ECTA racers at Speedweek RESULTS/Stories ?

[jlh454]

I'm waiting for James Hight to get home and report on his first trip to the salt   

Congrats to all.

My first trip to the salt was an amazing experience.   I had been to Bonneville before as part of a pit crew, but nothing beats riding out there.  I have so much I could say, but will try to summarize my runs and experience as concisely as possible.

I started the week running my little Suzuki 600 turbo naked in the M-BG class.  After doing my rookie run, I set the record for this class at 164mph.  (This record was bumped the next day by a bike on the long course)Since we set it on the 2 mile rookie course, we knew the bike had more speed in it and moved over to the 3rd course.  During this pass, the fuel pressure regulator stuck shut and the bike ended up pushing the head gasket.  I spent all day Monday installing my spare engine with the help of some from the crew of the Hinton performance team.  With the new motor, we decided to go ahead and put the fairing on just to see how fast the 600 would go.  After going back through inspection on Tuesday and getting a new bike number, the bike struggled to get traction and after making passes on both course 1 and 3, we parked the bike and waited for the courses to be moved that evening.  Getting there first thing Wednesday we were able to be the first vehicle down the long course after the record runs.  The new salt was better and the bike was able to get enough grip to manage an average speed of just over 200mph over the 5th mile.  While I have been faster on pavement, holding that kind of speed over 5 miles while the bike is constantly spinning and wagging was crazy!  I don’t think I took one breath once I left the line.  Thursday morning we were one of the first ones out of impound to make sure we would be one of the first record attempts of the day.  More experienced riders and drivers said the salt is always a little better in the morning so we wanted to be sure to take advantage of this.  After making my run, I knew the speed would be close and felt like puking while waiting for Paul to come pick me up.  When he finally got there, he looks at me and said, ”close man…real close…it must have been spinning.”  Little did I know that he had already gotten the time slip and knew that I had just done a little under 202mph on the 5th mile to back up my prior run and get into the 200mph club. After some strong words and a lot of celebration, we loaded the bike up and headed to tech for the last obstacle before the real celebration could begin. 

All and all, a great week!  We made it back to NC early Saturday morning and have been recovering most of the day today.  We are already making plans to improve the bike’s speed and handling.   
Like all racers, I didn’t do this on my own and a lot of people helped out to be sure I was able have the opportunity to do what I did, so thanks and credit is due to them also.
•   Thanks to all of the guys at Hinton Performance for allowing me to car pool with them, share drivers (since I was traveling solo), and loaning me a pit crew member that could help get me to and from the race track.
•   Thanks to Joe and Donny Timney for keeping an eye on me and helping me get through tech for the first time at an SCTA event.
•   Thanks to Paul Powell Performance for putting in the long hours getting all the engines ready, the fabricating work for the ballast, and providing 24-7 access to their chassis dyno.
•   And thanks to all of my fellow ECTA members for the encouragement, advice, and congratulations that you have given me.

James

[55chevr]

Jim --- well done ... I knew you come home with a record ... you pushed it over 200 also


Joe

[sabat]

Well done James, congrats 

[roadracer]

Rookie to 200 club in a week.  James you make it look too easy.  I've seen how hard you and Paul work on your equipment at Maxton.  I've watched the many times that you took it home in pieces.  Your persistence has paid off as you have been doing amazing things this year.  Bonneville 200 just tops it off.  It couldn't happen to a more deserving, hard working guy.  To me you really represent what a Land Speed is.  See you in September.

[manifest]

Karmann Ghia...G/PRO

The new clutch and pressure plate didn't like our throughout bearing, so as I went to second on the first pass it exploded.  We pulled the motor and changed the disc, throughout bearing, cross shaft, and cleaned the grease and clutch dust off of the new pressure plate and put it all back together.  Didn't have the clutch adjusted correctly and missed our chances on making a full run on Saturday.  Went up early Sunday morning and made our second attempt at a full pass and went 143.3?? at the 3.  Checked the air fuel recorder and saw that it went really lean in the high rpm range so we changed the air bleed jets and went back out for the next run.  Car was pulling hard and sounded great.  It was pulling hard in 4th just past the 2-1/4 around 6500rpm when it fell over on its face.  Shut it off and costed to the return road with the smell of burnt oil following me.  Best mph to date though so all was not lost.  144.75? at the 2-1/4.  Ended up with a broke valve which bent the push rod and broke the push rod tube.  Stuck valve in the head so we called it quites and just watched the rest of the week cause if one SS valve breaks then the others probably wouldn't have been far behind shifting at 8300rpm.

