I regret not getting to fully see the potential with the 2L John Stowe engine that is now in John Goodmans Lakester it really can have some huge potential..... we just got off on the wrong foot with some of the drivetrain stuff and we didn't ever fully recover. We learned a lot but it also cost a lot to learn..... I hope John will make it happen with his Lakester...I dont know what the G/GL record is but I think John will have his name on it with that engine...Hope its got some good suspension too......
The junkyard Diesel engine and new drivetrain (lots of it from Ebay
) all worked out pretty well without any real failures.....I know its quite interesting going from a pretty high buck engine to a free junkyard engine but that's what makes this S!#T so much fun....Really. Thanks Chris for the nice words too. It really is cool to get compliments from fellow racers because they really know what it takes to get it done. We did use the Turbo we got from Luke Dale but not the header, unfortunately it didnt fit and we ended up being fortunate enough to get the guys from VL performance in Appleton on board and they built a beautiful SS header, mounted the turbo behind the engine and also helped with the intake build and charge air piping along with other welding that needed to be done on the car. Aaron Saltsman from VL Performance is quite a talented fabricator.
Its just too bad it really is coming to an end at Bonneville for all of us. The writing is on the wall....IN REALLY BIG LETTERS.... That is part of the reason I pushed so hard to get the thing done and get it out there this year. Wow was it rough though. No suspension in the liner and if you watch the in car from the 3rd run you will all offer a ride for me to the funny farm cause I realized it really was crazy trying to go ANY speed in the liner with those conditions. Sid mentioned he saw the whole liner in the air a few times... I have no idea how even 1 end with suspension could make that much difference but if I had to pick which end it would be rear suspension trying to keep it more in contact with the ground.....Don't know how much suspension that the Speed Demon has or Danny Thompson's car but they gotta have some because their in car cameras don't show the same fun ride I had. The liner is completely capable of 300MPH+ if there ever is a smooth enough place to run on.
Anyway enough complaining about S!#T that isn't going to change......
Real thank you's to all of the sponsors who helped out (all listed on my website) and volunteer pit help, couldn't have done it without EVERYONE and yes Sid was a huge part of our success. He was there doing stuff and helping train guys with what needed to be done and what was important and what wasn't. He saved us at the line when I got in for the return run and my arm restraint decided to get hooked on the parachute pull and i accidentally deployed one of the chutes. Sid calmy fixed it and did a wonderful job pushing me off through the plowed field
. Watching the rear camera it looked like it was fun trying to keep the pushbar lined up. He kept Sheri in the loop of what was going on and somehow kept her calm and had her sit in the front with him in the van. Good move Bud I know she really appreciated that. There was probably a dozen other things he helped with at key moments Ill never hear about because Sid has the experience to just do the right stuff without even thinking about it. Instinct.
So yeah thanks for bringing the potatoes Sid