I beleive weight has very little influence on top speed, apart from making the car more stable, and grip better. Acceleration suffers, but not top speed. I'd love to see how fast the collar of your coveralls flaps at 3 bills in a roadster though.
Yup. Morrisman has pretty well summed it up. There is an old Bonneville saying "Weight is your friend"
Thanks. This makes sense as at those speeds frontal area and aerodynamic drag are probably more important, and you wouldn't want to flip at 300 because a little air got under the front when you hit a bump.
One of my friends that has raced Bonneville for several years , just finished adding 1200 lbs. to his car in various locations .
Simply amazing I guess it is true you can make a brick go fast. A testament to the a great team and car . Well done, Rob.
Weight = Traction + Horsepower = Speed! WOW!! What an amazing run and an historic record to hold. Congratulations to all who made it happen, especially in the less than optimum track conditions! I'd love to ride along with some onboard video on that monster! Got any??
Actually, this is the 1st high boy roadster to top 300 and set the cl*** record over 300. Many Modified Roadster records have been set over 300. And yes, this was totally awesome!! Many of us stood at the 2-3 mile area to feel the aura that this car generated as it flew p***. DW
I saw the run with my own 2 eyes on Saturday morning. The noise of the engine, the gasp of the people after the speed was read... I'll never forget it.
Finally! Last year they had engine problems, and this year at Speedweek they had a new, in-house built engine, but Dave Davidson really wanted to build the first 34 roadster to go over 300 and it looks like a success. Great people too, from Vintage Hot Rod & Design in Chico. I saw the car last year at the shop without the body, and it's a really impressive piece of work. Congratulations to the whole team! Sounds like party time in Wendover.
Sweet, Snow Thornsberry was my High School auto shop teacher. At the time the car was in a C/BFMR configuration. We used to fire it up with the open zoomies, during cl***. The other teachers in those portable cl***rooms were unable to teach while it was running.
They almost made it again, this time with a C cl*** motor (358 cid) but threw a blower belt. I dunno if it hurt the motor or not, but it was in the pits under a blanket while they prepped the 511 car. I'll try to make sense of it tomorrow.
The Jalopy Journal
