Will do, I'll be trying to work out whether my racer has any chance of ever being safely competitive on the beach.
Well just about ready for the beach, only a few days to go. Tank getting some carpark test drive time on the industrial estate, nice and early before it gets busy. Front section of the body being fitted. This is as good as the body work gets for now but I do plan to make a top cowl for it and give it a bit of paint. Me getting my race face on ..and checking I still fit in there OK, its shrunk a bit since the roll cage padding has gon on.
Snug is good. Rattling around inside the car is not a good thing if the run turns to shit. Take a look at what the NASCAR guys are doing.
Well Jamie it looked like you had a good weekend without any major problems, and the car looks great, well done! It was really nice meeting you both, I managed to get some video of a couple of your runs, hope you like them.
Thank you for that video. The race surface looks to be really flat and smooth. I wonder if a lot of prep work is required on the surface. What kind of speed did the car make on its first outing?
No offense butNASCAR safety and most every other sanctioning body other that Top Fuel is a joke compared to the SCTA rules. And that is a good thing. A person could be going 250-300+ on fire out the back door with the closest safety crew chasing them down. While similar the head and neck support in a stock car is like driving out for dinner compared to how you fit in a lakester or streamliner. Also, every other form of motor racing save for desert racing has safety and stewards stationed to arrive within seconds after an incident. In fact, it is such a unique situation that Tom Burkland had a chase vehicle that would run 100+ and take off to be down course ahead of time just in case something happened at the top end.
Had a fantastic weekend at Pendine, tank ran well apart from a fuel pump fuse blowing on the start line...on my first run.. but didnt take long to to replace the fuse and get back in the line up. Before I post some pics and video I just want to say a big thanks to Neil, the Sidewinders and everyone involved in making this event happen, also a big thanks to my pit crew Steve, Geoff and my wife Vanessa and everybody else who helped at the weekend. Important bit first, how fast did it go..I'm last one on the page. Nice shot of the early morning pit waiting for the sand to dry a bit. Tank with tank crew Geoff, Vanessa my lovely wife, and Steve Nice shoot of mine and Brett's belly tanks
Second run on saturday Run on sunday with a fairly decent headwind Overall I'm very pleased with how the tank ran and drove, felt very stable, speeds I think were respectable for first outing.
Thanks. Very exciting videos. Your hands on the steering wheel seemed very steady - very little input required to keep it in line. Also, it looks like your shifter worked really well - slick as snot.
What a great weekend you had and those speeds were very respectable...you must be pleased and i bet your face hurts from smiling so much. How far is it from the start line to the 1st timing mark? You built it and made it there on time....winner, well done. JW
I found another good clip on the corrupted card, shot from the top of sand dunes. Added it on the end of the video.
Yep I was sportng a big grin most of the weekend. Course is 1/2 mile to the first trap then a 1/16 of a mile between the timing traps.
Thanks for that, It puts it in perspective. Will be very interesting with the blower and injection as your speed with carb was very good. JW
Running 28psi allround, thought about this over the weekend and pondered how much effect experimenting with tyre pressure would have and also what is a safe minimum pressure when there spining at speed. Any advice?
I had 5" cycle tires on my T, I ran them at 23PSI. 80mph on the highway and 100+ on the strip. Light cars really do not need all that PSI. If you were on the Salt I would say add more but watching them on the sand I would drop down a bit, 25?
Well there's a question. Now with added images! The tide comes in right up to the dunes. What it leaves when it goes out is all we have to play with. Over the years we've found an onshore breeze tends to leave us with a smoother surface. Setup procedure is: As soon as the water leaves space to get on the beach, around 2 hours after high tide, drive down the beach 1/2 mile from the pit area to find an area to set out the timing area. We then drive further down the beach to make sure there's a good straight run off area before we hit the dreaded porridge - a soft area that is typically around a mile from the pit area. Sometimes nearer. Much nearer... Back to the timing traps - check the track back to the pit area and measure the 1/2 mile back for the start line. Hopefully by this time a few people have walked up to check the beach for detritus. Over the years we've had driftwood, one ton builders bags, bricks, huge jellyfish, enormous rocks and hopefully no stray bits of metal left by the Ministry of Defence who we rent the beach from. With any luck we can mark out a beautiful straight line funnelling the cars into the timing traps. The timing trap is marked out at 1/16 mile between gates, 20 yards wide. Checked diagonally as well to within 2 inches because we can... Tall flag markers are added at the entrance and exit and the wireless aerial set up before a couple of close runs are made to check everything is working. Back to the start line to fix the second aerial and make sure everything is working (this orange haired freak is my son that wrote the timing software). Two hours since we hit the beach, four hours since high tide; by now hopefully the track is now dry enough to start running. We then try and run through the race card hoping that everyone gets at least two runs in before we have to tear it all down and get off the beach as the tide comes back in and washes it all away. Next day - do it all again. This year the Saturday left us with a beautiful beach with a really wide, smooth and straight run up with enough runoff and no rippling. Because of a large piece of steel tube sticking straight up a few inches, we chose to run further down the beach. It took longer to dry and the first passes had a squirrely damp pass with a strong crosswind. As third car out in a tall T coupe I know this! By later in the day the surface was firmer, less like running on jelly, and stood up to around 300 passes. By this time the water was lapping at the rope marking the spectator line. The Sunday was completely different. A headwind left us with ripples and a very narrow smooth band further up the beach towards the dunes. At the traps this was only around 15 yards wide. The porridge was nearer. The steel tube around a third of the way up was the only constant and the track had to be laid dune side, with a gentle 'S' and hope nobody noticed...
I'm running 4.50x19 front and 6.00 x19 rear. I always pump them up hard. I was running 40psi this year. 45psi last year.
Thank you for that excellent explanation HOTRODFIL. That sounds like a unique experience in all of motorsports. I'm adding Pendine Sands to my BUCKET LIST. Now I am curious about the beach's history. I know it has been a racing venue since the 1920s. Since you mentioned the land is owned by The Ministry of Defense did it play a role in the World Wars? It seems like it would be a strategic piece of land. Many thanks for your insight.
Great write up! Nearly got stuck in the porridge on my first run being a bit shy with the brakes, think I cooked the brakes a bit on later runs, only got rear's
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