dang..making me think 2x for december mile marker here in florida

 

Installation of a chute is critical. It seems those cars get a$$ light anyway... then when you deploy a chute that maybe isn't installed perfectly, it can pull the rear of the car right off the ground...I'm not saying this happened here, but the video speaks for itself. Something happened. Was he on the brakes before he pulled the chute? There are videos of Richard spinning out a few times last year with no chute, I can imagine the negative forces at work with one on the same vehicle...Just my .02...

 

Eric,

I mentioned to you before that my car was a bit unstable at only 140-150 or so, and that I couldn't imagine going 200 in it. But I had it aligned the other day, and even though the settings were only a tiny bit off, it's now rock solid at 150'ish. Can't say for sure how it would feel at 200 mph, but it's much better than it was before.

Might be something to consider.

 

Eric, When was the last time you had the GT2 aligned? Who did it?

 

We pulled ride height data from each corner using the data acquisition system on our runs and then used weight and jacking to simulate the different attitudes we encountered on the alignment machine and found a setup that seems rock solid stable with no wander even at high speeds.

Back in the 80s, we used to take pictures of the car as it sped past the camera to get an idea of the stance at speed and how much stance change we got transitioning from accelerating to braking to determine alignment settings which would be best.

Most all suspension geometery will require a bit of compromise.............unless you subscribe to "any suspension will work if you don't let it" and run springs at rates that keep stance change and suspension compression/rebound to a minimum.

 

+1 on the alignment. Very fine changes you will feel more than you think. More than most other suspension adjustments in a car that already has a fairly aggressive suspension. Has to be set-up for the job.

 

I ran a couple of times on Sunday. I ran 198 and 197 which are close to my best but not quite my best. Eventhough I was hoping for 200, I felt good about how the car ran and felt like I improved my driving over last time. Conditions were not ideal and I feel like the results were excellent for the conditions.
Here is a video of the 198.7 (official) mph run using Track Vision which allows integration of digital video and PBox data (somewhat like a video PBox but cheaper). Watch the full screen view to see speedo better. I did screw up and cut off the PBox data before the deceleration, sorry...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m72AYwW4W2g

 

Mike, very impressive once again. With not having ideal conditions you did awesome. I have no doubt you will break 200 in march!! weather permitting!!

 

IMO the front end gets very very darty at 170.

 

Safety equipment saves the day.

As awesome as that car was it's replaceable. I'm very happy to hear he's OK

 

Congrats, nice run!

 

Mike,
that was excellent considering conditions. I think your goal of 200 is easily attainable maybe in march when the winds aren't as bad. it looked very smooth.
D

 

Thanks Jason!

Thanks Alex!

Thanks Dennis! March is usually cooler than Oct in south Texas...

 

Very nice run Mike,good vid too.Your car looks very stable and man your are going FAST.Watching your vid it looks ease but i've haven gone higher then 160 mph and you have to hold your ***** to go 198+ as you do.200+mph in march for sure.Congrats Mike

 

Thanks Rolando!

The car is very stable. Like sitting in your mother's lap, LOL. It is RWD, lowered, and has been aligned to GT2 specs. On my second run I felt a little cross wind pulling slightly to the left at about 150 mph. As I went higher the pull went away and the car completed the rest of the run uneventfully.

I am glad it looks easy! I am always a little apprehensive sitting a the start line waiting for the signal to go...