To add depth to the discussion about going fast, A friend and I decided to spectate where land speed racing was taking place. Since I live in Metro Detroit, I quickly discovered that it's about 1700 miles to Bonneville, and, because the group that had, in times past, used the low-tide sand on Daytona Beach before the speedway was built, ended-up using the WWII airport at Maxton, NC, we could watch one mile standing start racing on pavement a thousand miles closer to home. I'd been told that one could do trial runs, at relatively low speeds, without much safety preparation, so I brought my helmet along, "Just in Case..." I found that the cut-off point for modern factory equipment is set at 125 MPH.
My daily driver, at the time, was an '02 Lincoln LS. For those who may be unfamiliar with that part of the Lincoln line, it was a re-bodied version of the small Jaguar sedans put together after Jaguar, Aston Martin, and Land Rover were acquired by FoMoCo. MY LS Sport came with Michelin Tires on 17 inch wheels, a 240 CID four-cam V8, and a slightly more agressive tune in the ECU that included a delete of the engine speed limiter. The factory speedometer read to 160. On our first trip to Maxton, I'd already put on a set of Michelin Pilot Sport P2s on 18 inch wheels and done a a fairly comprehensive re-tune of the ECU. Ignition timing, fuel delivery and automatic upshift speeds had already been altered, as well as transmission line pressure. I'd also installed a factory trunk-lid spoiler Brother Lon had removed from something-or-other. I installed it at a much more agressive up-angle. With that much done I went out on a section of expressway that had never been connected properly in North West Metro Detroit. Although open to traffic, it ultimately only connects to two-lane and doesn't have an over-abundance of traffic. There were no other cars to be seen when I ran it up to 150 and found it to be absolutely rock-steady. On our first trip to Maxton, we found it easy to exceed the mandated 125 MPH in the measured mile.
Back home, I installed a full eight-point roll cage, a belly pan from the front all the way back to the rear-axle kick-up, removed the cats and gutted them and put in a full length 2.5 inch exhaust system to go with the new headers. I also installed a mandatory fire-supression foam generating system and a six-point comp seat-belt system. Elbow tethers on the mandatory fire-suit tied in to the belt to stop potential flopping if there were to be a mishap.
We redid trhe factory fuel system to enable the use of C16. I put a five gallon fuel cell in the trunk to hold methanol and a nitrous oxide spray system to go with the methanol. The ultimate result was a one mile standing start national record in 'E' Fuel Competition Coupe/Sedan at 140.106. The record still stands to this day.
I have a new car in the planning stages at present. The East Coast Timing Association is now operating in Arkansas.
KS
