We are back home after a very successful speedweek. We reached all but one of our goals. Which was to get Richard a record with him driving. He'll be able to do that next year based on what we saw this year.
I got into the car on Tuesday to make the first full pass for the car. On our licensing tune (low boost) I was able to run a 261 on a 246 record. The next day I left 1st and 2nd alone and gave 3rd 2lbs, 4th 4lbs, and 5th 5lbs more boost. This got us a 289 with an exit of 291 for a new record of 275 average. I lifted a little in the first third of the course, and am confident that with this conservative tune the car will run a 300. After dynoing the car and initial testing at El Mirage I was fairly confident we could get the car over 300 with a 15lb tune and that seems to be working out.
With a little more seat time Richard will be ready to make some record runs. We left the records low, and headed home. We never switched to the fuel record as was our original intent. I feel real confident had we run again we could have had a 300 plus record and a blue hat! Something to do next year I suppose.
The car ran unbelievably well. Nathan Gerolome did a great job on building our engine for us. I'll pat myself on the back and say I did a great job tuning it. Except for adding boost on the last run I never touched our tune. Evenings in the hotel is when I do my homework, review data and make changes where needed. The data looked so good I never touched our tune. Physically we made some ride height adjustments based on what I was seeing as far as downforce in the data. Our biggest hiccup was a water line coming loose at the end of my 261 pass and giving me a good scare by having some steam coming out as I came to a stop. For a new car I had expected some more teething issues. The car drove great even on a questionable track and all the planning, design and aero decisions really paid off.
Richard Smith and I received some wonderful compliments from some of the biggest names at Speedweek. Considering the budgets that some of the cars have, our little project made a big impact!
We aren't done yet!
Ed Umland
Eddie's Chop Shop