Herbold Racing!

Video of ADRA Memorial Race 2008 Pass 6

Marvin — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 16:25:30 +0000

Round 2 of eliminations. I red lit.

Click here for the high definition version! You will need a fast PC to view the high definition version without stuttering.

Video of ADRA Memorial Race 2008 Pass 5

Marvin — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 16:24:29 +0000

Round 1 buy back. I eliminated Shaun Strickland.

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Video of ADRA Memorial Race 2008 Pass 4

Marvin — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 16:22:55 +0000

Round 1 of eliminations. I red lit.

Click here for the high definition version! You will need a fast PC to view the high definition version without stuttering.

Video of ADRA Memorial Race 2008 Pass 3

Marvin — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 16:21:49 +0000

Third time only pass - dial in is for bonus prize.

Click here for the high definition version! You will need a fast PC to view the high definition version without stuttering.

Video of ADRA Memorial Race 2008 Pass 2

Marvin — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 16:12:43 +0000

Second time only pass.

Click here for the high definition version! You will need a fast PC to view the high definition version without stuttering.

ADRA Memorial Race Time Slips

Marvin — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 16:04:30 +0000

Ok, now that we’ve got the bad (car falling off the trailer) out of the way, let’s focus on the good. We’ll start with the time slips! I set the car up to shine the shift light at 6,000 RPM for all the passes except for the last pass which I set it up for 6,200 RPM.

Time Slip #1: 9:32 A.M. First time only pass. I accidentally hit the shifter while moving my arm and popped it into neutral right at launch - Oops. Rookie mistake. So what happened was the car went 1-N-2-3. Sigh. The only thing good about this pass is the reaction time.

Dial-in :      .00
Reaction:      .009
I1      :     1.867
I2      :     5.367
I3      :     8.331
MPH (I3):    82.552
I4      :    10.820
E.T.    :    13.052
MPH     :   104.324

I shifted perfectly for the next 6 passes.

Time Slip #2: 10:17 A.M. Second time only pass. This is the fastest pass for the whole day.

Dial-in :      .00
Reaction:      .149
I1      :     1.735
I2      :     5.092
I3      :     7.916
MPH (I3):    86.429
I4      :    10.322
E.T.    :    12.501
MPH     :   106.513

Time Slip #3: 11:00 A.M. Third time only pass. ADRA has a thing where on the third time only you put down a dial-in on your windshield. Whoever gets closest to their dial-in in this pass gets a prize.

Dial-in :    12.50
Reaction:      .056
I1      :     1.751
I2      :     5.111
I3      :     7.937
MPH (I3):    86.299
I4      :    10.345
E.T.    :    12.526
MPH     :   106.367

Time Slip #4: 12:24 P.M. First round of eliminations. I went up against John J. Schurr. I red lit and handed this race to him. I screwed up the staging and ended up deeper than I meant to be.

Dial-in :    12.50
Reaction:     -.103
I1      :     1.765
I2      :     5.228
I3      :     8.111
MPH (I3):    85.187
I4      :    10.543
E.T.    :    12.741
MPH     :   105.626

Time Slip #5: 12:55 P.M. First round of eliminations, buy-back. I paid $10 to buy back into the first round and ended up facing off an accomplished NHRA racer, Shaun Strickland. Shaun also races a Duster. I thought I was doomed. But hey, check it out!

Dial-in :    12.55
Reaction:      .001
I1      :     1.750
I2      :     5.113
I3      :     7.938
MPH (I3):    86.746
I4      :    10.340
E.T.    :    12.516
MPH     :   106.731

That’s right baby… a 0.001 reaction time! Unfortunately I also broke out of my dial in… but fortunately so did Shaun! And he broke out more than I did… his -0.043 to my -0.034. Talk about a close race! So I made it into the second round.

Time Slip #6: 1:28 P.M. Second round of eliminations. I went up against Will Warmon. I red lit and thus ended my race day. I would have won if I ran this race with a reaction time of 0.169 or lower… sigh.

Dial-in :    12.50
Reaction:     -.022
I1      :     1.735
I2      :     5.106
I3      :     7.935
MPH (I3):    86.443
I4      :    10.343
E.T.    :    12.527
MPH     :   105.611

Time Slip #7: 2:02 P.M. Time only - just for kicks we bumped the shift RPM up to 6,200 and deflated the slicks down to 11 and a half PSI. I got the fastest MPH of the day on this pass (but not the fastest E.T.)

Dial-in :      .00
Reaction:      .111
I1      :     1.757
I2      :     5.128
I3      :     7.946
MPH (I3):    87.006
I4      :    10.334
E.T.    :    12.506
MPH     :   106.819

That’s it for this time slips post - much more detail to come. But now, I gotta go unload my car and put it back into the garage and see what the damage is.

Car Fell Off Trailer!

