texas mile

paul cass · #1 (**permalink**) 05-19-2004, 12:34 PM

hey guys
any of you want to cruise over to goliad for the texas mile? san antonio, austin, houston? i'm cruising over with a couple of friends to watch. hope to get there before 10 am. ken smith might try the course i here, driving some german vehicle i think. last time it was interesting. lots of money in cars and haulers. two cars made it in the low 190's mph with 4 jap motorcycles reaching a speed of a little over 200 mph. if some of you want a raod trip come on over. weekend looks dry for a change. info is at www.TexasMile.com.
have a great week,
paul

mr0077 · #2 (**permalink**) 05-19-2004, 12:41 PM

Okay, Paul, I just dropped your name off the list of possible candidates for National Security Advisor...that was supposed to be TOP SECRET!!! What if I can't bust 150? Oh, well, these guys will laugh at me for driving some little German car anyway...
So now that the secret is out, you guys come on down and give me some moral support! Bring helmets and gloves...

RaceDeck · #3 (**permalink**) 05-19-2004, 01:36 PM

I would love to do the Texas Mile one year....We do Bonneville and have run our SRT4 powered Street Roadster ( 200mph+) and we are building another car for this year...We probably would ahve to do a few changes to the gear sets and brake system...Bonneville is 5 mile course with 4 miles to stop

RaceDeckRacing.com

kountzecobra · #4 (**permalink**) 05-19-2004, 04:59 PM

Ken, are you going to be the first with the gonads to run your Cobra in the mile? Or is Paul the one?

mr0077 · #5 (**permalink**) 05-19-2004, 06:27 PM

David, I don't think Paul has the huevos and i KNOW I don't, to run the Cobra...I'm a little scared of the tire speed rating. I'm sticking with the BMW for this one.

kountzecobra · #6 (**permalink**) 05-19-2004, 06:34 PM

I really want to try it. Maybe later this year.

mr0077 · #7 (**permalink**) 05-23-2004, 08:00 AM

Okay, the results are in...a little disappointing, as I'd hoped for more, but the little M3 (bone stock) had a best timed run of 149.849 mph in the standing mile. The run was to the east, and the starting light got blown over by the 15-20 mph wind from the southeast, so elapsed times for the quarter mile, half mile and mile weren't available. The timing lights malfunctioned on my best run, which would have been about 152 mph from the tach readings. The quartering wind worked out to about an 11 to 14 mph headwind, so maybe I could have hit 160+ without the wind...the little car was still pulling at the mile, just ran out of real estate.
I had a great time as a participant even though they had a few problems...Paul Cass and friends brought 3 Cobras...which reminds me: after running this thing in the "ferrin" car, I think I'm up for trying it (up to a point!) in the Cobra. Paul and I went to last year's event as spectators, and they tried to "goad" or shame us into running; we wimped out. This time, I spoke to the lovely ladies who were in charge about running the Cobras. I asked them if the Cobras would qualify with the 3-point roll bars, and they thought they would under the vintage rules, soooo...I'll be talking to them in the next week or so to confirm this. If we can, is anyone interested? I know David Shelton is. Paul? He said "well, maybe"...how 'bout San Antonio? Austin? Even Dallas, it's a bit of a hike, but there were several hot shoes (motorcycles, a Lotus 7A replica, etc.) from the Yankee portion of the state. The next two events are July 30-August 1 and October 8-10, let's get a crowd together and see what we can do, or are we just a bunch of waxers?
I'll post on here with info once I get a ruling on the roll bars.

kountzecobra · #8 (**permalink**) 05-23-2004, 11:01 AM

I'm interested Ken.

(Hmm..... Now where did I put that 2.50:1 rear gearset? )

