Time for a race report. Headed up to Gunnedah for the weekend of racing run by Tamworth Drag Racing Club. This is just a small local club which puts on a great weekend using volunteers and club members. A bit of a holdup on Saturday waiting for late-comers but this usually happens. A few new faces with a couple of Hotrods and a FED with 318 Chrysler A smaller field than usual on Saturday meant more runs (6) of which I ran some of my best times. It mightn't sound quick but 8.9s @ 120kph (74.56mph) for me is bloody good. This is 1/8th mile by the way. Sunday saw an early start to qualifying runs with some of the big boys running fast times given this is an airstrip surface . The FED ran a 5 @ 196 kph (122mph). Round 1 of eliminations after lunch I snared a by-run and ran a lazy 9.2. Round 2 saw me against a V6 Holden Commodore. Ran a 9.075 on a 8.98 dial-in for the win. Round 3 I took the bye run again. Final round I had a 9.156 on a 8.98 but couldn't run the other bloke down due to missing third gear. Oh well, runner-up trophy for the mantelpiece. A great weekends racing with the only time I opened the toolbox was to repair a door hinge in the motel room. A couple of videos to eyeball, one of which is me being toasted by a Coupe in test'n' tune on Saturday and one of the Coupe against a Holden Torana. The bloke driving the Torana has only just resumed racing after having a tumour removed from his brain and still managed to take home runner-up in B division, closest to dial-in, .001 off his dial and best reaction time of .003.
I'll put up one that's a bit long. I left the camera running so you get an idea of the casual layout at Gunnedah. It's one of the reasons it's so good to go there.
Excellent! I could get used to your Gunnedah in a heartbeat. Laid back is the ONLY way to do it, Sir. Rocky's Eagle Field meet's coming up the 1st weekend in October, very similar in feel. Hell, I ran the 'Brick (and it's prior, the Barn Job) peg-leg for the first five years. It was always a gas when she'd start drifting sideways in third, and my favorite video is still one of the early really snaky launches at Eagle. This one.
I sure enjoy your race reports and the videos. We'll be snowbound for several months now so I hope you can keep racing and reporting.
Here's a short one. It shows what happens when making a course correction whilst backing up a bit quick. My wife thought I was trying to be "clever" but I had to pull up to stop it wobbling.
And yes, I did miss third gear. Nostalgia day at Sydney Sunday. I'll try to get some videos to keep you entertained. Peter
...... and you have HOW much caster in that front end? Hell, we row'em, and sometimes we miss'em. Sometimes, repeatedly.
I believe that Fuller said to run between 20 and 60 degrees. Real dragsters weren't designed to go backwards.
Measured the caster today. 15 Degrees. You can let go of the steering at speed and it steers straight as a die.