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1990 928 S4 |
May 18-21, 2023
Open Road Rally
Ely, Nevada
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It's been 3 1/2 years since my last open road race. The pandemic cause the cancellation of the 2020 season and my reluctance to run the 2021 season. In 2022 Bill and I planned to run the September Silver State, but we couldn't get the car running in time. We finally found the problem in November and it took until until February to address the main issue. Thanks to Jim Corenman who replaced the main chip in the SMAF, Mark Gang who helped wire in a new MAF plug, and Bill Ball who helped isolate an engine ground problem the car was running. With soon Sharktuning we got the running well enough for the street by April. Bill came up from Arizona for Sharks in the Park and we squeezed in a dyno tuning session. We also found some suspension issues that we addressed (driver side rear axle nut and upper control arm). I still had a vibration problem at around 80 mph, which turned out to be improper balance on several of the wheels/tires that I had just got mounted the week before.
The SSSCC organization had changed the May NORC to a two way event in 2018, south 61.38 miles and north 61.38 miles on Nevada highway 318. I had never run the northbound leg at speed so I was going to drop down to the 160 mph class. This would also allow me to assess the ability of the car and myself after the long break. When I signed up at registration, I was told that the tech limit for the event was 200 mph. So no attempts to beat my 219 mph top speed from my 2019 race.
This was my first two way race on highwy 318. The start/finish line on the north end was a little less then 29 miles further south then from the original one way course. They had to dramatically change the grid process to accommodate this. Originally Bill and I were going to drive the 928 at 6 AM to the starting area at Sunny Side Rest Area and Bill would follow in his support vehicle. After the race, I would drive back to Ely and Bill would drive home to Arizona. But because of the new grid format they would not allow Bill to follow me to the starting area (to final prep the car), he would have to wait in the pregrid area (30 miles away) until after the last race car had left to the starting grid (~7:30 AM). Only cars with trailers were allowed access to Sunny Side. Since it takes 20-30 minutes to prep the car we had to change our plan. So Sunday morning Bill followed me with my Cayenne and trailer to Sunny Side so we could prep the car and be ready by the scheduled start time (7:45-8:00 AM). After the race we loaded the car onto the trailer and drove back to Ely (60+ miles), then Bill could get his SUV and drive home (an extra 120 miles).
The southbound run pretty much like I remembered it. I planned to run the southbound leg at around 165 mph average, then run the northbound leg at whatever I needed to average 160 overall. I was a little more tenative approaching some of the turns, but since I was trying to average 15 mph less then last time, it didn't matter too much. What made more of a difference was the 200 mph tech limit. I had run 30 miles of the last race at 200 mph or more, this time I needed to keep it below 200 everywhere. As a result I only averaged 163 mph on the gps (162.8343 actual). In the speed trap I ran an indicated 198 on the GPS which turned out to be a 200.2 actual recorded speed. At the south starting area, preparing for the northern leg.
It was hot at the southern start line. The outside temp was close to 100 degrees, the temp in the car was over 104. I was really worried about overheating on the run north, especially since it was mostly uphill. At the finish line the interior temp was 116 degrees, coolant temp was at the start of the red zone, and the fuel temp was 142. The Aeromotive and Fuellab pumps would start cavitating at 125 degrees, so the Bosch pumps held up very well. On the last straight heading to the finish I hit 157 mph averate on the gps and just "coasted" to the finish trying to maintain the average. Actual return average was 157.0445 mph. Sadly I only ran the 162.8 mph on the first leg so I was .12 mph average too slow and got a 2nd place. I did have the fastest top speed in the event with an official 200.2 mph, though the gps showed a little less.
The GPS after I parked the car showed a max speed of 199 mph. Videos The Southbound Leg
The Northbound Leg
Bill's video of the start
Thanks to Bill Ball for all his help at the event and getting the car ready. And also to Jim C, Mark G, and the others that have contributed to my efforts.
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| 928 Results |
Class Driver/Nav Avg Speed Place Trap Speed 160 George 159.8870 2nd 200.2 mph |
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