Results tagged “speed” from Pantera #2245

Twice in one year! We participated in the September event as well as May this year. We signed up for the 140 class with the tire woes behind us as we purchased four new BF Goodrich speed rated tires. We also took the family with us this time, both families in the new RV. It was a bummer they dont let kids in the pit area at the finish line but they still had a great time.

As for the race, I messed up on the timing sheet and didn't have the last 6 milemarker times on the sheet. So we were on the money 7th to last mile but couldnt tell where we were in the last 6! Lesson learned I will be ready next time. Even with that we were 4 tenths of a second off, not too bad.

Siver State Classic Results

Nick and I just finished the Nevada Open Road Race this weekend. Again we had an amazing time.

We arrived a little earlier this year checked in to the motel and hooked up the pantera crew. As ussual a good dinner then we hit the Big 4 Ranch for drinks, a little local flavor and good company.

This year we brought race tires, the Hoosier R6. We thought we were in the shade as surely race tires are designed for high speeds. However due to some unsure history with the A3 model of Hoosier's and lack of expierence with these tires at open road races, the tire inspectors felt it was not safe to run at the target 140mph. We were demoted to the 110 class for safety. We didn't dispute this as these guys are the experts and we want to be safe. It was a little bit of a downer. All the rest of technical inspection whent fine.

We prepped the car saturday night with fluids and cleaned out the fuel filter just in case. It was a beautiful day, sunday and we head out to the track w/o any issues. We were slightly deflated with the speed class reduction but started the event on time with good spirits. Once your out on the open road at speed you forget what class your end and just run your race. Everything was going peachy until I ran into the first corner at the narrows going 120 or so, and I told Nick, isn't that the narrows, he says "oh yeah, the most treacherous corner on the course ... you just passed it." ... Well so much for the warning. But all was good we had a couple of pucker in your pants corners but made it out just fine.

After the narrows we were passed by a Dodge Viper. Now technically nobody should ass as everybody is a minute apart and all in the same speed class. Since we were eally close to our target time we knew the Viper was way off pace. As we were finishing the race I tried to hit our target time at the finish line but was of by 2 seconds.

Again we had an awesome time and plan to go back in September to try for the 130mph
if not 140mph. See you next time.

Nevada Open Road Race Results - 07

Nevada Open Road Race 07 Video

Nick and I just finished the Nevada Open Road Race this weekend. We had the most amazing time. I think this type of event is one of those "life expierences" that should be had by all.

After a long trip out Hwy 50, we converged at Ely Nevada where we met Mad Dawg, Chuck, Bob, Larry, Dan, and Elliot. Much to my surprise the first night Mad Dawg went to bed early but the rest of us stayed out to take in the local scene.

The first day was spent going through technical inspection and getting the car prepped for the race. We had an issue with our shoulder belts as they were not the required 3" belts. Luckily Larry and Bob loaned me their passenger belts to outfit my car. I will have to get that sorted for next time. The rest of the day we fixed a couple of other issues, checked our fluid levels and went over some of the race strategy. Since Nick and I had never done this before our strategy was to "finish" the race and just use our handheld GPS for average speed and
use two stop watches one for total time and one for mile markers.

The day of the race we got up early after bout 4 hours of sleep. We caravaned out to the site with the pantera group. Our grid position was mid pack so we had some time to watch the first groups start the race. One Viper laid enough rubber to cover 100 yards. We were a little late getting back to our car but we got belted up and went up to tire inspection where they believed they saw a nail but turned out to be a rock. After that we were off.

The first five minutes I was just settling in and getting the feel for the car at that speed on this highway. The car was running well and we were doing about 4700 rpm for 120 mph. Our goal was to put about 30 seconds of time "in the bank" so when we get to the narrows we had some time to burn. I bumped the rpm up to 5000 which is bout 130 miles per hour. Pretty soon we had plenty of time in the bank and had to pass the red corvette in front of us before the narrows. We also had to wave to the only Pantera on the road, Mad Dawg where he had a mechanical issue. After the narrows the corvette who had to be way off his time, came by us about 140. We started backing down as we had 2 minutes in the bank and needed to scrub the time off. Nick held up the stopwatch as we crossed the line. I believe we were off by 1.5 seconds to early but have yet to see the actual results.

After the race we waited for the road to clear and made our way back to Dennis to help out where we could. On the way back to Ely we lost our clutch to a fluid leak. Also the airdam finally broke lose as it was damaged in the race. We made it on the trailer with Larry's help. After the event we were notified by Elliot ( who went to the awards ) that we placed first in our
120 Mph class! Beginners Luck! We all plan to go back again, it was the most fun I have had with the Pantera yet!

Update, the results are in and we indeed get 1st place in our class! We averaged 120.0090 speed and variance from target time was 0.2030 seconds.

Nevada Open Road Race 06 Results

Nevada Open Road Race 06 Video

A very good Rally this year. They had a car show at the hotel to take the
place of the Freemont Street display. The weather was nice and the track
event was well attended. We were at Pharump again this year. As always I
have some pictures and in car videos of this years event.

Laps at Pahrump

Another Vegas Fun Rally goes down into history. We really appreciate the
hotel change this year. The new hotel is clean, has nice rooms, and decent
food. This year we trailer'd our car down to Vegas as we had our new son to
take and all the baby stuff to support him. This year I spent most of my
time at the track event. It was a very strong showing for the track event.
As always we had a really great time and already looking forward to next
year.

I had some fuel issues at the track event. My fuel pressure was only 3psi
and 6 or 8 other times. This caused a severe lean condition when
accelerating hard around the track. I think the problem is related to heat
on the fuel pump. I will probably have to move the fuel pump or replace it
and move it.

Laps at Pahrump

Drive by's at Pahrump

Pahrump Race Video

We made it! We just got back from the Pantera national convention. It's
about 600 miles each way. This year I towed my car there as I was not
comfortable with the reliability yet to commit to driving it. There was
quite a turn out this year. Several hundred owners and a few hundred cars.

Two of my days were spent at the race track. They have put together a very
nice facility there. It's an expanded course over two miles. Two corners
gave me trouble all weekend. The car handled beautifully and the brakes
were amzing. I do not have the facilities to drive this car to it's full
ptential, but it's sure a lot of fun trying. I popped a radiator hose on
the first day, which I was able to patch up quite easily. However getting
the system blead of all the trapped air was difficult and an overheating
car limited my track time.

I did manage to capture in car video of several laps. Links are below.

Las Vegas Speedway - Several Laps

Las Vegas Speedway - Fastest Lap

Pantera Rally - Track Fun Run