Any LSR people here (besides jerry)?

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Looking for Land Speed Racers, I know Jerry did Bonneville for the Mark VIII intro a decade ago, but I'm wondering if any TOP speed freaks hang out here (besides me of course...)

Mike M.

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If i lived within a state or two of bonneville, i would be a land speed racer, just for grins, but that isn't the case. Does that count?

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It's not all Bonneville, We race on the Dry Lake at El Mirage in California and on an abandonded runway in Maxton, Ga.6 times a year at both venues. Only 3 times a year at Bonneville. The Aussies just finished thier meet at Lake Gardiner which is about as remote a place you want to go. Of course, Bonneville is the Mecca for LSR, people come from all over the U.S. for the 3 Bonneville meets.

Mike 98LSC

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Not that I'd come out there and do it but .....is there a way that people with mosty stock street cars can come out there and run through the traps for speed runs. I realize there is probably a minimun amount of safety equipment (helment, tires, onboard fire ext and such) they'd probably want you to have or is is strictly for trailered racers?

Bill <IMG NAME="icon" SRC="http://images.zeroforum.com/smile/emthup.gif" BORDER="0">

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Most of the Cars/Trucks/Vehicles are purpose built machines and are un-streetable. but there are several classes exist a street car can run in, Production Gas/Production Supercharged, Diesel Truck, GT classes to name a few. There is liscensing, Class E, Current, Valid State Liscense up to 124Mph Class-D 125 to 149 etc... you work your way up. I went from E to C in 3 passes, 1st pass 123Mph run, 2nd pass 141Mph, 3rd pass 156Mph They want to make sure you can handle the car and the enviroment, Even the Unsers had to make liscensing runs at Bonneville(famous story), dirt & salt are MUCH different than a track. All cars MUST have a Roll Bar, open cars must have a Roll Cage, any class where the record is over 150MPH Must have a roll cage. Then there are the safety equipment requirements for the Firesuit, Headsock, gloves boots etc...different for different speeds, basically you need higher rated protection for the faster you go because it takes longer to stop.

Your Mark VIII would run in D/GC (261-305CID Gas Coupe) since the ECTA record is 181 mph you would need a roll cage (Dennis?)

Basically there is an investment to be made, the best thing is to go to a meet and see what's there and if you like it. The ECTA runs 2 day meets 6 times a year <A HREF="http://www.ecta-lsr.com/index.htm" TARGET="_blank">http://www.ecta-lsr.com/index.htm</a> (starting this weekend BTW)

Mike 98LSC

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JBAs General Manager Bruce Tucker is an LSR. He belongs to some club here in SD that competes. He was also the drive of the JBA modified Ford Focus 2 years ago that set the record for door slammer 2 liter carbed with no power adder. It went like 143 something. He knows of the site, maybe he'll jump on here and give you some insight. I'll mention it to him.

Lonnie

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The first time I ran at El Mirage Dry Lake was in 1986. I'd just gone up to watch a meet. My buddies suggested that I run my '85 Mustang GT. We added a second return spring to the throttle linkage and rigged up a chain under the driveshaft. I borrowed a helmet, registered as a guest (no points), got inspected and made a pass. My car ran in D/Production (up to 305 ci). I ran just over 125mph. I would have liked to run the car again, but because I exceeded 125, I couldn't run again without a roll bar. After that first meet, I got pretty involved in land speed racing and ended up setting a number of records at El Mirage, Muroc and Bonneville.

For those of you unfamiliar with land speed racing, the course at El Mirage is 1.3 miles long. The surface is alkaline dirt. The quality of the surface varies throughout the day as more and more cars chew it up. Depending on the amount of horsepower your vehicle has...the course starts out loose and goes downhill from there. But that's what makes El Mirage so much fun. There's nothing like fishtailing through the lights at 195mph. It's always a relief when the parachute straightens you out.

The Gas Coupe class is typically for vehicles that have had either an engine swap or the addition of a quick-change rearend. Most of your cars would run in D/Production. I'm not as familiar with the East Coast Timing Association, but the Southern California Timing Association that puts on the meets at El Mirage will typically allow a car to make a pass as a guest entry provided certain minimum safety standards are met.

[MTCFORUM]

Hello Tucker,
Excellent description, I was fortunate enough to catch my first "guest" run at Muroc in 2000, a non points event, courtesy of my Brother-in Law in a '32 Roadster (D/GR)
Will be running C/STR this year, trashed the D motor on Sunday at the November meet last year.

Mike 98LSC
#300 C/STR
Sidewinders/SCTA-BNI