There were 141 entries as of Saturday morning. Every driver/rider that came for a timing slip said there was no traction/I got sideways/I got sideways again . . .
Fast Freddy was on and off the throttle. There was a pretty long section were he was off the throttle. Still ran 252.
The weather was great until the wind came up. The forecast was for 10 mph winds. HAH. It peaked at about 22. The visibility at El Mirage starts with no wind in the morning and that creates a problem because the dust just hangs there. As soon as the breeze picks up the dust blows off pretty quick and the runs come pretty quick. The first 50 runs came in nothing flat. Wes thought we could do 200 runs. Ended up with 109 when the wind put an end to things.
I think there were only 5 or so records. Big thanks to the SCTA computer guys. The old setup had the timing slips printed from the finish line to the printer at the starting line. There would be a huge pile of slips that we would have to sort through to find your slip. If one didn't print we would have to request a reprint over the radio. Now there is a laptop and the records come through the network and we print them out as needed. Much better.
If you have never been to El Mirage this is what you are up against. The lake bed was under about 1-2" of water in December. That settles things out and makes it very flat. It drys out in weeks. The alkali dust is very fine. (Memo to replace air cleaner on car.) The surface is very hard. If you take a hammer to it it barely leaves a mark. How well the surface holds up determines what the race weekend looks like. All of the high horsepower cars/bikes are spinning the tires all the way down. You try to get traction in a mile and a third and go 300 mph! As the day progresses, the surface continues to deteriorate. If you start with a well cemented surface, and good wind, then the records come right along.
If you start slippery, like Saturday, then the surface and the wind makes life difficult. Saturday night the troops will pick up EVERYTHING and move it 50 feet to a better surface.
This panorama starts with a car leaving the line and ends with a bike leaving the line. There doesn't look like that many cars in the pits. On the starting line side there aren't. On the SCTA trailer side there are lots of trailers on the other side. Look closely down the left side of the track. The motor homes go on out of sight.
John Noonan heading out on the first run of the day as the #1 points leader of last year. The fact that he didn't set a record (very rare.) told us what the traction was like.
75 more pictures here.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/dean-janice/sets/72157618351466294/
