Big thanks to everyone for their support and encouragement. I have typed up a first-day trip report, which is shown below. I didn't have time to take many photos, but my friend Darrell did. I'll get the memory card from his camera and make an album as soon as possible.
Anyway, here's the first installment of the trip report:
I had the truck and trailer loaded and parked on the street Thursday night, in anticipation of heading to Wilmington on Friday afternoon. My plan was to go to work Friday morning, then go to lunch and not come back to work until Monday.
Per the plan, I left work shortly after 11 a.m., headed home, and started to set my mind on the rest of the weekend. My 12 year old son, Ben, had his stuff packed, and was waiting for me to get home so we could head out. After putting our luggage and last-minute items in the trailer, we rolled out. On the way down the street, we picked up our Crew Chief, Terry, who happens to be our neighbor, and headed across town.
Our first stop was at Bauman Oil, who is a major contributor to our LSR effort. They provided all the fluids for the race and tow vehicles, as well as allowing full access to their shop area, where the Rampage was painted. We showed off the truck to the guys at Bauman, fueled up, and headed North to pick up the remaining crew member, Darrell, before turning our eyes and the rig towards the East.
After stops for food, fuel, and nature breaks, we celebrated our entry into the great state of Ohio with a dinnertime meal of Skyline Chili (2 cheese coneys and a small 5-way for me) before arriving at the hotel in Wilmington some time after 10 p.m. We found a spot to park the truck and trailer, and turned in for the evening.
Saturday morning, we were up bright and early (4:30 Central time). That 1 hour time difference doesn’t seem like much, but it makes a difference. When it’s 9:30 at night, and the sun is just setting, it’s noticeable. The HIE’s breakfast was very nice, with plenty of hot and cold options, including an automatic pancake maker, hot biscuits and gravy, good coffee, fresh fruit, etc.
Gregg Adams was right there, waiting in front of the hotel, and helped us all day long as if he were our personal concierge. I can’t thank Gregg enough for all the help he provided!
We arrived at the track shortly before 7 a.m., got the Rampage unloaded and moved over to Tech Inspection, and I headed over to meet with Keith Turk for rookie orientation. Keith did a great job with the orientation, and by the time it was over, I got back to Tech in time to go over a couple of things with the inspector. I need to make some changes to the window/door net before SpeedWeek, and we fixed a small fuel dribble from a vent in the filter/water separator housing.
After completing my bailout, the inspection was signed off, I got my Rookie sticker for my helmet, and we headed back to the pits for preparation before running. At that time, we finished a few housekeeping tasks on the trailer, put ice and water in the icewater tank, and headed for the staging lanes.
Unfortunately, by the time we got in line for staging, someone hit the timing lights at the 1 mile mark, and runs were suspended until the lights were replaced. I’m estimating that the track was shut down for somewhere in the range of 1-1/2 hours, but I didn’t really pay attention. This delay allowed everyone to relax, check out the other race vehicles, do some bench racing and visiting.
When racing resumed, we were probably about 15th or 20th in line. The following runs progressed smoothly. It didn’t take long for us to be 5 back from the start line, at which point in time my Crew Chief tightened my belts, snapped the window net in place, and stayed with me until I got to the starting line.
We had set the turbo boost controller on a pretty conservative adjustment, basically allowing the turbo and wastegate to act as if there were no boost controller (wastegate opens about 15-16 psi).
The official Starter did a great job, giving me clear hand signals and finally giving me the go-ahead to run. The butterflies were in my stomach, but not too bad. I mainly wanted to protect the engine and get the first rookie run under my belt.
The Rampage pulled strong, especially in the higher rpms. I had mounted a GarminEdge 500 GPS unit to the dash, and I was very pleased to see speeds up around 120 mph through the traps. The actual measured speed for this first run was 121.xxx mph. The response I got coming back along the return road was phenomenal. I was getting a lot of “thumbs up” from folks I had just met, folks I knew, and some I had never met.
I pulled right back into the staging line, and turned up the turbo boost a bit. The second run yielded 20 psi of boost, and a slightly faster 123.2xx mph.
At that point, I was feeling very good about how the Rampage was running and returned to the pits. After a racetrack meal of pizza and Gatorate, I had a much-welcome visit from some VW Diesel guys who came to Wilmington from other parts of Ohio. These were guys from VW Diesel message boards whom I had never met in person, but knew only from the internet.
There was time for a couple of more runs in the afternoon, but I only made 1 more pass on Saturday. This one was on full boost (30 psi+). The Rampage left the line hard, spinning the tires a bit and charging very hard through 1st, 2nd, and 3rd gear. On the 3-4 shift, I completely missed 4th gear and probably coasted a couple of hundred feet before finding 4th, letting the clutch out, and accelerating again. It pulled well in 4th gear down the rest of the track, giving the fastest run of 123.3 mph. I really felt like it had 125 mph potential, but I totally botched the 3-4 shift. I think I need to spend some time adjusting the shift linkage. Those VW and Dodge Omni shifter setups are finicky.
At that point, it was somewhere around 5 p.m. My son wanted to go see the new XMEN movie, which was playing at the Wilmington theater at 6:55, so we headed back to the hotel and into town. A quick meal at Gold Star Chili provided fuel for the rest of the evening.
Topic: '84 Dodge Rampage Build Thread (Read 822125 times)