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1990 928 S4 |
May 18-21, 2017
Open Road Rally
Ely, Nevada
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I was in Ely for the Nevada Open Road Challenge ORR last weekend. I had to go it alone this time, as Bill was unable to make the trip. Because of this, I had to keep things simple. I mounted the race tires on the car before putting on the trailer as I wasn't going to do any practice or tuning runs before the race. I also left most of the "spare" parts at home, and would just focus on running the car, not fixing or modifing things.
The car had been all set to go to the 2016 Silver State Classic last September, but since we didn't go, it was still ready to race. I just needed to change the oil, make sure all the other fluids were topped off, all suspension (and other) components were tight, and mount new tires on the wheels (as they were over 2 years old).
I loaded the car on the trailer Wednesday, then drove to Ely Thursday. It's a 10 hour drive from the Bay Area (hauling a trailer), leaving at 8 AM and getting there at 6 PM. At the hotel:
Friday was registration and tech inspection. I signed up for the 170 mph average class again, but was going to try and run a 175 mph average. I had done the same thing in last years NORC, but overheating issues kept my speeds down, so I only ran a 172.4 mph average. Last summer I had added a third intercooler heat exchanger, added more vents in the hood and fenders, and water sprayers on the radiator, oil cooler, and main intercooler heat exchanger. I had also removed the headlights (which hung down in the way of the air flowing to the heat exchangers and install HID projector lights. I was hoping this would keep the heat in check. At Tech:
At the Car Show:
Sunday was race day. I drove the car 36 miles from Ely to Lund, where the race would start. I had to top of with race fuel when I got there. Luckily Lance from Gale Oil had agreed to be there until 8 AM (when all the cars had gone to the starting grid). Once on the starting grid, I had time to walk around and take some photos of the cars leaving the line:
2015 Porsche GT3 and 2007 911 Turbo in the 140 class. After all the first group of cars (95-155) had left, I checked the tire pressure, torqued the lug nuts, armed the fire suppression systems. then changed into my racing suit. At 10:30 the Unlimited car left the starting line. I was the 4th car in the second group (160-Unlimited), so left the line around 10:38.
This is from both cameras at the start line. The GoPro was mounted on the roll cage behind the drivers seat and the Garmin was on the passenger side wind shield. The Garmin has a very useful GPS display at the bottom of it's video. The race plan was to run a 175 average. This meant my cruising speed would be 190-195 mph and adding a little speed in some of the corners. There was a slight crosswind, but most of the time, I couldn't feel it. Here is a screen shot near the speed trap (~43 miles in) with both cameras and the LM-1 display:
And one a few seconds later with just the Garmin video and the LM-2 display:
And a screen shot for the narrows:
Here is a screen shot approaching the finish line:
I had a good run, I finished the race, got an official 175.0056 mph average with 208.4 mph at the speed trap. This was the 6th race I was able to get over 200 mph, I was averaging 180 mph at check point 6 (60 miles in), and 175 after the narrows. This is the fastest average of any 928 in Open Road Racing, beating the previous best that I set last year. I reached 200+ mph 4 times on this run.
The car at the finish pits cooling down.
Videos: The Start
The Speed Zone
Road to the Finish
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| 928 Results |
Class Driver Avg Speed Place Trap Speed 170 George 175.0056 3rd 208.4 mph |
And a big congratulations to Bob Allyn and David Bauer who set a new course record in their NASCAR Monte Carlo with a 219.6430 mph average and a 243.3 mph High Trap Speed.
| Photo Gallary | Complete Results |
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