Marvin — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 14:59:08 +0000

Yesterday was a very good day with a bitter ending. So I am going to break up yesterday into two posts - and starting with the bad (this one). We loaded the car up after me getting eliminated in the second round of the ADRA memorial race. Then as I was driving home with the car and trailer, some idiot chick in a truck pulled out of a shopping center parking lot and blocked the leftmost lane of the eastbound traffic (the lane I was in) trying to get into the westbound traffic side of the road. Now, this is illegal - I know because my wife got a traffic ticket for doing that once. I wasn’t moving that fast but did have to brake a bit hard to avoid ramming into that truck. I came to a complete stop and waited for the truck to move out of the way.

Now comes the bad part. After that truck moved out of the way I pressed the gas pedal to move forward again. I hear two loud bangs, and the truck felt like it was dragging something. I quickly stop the truck and l look up in my rear view mirror and see a very weird sight. There was nothing on my trailer… and the Duster was behind it.

OMFG!

I turn on the hazard lights and run out. A bunch of young men from other cars get out also - I think they were spectators at the Speedworld track. They rush over to ask if I needed help. Hell, yeah I do! Some guy starts directing traffic (this is a busy 3 lane eastbound road). I pop the Duster into neutral and try to move the car back away from the trailer. It won’t move - the front bumper is caught on the lip of the trailer. So I and another guy jump on the trailer to use our weight to get the car off. The car comes off and we roll it back away from the trailer a bit. Then I hop into the truck and wait for a break in traffic to move it into an empty area of the shopping mall parking lot. I ran back to the Duster and again wait for a break in traffic. We pushed the Duster into the parking lot behind the trailer.

I thanked the guys (there were maybe 4 or 5 of them) for their help and they went on their way. I take a moment to observe what happened. All the straps were still intact. The tie downs were still there. But each tie down was hanging on to only one end of the axle strap… so what happened was that when I hit the brakes on the truck both tie downs on the front of the Duster slackened enough to drop the axle straps. Poof, just like that the car wasn’t secured any more.

I will never use these tie downs again. They are of the open hook end kind - nothing to guarantee it will hold on to anything if the straps slacken for any reason. I am going to order a better tie down kit from Summit - the type with snap hooks.

Now as far as damage is concerned - I can see damage to the trailer and to the front bumper of the Duster (see pictures below). I don’t see any other obvious damage to the underside of the Duster. I have not popped the hood open yet to see if there is any damage to the headers. I will be loading the car back into my garage later this morning and that’s when I will do a careful look over of the car for other damage. If the front bumper was the only thing that was damaged, I’ll consider myself extremely lucky.

Much News…

Marvin — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 15:37:42 +0000

I have been very busy with the car lately. Last Sunday I took the car out to the track for a little bit of test and tune. That was a success, although there were some noteworthy moments that I will talk about a little bit later. Then all week I’ve been working on the car after my day job to get it ready for tomorrow’s race. Sometimes next week I promise to bring you all up to date with details of the test and tune and tomorrow’s race. There are going to be lots of pictures and videos, and the best part is tomorrow’s videos will be in full high definition glory. Stay tuned!

Melted Wires

Marvin — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 18:02:56 +0000

Remember that in my last post I mentioned I nearly set the car on fire. Here are the pictures of the melted wire. In another picture you can see the burn mark on the gauge where it short circuited. The voltmeter gauge was badly designed - it had a cardboard insulator on the positive side with the hole cut out to be exactly the same size as the housing hole. This meant if your cardboard insulation slipped even a hair while you were tightening the bolt on the positive side, the washer would make contact with the gauge housing, creating a short circuit. In fact it is very difficult not to make a short circuit when installing this gauge. Fortunately I solved this problem by using a strategically placed rubber grommet - now it is impossible for the washer to come into contact with the gauge housing. I also added a fuse to avoid meltdowns in the future.

I also replaced the lower radiator hose. I took some pictures of the installation. I shortened the radiator hose by using an angle grinder with a cutting disc. It all fits very well now and there’s just no chance of that hose popping off when tugged on.

Brief Update

Marvin — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 02:08:20 +0000

Just a brief update - some things have been happening with the car. First off, while I was hooking up the voltmeter gauge I nearly set the car on fire. Lots of smoke and I had to replace 3 melted wires. Turns out the Summit gauge is very badly designed and quite dangerous - but nothing a rubber grommet in a strategic place can’t fix. More details and pictures on that later.

Some more parts from Summit has arrived. They are a pair of gauges and mounting cups, one for fuel pressure and one for manifold vacuum. I am not going to worry about hooking them up and mounting them until after my first race.

I’ve also gone to Checker and bought a new radiator hose - the nice stainless steel and chrome kind. The reason for that is I don’t trust the lower radiator hose - it’s really hanging on by only around half an inch so a good tug from the engine would send water pouring down all over the track. I am going to be replacing that tomorrow morning.

Then on Sunday I will be taking the car to Speedworld for its second time out! We are just going to be doing some test and tune and watching the girls race if that isn’t cancelled. Just basically, we are going to be getting the car ready and setting it up for my very first race next Saturday. Cross your fingers and hope it all goes well on Sunday!

Pictures coming soon, I promise!

Oh BTW I finally got around to ordering the new Canon Vixia HF11 high definition camcorder. With luck it will arrive tomorrow. If it all works out, all my videos will be in full high definition splendor from here on out.