Well this is the start of the race season for ORR, (Open Road Racing). My first stop will be Ft. Stockton TX. for the event next weekend. I am on staff of various groups and assist in timing and scoring, as well as communications along the road course. (I've given up racing a long time ago)

I have designed and built some new speed trap timers and displays so hopefully the drivers now may get an idea of their speed as they go by the trap, the display is LARGE! 5 1/2 foot long by 2 foot high for 4 digits and is made with 1156 style LED lamps (38 per digit). Should be fun!

After that I will go to Ely NV for the May running of the SSCC. We will be out for 4 weeks and trip length will be over 5K miles.

I have internet thru Sprint and cell so I will not be out of touch.

Will post pictures after the events.

Sounds like a lot of fun. I don't suppose you swing through Florida? Looking forward to some pix of the action and your speed sign. Are these races on actual roads or on road tracks like Road Atlanta or Sebring?

The race was held on highway 285 just south of Ft. Stockton TX and run into Sanderson TX. This is an "open Road Race", actually we close down a public highway from 6:00AM to 5:00 PM and race there. We have gate workers that prevent people and other things from entering the highway.

This is a race against the clock where you must average as close as possible to your target speed for the entire race. On this race, they race both ways, once all the cars have reached Sanderson, they are turned around and race back. They are started one at a time with about a 30 second interval between them. This year we had 152 cars start the race. We have speed classes that go from 85 MPH to 155 MPH and then unlimited class.

The unlimited class has only one objective, to run the course at the highest possible speed. We had two cars this year in this class, one was a mid-engined 1965 Corvair and the other was a Nascar type Pontiac GP. The Corvair had the highest speed thru my speed trap, 204.2 MPH, the Pontiac had 175.9 MPH. Unfortunately, the Corvair broke on the way back and didn't finish.

I will post some pictures of the speed trap and cars after I get them posted on my website.

Was great time and they really run a CLASS ACT down here. We are on our way back - slowly - toward Ely NV for the next ORR May 18th. We will be out a total of 1 month this trip.

Hey Ed, we drove 285 from Carlsbad NM to Ft. Stockton in our Barth and towing a Tracker, about a month ago. We were makin our way home from AZ.
I think we reached speeds of 70 mph at times!!
I did, however, pick up (another) Royal Enfield 750 Interceptor project bike while in Carlsbad. That made the drive priceless!
Don

I had a friend back in the early 70's that raced road rallies and was clocked in Misery or one of those western states at 135. Unfortunately, he wasn't on the right road, and the clocker was a statie, so he lost his license for 5 years.

I was in a road rally like that back in 1982. I was clocked at 105 by Colorado State Patrol. He had been pacing us (three vehicles) via the frontage road on the other side of the highway. It was then that I found the true value of being polite to someone doing their job. The other two individuals did not fair as well. The guy driving the Triumph Spitfire (?) became very abusive and the other guy must have felt it was the right thing to do since he quickly joined in. The patrolman called for backup and two more troopers showed up a few minutes later.

My polite attitude was rewarded with a ticket for 74 in a 55 and he further told me how to get it knocked down even more. As I drove away, both of the other drivers, already in cuffs, appeared to be on their way to jail. When I went to court, it was reduced to defective tail light and a $25 fine. Somehow, I think it was a bit more expensive for the other two.

In S.E. AZ, in 1960, late to work in my '60 Ford stick-shift six, I decided to see what it would do flat out. Country road, after rush hour, no other traffic, my foot in the carburetor, the Ford was rockin'& rollin'. (it always did that above 50 mph.)

Passed a roadhouse, saw a white car pull out behind me, thought nothing of it, there were never any cops on that road. A few miles further the car was gaining on me with a lighted gumball machine flashing on top.

I said a nasty word, & pulled over. He asked me how fast I was going. I said I didn't know, I was concentrating on driving because I had my foot on the floor to see how fast the car would go. He said 94 mph, & handed me a ticket for 65 in a 50 zone. Cost me a dollar a mile & the inconvenience a court appearance.

Wish they all could have been that easy.

I require brandy, cigars and a campfire to discuss my speeding career.



I will echo Towerguy in saying that politeness goes a long way.

here is a link to some of the pictures of the speed trap and roadway used for the race. the pictures with 245 MPH are taken during setup and calibration. Fastest speed thru the trap was 204.2 MPH

BBORR

quote:

Originally posted by MWrench:
Fastest speed thru the trap was 204.2 MPH

What cars were the fastest?

Some of those pictures just cry out for a Barth Photoshopped in.

That would really give me bragging rights for my 502.

Yeah, i was thinking about showing a high speed Barth!!

Fastest at this race was the 1965 Corvair, mid-engined V-8 400" single 4 barrel, he didn't make the return race. Next was a Pontiac Nascar type, tube frame plastic body, small block Chev, he did both ways and finished with an average speed for the 118 miles of 167 MPH. For "stock" street vehicles, the were many, many Corvettes, they are tech'd to 168 MPH and the new Z06 can do that + more, but they are in the 155 MPH class so that is their target speed.

Next race at Ely NV in2 weeks we will have about 6-8 unlimiteds and I expect to see all of them over 200 MPH. This will be a 90 mile race on Highway 318 South of Ely (lund NV to Hiko NV.)

quote:

Originally posted by MWrench:
Yeah, i was thinking about showing a high speed Barth!!

Mine might be fast, but I'll never know. The Chevy potato chip truck is not safe above legal speeds.

quote:

Fastest at this race was the 1965 Corvair, mid-engined V-8 400" single 4 barrel.

LOL...I wonder if that was my old one. I bought a 65 Corsa to get the engine and trans for my Hi Jumper dune buggy. It was so much fun that I drove it for a year or two before cannibalizing it. Then my friend ended up with it and made it a mid-engine with the Crown kit. It was scary fast. He was always messing with it to go faster. It was the ultimate Q ship.

SSCC (Silver State Classic Challenge) is next week on Sunday. We are in LV now and just biding time until Thursday when I head to Ely. At this race I just do "ham" communications and my station is midway on the road course.

The race is on Highway 318 from Lund, NV to Hiko, NV and is just a shade over 90 miles. Course record is 207.8 MPH average for the 90 miles and was set by a NASCAR Chrysler La Baron! Several cars are in a good position to break that record this year but I haven't check the road out yet to see if it is still in good shape. Wind and density altitude play a BIG part in the max speed of the unlimited cars that go for the top speed.

Their website is:
SSCC

Will be returning to home base on the 21st, (4 weeks on the road) probably will have logged 4500 miles by then.