paul cass · #9 (**permalink**) 05-26-2004, 11:21 AM

hey guys
just now feeling up to checking the post. ended up with a real bad sinus infection that got worse on the trip up and back to goliad. anyway, ken's best run by sight was the one that didn't get timed. the little bit of head wind slowed all of the competitors down it seemed. looked for results on the texasmile web site but none are posted yet. they didn't have as many compete as in the fall. very few really modified cars. corvettes, mustangs, camaros, an audi, etc. there were two cars that had recently competed at bonneville(sp.). one was a twin engine streamliner that the owners said had one sick engine. they were going to run it until the engine blew. after two runs both engines were still running-although not very well. sounded loud, but ran very rough. be surprised if it made it much over 150. the other was a corvette set up for the salt flats, skinny tires. i'm not sure what its top speed was, but it probably occurred on its last run. ken missed it as he was driving back to the pits. for some reason the driver missed the cones at the end of the mile. he shifted into 4th gear as he cleared the cones. he was going full speed when he reached the end of the runway. when he hit the gravel run off, he killed the engine and deployed his drag chute. i would guess that his speed was close to 170 mph or more. the gravel ran about a quarter of a mile and then you reach a tree line. there was about a 15 yard opening in the trees and the driver managed to go through the opening and wound through the trees until he finally hit a small one. total damage was a dented front nose, bent the front frame, and knocked one of the headers off-and a really dirty car. no other damage. talk about a very lucky driver, wow! of course i'm not sure if he needed to clean out his drivers suit. there were a couple of other drivers that had been to the salt flats and all were used to racing for 5 miles and then having 3 miles to shut down. i think this guy simply forgot. i'm not sure about the summer event for me. have to see what my schedule is like, and its awfully hot at that time. the fall event might be better. still not sure i want to try yet. we'll see. now if we can get some of our other members interested. keep hearing about all these cobras with so called high horsepower engines, mostly out of dallas. time to put up or shut up! enjoyed watching ken legally race his ferrin car at 150 mph.
check ya'll later,
paul

mr0077 · #10 (**permalink**) 05-26-2004, 11:52 AM

Paul, maybe you're right, it will be muy caliente in July/August, maybe the October meet might be better...and now (check this out for being a little looney) I'm starting to get a little puckered at running the sideoiler above 6200 rpm for 10-15 seconds (not real worried about it holding together, but it's a little too expensive to take the chance, if I'm wrong), so I'm chatting with my motor guy to maybe, just maybe, build a 390-based motor to run. I need to count my nickles and dimes and see if it makes any sense, but October would give me a little more time to get it all together.
I'm like you, Paul, where are all those big-horse motors when ya need 'em? Maybe we should have an unofficial (or official) TCC meet in Goliad for the October race? Some were already talking about maybe having two state meets...don't need to race, spectating would be good too. They should also have the 1/4 and 1/2 mile E.T. equipment at the October race, for those (like me) interested in that sort of thing...
I'll post in a week or so after I get a ruling on the roll bars.

paul cass · #11 (**permalink**) 05-26-2004, 01:38 PM

hey ken
i know with the gears in my car that its going to go as fast as it can by the 1/2 mile marker. another 1/2 mile would not serve any useful purpose other than to put more wear and tear on the engine. if they would allow us to race in vintage and time us at 1/4 and 1/2 mile and then we slow down i'd be more interested. i think most of the cobras don't have enough gears to make a difference in going the full mile. i still think that you went about as fast at the 1/2 mile marker as you did at the mile marker. the only racer that seemed to gain speed after the 1/2 mile mark was that red jap bike that kicked in his nos after he crossed the 1/2 mile marker. while i was there he might have been the only one to reach 200mph. anyway, lets see if any of our loud mouthed big horse power guys step to the plate.
paul

mr0077 · #12 (**permalink**) 05-26-2004, 02:28 PM

Paul, timing (and speed maybe?) at the 1/4 and 1/2 is an interesting twist, I'll ask them about that or some variant when I talk to them and post here. I agree, we'd surely be all in by the half mile (at least as fast as I'd care to go), so what's the point...suddenly you start upping the ante to different tires, aero aids (more like aero band aids), different rear gears, the whole thing goes to another order of magnitude...but it's a helluva rush!
And Paul, you know those big horsepower cars are just waxers, just for "bench" racing (heh, heh, heh...just joking, guys)...

kountzecobra · #13 (**permalink**) 05-26-2004, 03:25 PM

October might be better. I'm not ashamed to run my 150hp+ 356 cu.in. smallblock. (It should run at least 75mph in a mile.) Is the track downhill to help me out? Maybe I should remove the windshield and shave my head to improve aerodynamics? However, I may need the whole mile to reach the top speed. (I am noted for staying in for long distances LOL)

stuck · #14 (**permalink**) 05-30-2004, 06:56 PM

Sounds like fun to me....