Not something many folks may find interesting, but in case anyone was curious.

Did a few runs at the Bonneville Salt Flats, on the Long Course from Speed Week. 8 miles nice and level and straight. Slippery too!

Best run, 150 at the mile (couldn't launch hard, the traction isn't that good); 175 at two, 180 at three, 183 at four, 185 at five. I shut it down at that point, as it's a bit hairy out there. MAYBE I could have squeezed out 186 in another mile, but it sure looked like it was maxed. Right at 5000 rpm in fifth.

No, I didn't shoot a video. I didn't really expect to get a chance to run, and I don't have the car rigged for video mounts yet.

Must have spent 20 minutes cleaning all the salt back off, fender wells were stuffed.

Car details in the signature, mostly stock, just lowered and Bilsteins. Maybe the ipod connector added a mph or two, but I dunno.

For what it's worth.

[IMG]<a href="http://s400.photobucket.com/albums/pp85/godzilladudeblue/?action=view&current=Bonneville2009.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i400.photobucket.com/albums/pp85/godzilladudeblue/Bonneville2009.jpg" border="0" alt="Bonneville 2009"></a>[/IMG]

 

Sounds cool, but i'd be reluctant to getting all that salt on my car! But I have to ask, does the vert feel stable at those speeds? And was your top up or down? I remember someone telling me not to exceed 150mph in the vert because it can get a bit unstable, (I own an '08 see sig). Glad to see someone sucessfully got up to almost 190mph, and for only 60k

 

Awesome, congrats! Put some gears in the car and you will crack a few more MPH out of it...

I didnt know they would let you run a vert out there without a cage etc.

 

that's sweet i'm thinking about taking mine to the texas mile
this oct to see what she can do in a mile! i hope at least 180 in the mile..
also i heard that ipod connector will get you at least 5 mph!

 

Huh, I would've thought they would be going faster by the 1 mile marker.

Also, here's your picture.. when you're coyping the link from photobucket, copy the "IMG Code" textbox, not the "HTML Code" textbox. Forums typically allow posts to contain pseudo code, which gets translated into HTML, but don't allow HTML directly, for security reasons.

Lookin' good.. albeit a bit salty.

 

Very cool and brave of you. And thinking more of driving your vette for the sheer fun of it, rather than worried about every speck of dirt (or sand as the case may be) getting on it. Wish I was more like you!

 

or salt...I would've thought the car wouldn't make more than 175 or so, the aerodynamics being quite a bit different from the coupe. good going!

 

A buck eighty five is pretty damn fast for a stock Vert.

Now if it had a 427 in it.

 

Love to see what it would do with the top down. I've been that fast in mine with the top up and the fabric was flapping around like crazy.

 

The altitude there is about 4200 feet above sea level, so your NA engine was not even getting all the air it wanted.

Thanx for both doing this and posting about it. Way to go .

 

It was adequately stable. The nose certainly came up. And I think the torque was twisting it up more than the lift. When letting off the throttle at 180+, the nose would drop a couple inches instantly, then slowly drop a bit more as the speed came down.

Top up. Top down typically turns your CD up to .5 or worse.

Salt be wiggly. It's not perfectly smooth. You could see rips in the surface, taking off at angles, where some streamliner rolled and took off, tearing up the salt. I only got one run in with the throttle down the entire run without lifting on a wiggle.

 

Hah, sure as hell wasn't $60K!

 

I'm thinking supercharger, another 100-120 horse, should do the trick, 200 or a smidge above.

The Bonneville Salt Flats is BLM land, no speed limit, you can legally drive whatever speed you want, as long as you're not a danger to anyone else. I was there a couple days AFTER speed week. So the course was all painted up, cones were still there. The only other folks out there were the guys collecting the PortaPotties, and they just hopped up on the truck to watch. If there had been other folks just out wandering around, wouldn't have done it. Or if it was wet, or some other group doing some big deal, etc.

 

Congrats. Glad you survived. Did you run higher tire pressures, as recommended by your tire manufacturer for those speeds?

 

I have the same question that 06.Z51.MontRed.Vert does:

In that thread over in the AutoX/Roadrace section, I edited my initial response and added the following after you looked at it and responded.

I added:

Looking at your picture, and hearing that you ran after the official sanctioned running was over, it appears that you don't have a cage.

I'm quite certain that unless you have a cage you probably won't be allowed to run at TMS. I don't know whether it's just an open-track day or an HPDE, but either way they'll be doing a tech inspection on your car.

I personally don't feel the need to go very fast in a venue that doesn't have any crash-rescue and fire suppression equipment or unless I'm wearing my helmet and HANS. I love running my car hard and fast (I do 175-180 at Daytona), but during track days or the official running at the Salt Flats there will be crash-rescue crews there to pull you out of a mangled car and suppress a fire if necessary, and I'm sure an approved helmet is required as well as roll-over protection for a vert. I wear a helmet and HANS type device when I'm running on the track, but I assume you didn't even have a helmet if no sanctioning group was there overseeing safety.

So.....if you're gonna be at TMS for a 9/11 event, I think you'll need to get a roll bar or cage by then.

I just went and googled what's going on at TMS, and it appears that it has a Richard Petty Driving Experience, but it's seldom used for HPDEs.

I looked at TWS, and they do have an event on 9/11. Here's a link to info about driving your car during a track day:

http://www.texasworldspeedway.com/pe...nna-drive.html

You can see that you'll need a roll bar for a vert.

Have fun at the track, whether it's TMS or TWS!! That's the place to do fast driving.

Bob

 

CD of .31 vs. the what, .285 of the coupe?

 

I don't know the aero characteristics at all with the top down, I'd hate to be the test dummy for that.

My fabric was relatively quiet, stayed put OK.

 

Yeah, running some basic equations, I'd think it'd hit over 190 at sea level. Makes me wonder what the coupe will really do.

 

It's my understanding that the reason to boost the tire pressure is to withstand the higher downforce. In a stock convertible, it lifts at speed, and hence less. So no, I didn't load it up any more. If memory serves, it's typically only a pound or three more they want to add anyway.

What would have been more entertaining would have been to load them to max (44psi), to mimimize rolling friction, try to get more speed out of it that way. And I had brought the pump just for that. But after going fast a few times at normal pressure, and feeling how much it wanted to dance on every single bump, the idea of less traction just didn't do it for me. An extractor hood to yank that nose down will be a welcome addition at some point.

 

I asked TMS about the roll bar, they said I didn't have to have it, the windshield frame counts. Indeed, I asked them twice, just to make sure. And other racing groups have given me the same answer, though certainly not all of them.

I've got someone lined up to do the roll bar, it's just the timing. Hopefully, end of September will be the time. I certainly don't want to go out there and do that again without one. And harnesses and arm restraints. Pucker factor got a bit high.

And it's Texas Driving Experience, at www.texasdrivingexperience.com.