are the alignment specs different or such ??

Was curious as my 65 F100 at 100 mph sounds like its bein beat by the wind  .. ya can feel it as well
Yes, most cars going over 150mph get fitted with some kind of air under the car mitigation system because the lift become quite noticeable.
Even a front air splitter makes a big difference because it keep a lot of air from going under the car.

I have had my 1966 Sunbeam Tiger up to a calculated 157...the speedo ends at a calibrated 140. At about 130 I notice a bit of lightness in the steering wheel but things feel pretty good.
At 140 the steering lightness becomes noticeable and is attention getting and the car starts to stand up a bit.
At 150 all of that is multiplied and all aspirations of calm and ease leave because you know you are past the limits of aerodynamic stability.
157 is all the faster I dared go on that run, and to be honest, if there was a hump/wave in the road I probably would have crashed in some manner.

This Tiger has no body modifications so there was a lot of undercar air pushing up, as well as air over the car lift going on.




Ricky.

[Mbowling]

Do these cars have belly pans or such and are the alignment specs different or such ??

Was curious as my 65 F100 at 100 mph sounds like its bein beat by the wind  .. ya can feel it as well




Ricky.

This car does not have a belly pan but compared to a 65 F100 it is incredibly aerodynamic