Hmmm...lemme see. The Burb has a speed limiter that's like a wall of jello at 100 mph. I know that from the salt flats. I've reached that numerous times, running from one end of the course to the other...like at a private meet where I KNEW there was no chance of other cars on the track and getting permission from the timing stand. Shutter speed? Hmmm, again. The attached photo of the Speed Demon (that was one of the teams I was shooting for) has a 1/5000th shutter speed @ f9 and ISO 400. He (George Poteet driving) is running well over 350 in that photo. It was all I could do to get the shots of him approaching my location. No chance of getting a direct side shot...even with the fluid head on the tripod (which helped a lot) I just couldn't stay with him as he went by.
That was the fastest car on the salt, bar none. It (and the team, although only Poteet's name will appear on the trophy) won the Hot Rod Magazine trophy for top speed of the meet, 409 and change, although the car exited the last measured mile (there are 3 of 'em on the long course) at 419 and still had more in it. Bear in mind that this car is only running a 299 cubic inch motor. It has a Dart aluminum block and cylinder heads, but is based on a Chevy smallblock design. It has twin turbos, run thru an intercooler filled with ice. The estimate is 2000 hp on methanol and nitromethane. It'll be a LONG time before anyone takes the D/BFS title away.
They're coming back for the FIA meet in September. George is determined to run 450, so they're gonna run their "big" motor: 347 cubic inches, power estimate: 2500 hp. That would give them the C/BFS record (if it's submitted to SCTA which they may not do at that event) AND the FIA ultimate piston-engined, wheel-driven record which now sits at 415.896, set in 2008 by the Burkland 411 liner in 08: http://www.chevyasylum.com/lsr/bsf2008/shootout/burkland/Welcome.html At that meet, the Speed Demon (same team) got the record...I can't remember what class it is, cuz it's an FIA class...if it was an SCTA class, it would have been an E/FS (unblown) that had previously been taken away from Terry Nish by the BAR-Honda F1 vehicle: http://www.chevyasylum.com/lsr/bsf2008/shootout/demon/Welcome.html That was after burning up the engine compartment due to an exhaust leak that burned up an oil line. There's a photo of the makeshift shield that they put in place during the 1 hour turnaround that kept the exhaust leak (from an EGT sensor that they couldn't seem to keep from blowing out) from burning the valve cover gasket...but directed it right onto the oil line coming out of the dry sump tank: http://www.chevyasylum.com/lsr/bsf2008/shootout/demon/part1/080922_0557r8_jpg.html They rebuilt the car in days (it should have taken weeks) and it was virtually impossible to tell that it had burned, except for a few charred places. If ya look at the first section of photos, you'll see that there's an absolute Chinese Fire Drill going on, since they not only had the leak, but had blown a tire (front tires are in-line...and it was the front one) and hadn't practiced changing the tire at all.
LSR has its own particular excitement in addition to the absolute speed...but most people don't know about it cuz it's difficult to know when and where things are gonna happen. Drag racing, you know that the action's gonna start when the tree lights. Roundy-round racing is relatively easy to watch, especially at tracks where you can see the whole course. Sports car racing requires a little more cerebral effort but the races are measured in miles and hours. But in LSR, the whole thing takes days of inaction punctuated by moments of intensity beyond belief. If ya blink, ya missed it. I can attest to that by being in one of the Porta-potties and hearing the Demon's unique exhaust sound and realizing there was no way I could get back to the edge of the course where my cameras were. Out of all the high-speed runs they made (around 8) I only got 2 of 'em in the camera.
LSR requires one to contract "salt fever" which can result in retina burns from staring at the white salt for hours on end...and coming back the next day to do it again...and again. There's no prize money, either. In the case of FIA records, ya gotta pay the French dinks who run it out of an office in Geneva. Then they MIGHT get around to recording it and sending ya a certificate. With SCTA, you can get a red hat for breaking a record over 200 mph or a blue one for doing so over 300. Now that there are 3 or 4 guys who've set records over 400, they might have to get a different color hat.
That reminds me. The Target 550 liner (Treit & Davenport Viking 31) will never hold an SCTA record. It's being built for FIA records only: flying mile and flying kilometer. There are certain things the SCTA requires the builder to do and Marlo and Jim Hume have decided that they have a better way of doing things. I can't tell ya much more than that; I'm sworn to secrecy about 'em. I'm also sworn to secrecy about another record/award they're shooting for, but if they pull it off, it'll blow the minds of a whole buncha people. Gotta stay tuned until 2012 for that one, tho.
Ok. Back to work. I'm only about 4000 fotos behind. r Sent from my Dreadnought using that barely tolerable Thunderbird email program On 8/22/2010 10:42 AM, Michael Wells wrote:
Thanks for everything. By the way how fast was your shutter speed to capture the burb' at record speeds on the salt? Can't wait to see the pics and hear the stories from the salt. See you at the next race.Dr ZOn Sun, Aug 22, 2010 at 8:49 AM, Ray Buck <rbuck@xxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:rbuck@xxxxxxxxxxxx>> wrote:Outstanding, Herr Doktor. All 3 are great fotos. I'm just wondering if ya didn't get dinged on the Falken Fire shot (which is OUTSTANDING) cuz the fence bars aren't exactly vertical. Old skool rules, but ya never know who's doing the judging and yer right...3 for 3 is pretty damned good. In any case, ya done good and flew the Ratpack flag for us in Utarrr county. Ohh...thanks for the deal on the tripod. It works out perfectly. RtR ps. story on the scaffolding trailer coming soon. Sent from my Dreadnought using that barely tolerable Thunderbird email program On 8/21/2010 11:04 PM, Michael Wells wrote:Rat Packers, The 2010 Utah County Fair was pretty good to me this year. I enter 3 pics, one in Photo journalism (Falken Fire), one in Secinic (Old Farmhouse) and one in Creative Art (Gliding Koy) all in the Advanced Amateur Class . The Old Farmhouse won a third place ribbon and the other two won 2nd place ribbons. I was a little disappointed that the Falken Fire pic didn't do better but all in all 3 for 3 isn't bad. I've enclosed the pics so you can judge for yourselves. Dr Z-- Dr. Zaka Michael Wells MCWells Photography mcwellsphoto@xxxxxxxxx <mailto:mcwellsphoto@xxxxxxxxx> 801-850-7279-- Dr. Z aka Michael Wells MCWells Photography mcwellsphoto@xxxxxxxxx <mailto:mcwellsphoto@xxxxxxxxx> 801-850-7279
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