Yep, we are back safe and sound from our trip to Willowbank Dragstrip. After a 9 hour drive and 4 beers when I got home, I am fairly cactus in the stamina department so I'll post a couple of videos with more to come. Without giving too much away, I did 7 runs without a problem and ran my first 13 second run. Not bad seeing as how earlier this year I was dialing 15 seconds. This one was against John in his Slant six. Benny caught me napping in one of the qualifying runs. More later when I've had some sleep.
Ok, sleep time over. John unfortunately had his flywheel come loose so he and Matt the master mechanic were frantically trying to get the 'box and clutch out to repair it. Benny was pitching in between races as well. Alas, they didn't get it done in time so John's day was over. That left me and Benny to fight it out. I'd run a couple of 14.02's so I decided to dial 14.02 as you would. Trouble was no one told the car it was going to run that slow. The thing was really singing and I was out in front of Benny so I backed off a little bit before the line. Not enough, because I ran a 13.935 on my 14.02 to Benny's 13.518 on a 13.50 dial. I was elated at running into the 13's but pissed off that I broke out. On the next run there was a long delay by the officials at the start line which sent my temp. gauge off the dial which meant I short shifted so as to not do any damage by over revving. I ran a 14.08 on my 13.92 dial. Should've left it alone. Another win to Benny. The next run I'd changed my dial to 13.98 and ran a 14.06 but Benny ran 13.478 on his 13.50 dial and broke out. In the staging lanes waiting to run the final, Benny's car puked coolant and wouldn't start. Luckily a short delay out on the track allowed Matt to boost the battery and get it fired. We get out to the start and the previous runner stalled near the finish line so another delay. Benny kept his running but by then the battery had cried enough. As we launched his car conked out and he dribbled to the finish. I couldn't hear him coming so backed off for a 14.168 win on a 13.98 dial. Not the way I wanted to finish the day and certainly not how Benny and John wanted to finish but that's drag racing. I'll add this short video of Nigel (OBFB) winning his final in Vintage gas. Thanks for coming along for the ride. Next race is round 4 at Sydney in a couple of weeks.
I use a Sony HDR-AS15 mounted to the rollcage and my wife uses a Sony ILCE-5000 digital from up in the 'stands. I like to Sony as it's not as bulky as the GoPro. Not as expensive either.
It must have been our day Pete. My little car ran a pb 11.75. It ran perfect all day and we won our class as well.
The Jalopy Journal