Zach

[wheelrdealer]

Charles and Kix, thanks. We went there to learn, have fun and we did both. Lesson # 1 if you bring spare parts you will not need them but the one or two parts you leave at the shop you will need. #2 nothing prepares you for the sensation of driving on the salt...its just different. #3 If you have a Tig welder you make a lot of friends over speed week #4 Bonneville was more fun than I could have imagined.

kix it was great pitting with you and your guys, what a great accomplishment.

Bill

[SwampRat33]

EJ Kowalski from Reading, PA added some rear fenders to his Model A powered belly tank and set records in both the gas and fuel Streamliner classes. Things didn't go as well with his record holding flathead powered modified roadster as a sleeve came loose and split the block.

[JackB750]

@James Hight - Couldn't be more proud of you buddy! Great stuff. Sorry I didn't get a chance to speak to you after your run but sincere congrats on the 2 Club and Welcome Aboard!
Jack Broomall 

[WildBro]

Nice job James   

Bill

[racer x]

Way to go James   

[Freud]

jlh454.........Sorry for you. It will likely never be that easy again.

The Salt remembers people.

Good Job.

FREUD

[fredvance]

Way to go James. It doesn't get any better than that for a rookie. Congratulations.

Fred

[bearingburner]

Ed Brace set D/GRMR record at 155 and change.

[bearingburner]

Ed Set D/BFRMR record at 155 MPH.Set gas record last year. sorry for miss information.

[don]

I crew on Rods truck 9602 D/P/MP hes not much of an internet forum guy so I will fill you all in, and he will let me or yous guys know what I got wrong!

We had a good week but rough, we decided the faster you go the harder it is, I know, no big surprise. Last year we blew a head gasket, had the heads redone last winter.
Here is what we did at speedweek. This is the story of the little truck with the little V6.
We went in of course with high hopes, who doesn't.

Saturday our first run was a  171.253 still pulling at 3 miles,  went back to the pits and upped the jets it was running lean went up 2 jet sizes and checked everything out.

Sunday morning went out ran a 167.870, that’s not good we are slower. Went back to the pits still lean. Loren fixed that went up 3 jets sizes check everything out again went back out and ran a 159.974 Subaru even slower, but expected, trying to figure out jet size but did not expect to lose that many MPH.

Went back to the pits and changed the jets, checked everything out again, found that One of the rocker arms were lose!!! Reset all of the Valves.

Monday morning Ran a 174.? On a 173.5 record all right we are in impound.
Went to impound still running just a little lean but found another rocker arm loose!!

Tuesday get to see the sun rise on the salt. Ran a 175.? Up the record to 174.949.
Which means we can know go to the long course!

Go through tech get the motor pumped and sealed, all right new record!

Go back to the pits put it all back together, another rocker arm lose!!!

Up the jets one size, set valve and we are off to the long course!!

Ran 172.1 on course 2 fell down after 3 miles, Yep a rocker arm loose again.

Back to the pits reset all of the valves, check everything over again. Get ready to do it again in the morning.

Weds Course 2 run a 176.170 fell down after the 3 miles again, BUT we are back in impound, Dodge I have to get up at 4:30 but that is just fine. In impound check the plug they look good, jetting seems perfect, reset the valves yep one lose, not all which the same one?!

Reset the valves put in new plugs, go to check the timing it would not idle and running rough, listen and something is making noise in the valve train, We are done for this year, pull it out of impound and call it a hellofayear!

The good news is that little V6 still has a little something left in it after a rebuild!