Hi Dean, I've just been sent these shots. I tried to improve traction by hand cutting grooves across the Firestones. I also put about 300lbs into the car which did improve it a lot. For next year I'm going to run the same tires as Matt!
Here's the speeds of the top 40 cars (out of 167). Hard luck award must go to Malc Farrant (Matt's brother) who has yet to break the 100mph and this year ran 99.9645mph, just 0.0355mph short!
Just amazing. Thanx for the pix!!!!! This run just went into the top 5 on my bucket list... right in there with Le Mans Classics, the historics at Monterey, TROG and the Colorado hill climb! Gary
Pretty proud of my missus, Julie...she hit 102.39mph in her 33 pickup on the sand, making her the first gal in the 100mph club and the fastest girl on the beach! following a very close 2nd is fellow Beaters club member Becky Dunn in her Hemi powered A coupe at 101.27mph...gotta step up my game as I only got a 72.3 in my flatty powered A roadster...what a fantastic weekend, huge thanks to Neil, the VHRA & the EC Sidewinders...bloody marvelous
Pretty cool Steve, 5th fastest on the beach. I'll see if I can borrow the paddle tires off my brother's racing sand buggy for you! Matt is cheating, he took off his head lights!! looks like he sits real low in his car. Gotta' cheat the wind!! Pics are great!!
Great pictures, great event. Really doing it right. And the selection of cars is great, I didn't see anything out of place. Also great to see some T roadster love.
Paddle tires would be perfect but I'm not sure they would get past the VHRA! By the way- I took my headlights off too; every little helps! Couple of changes I'm going to make for next year is 1. get lower in the car. Currently I'm swapping out the seat base for a piece of ply that sits in the Austin Healey seat frame. I'll fabricate an ally seat base that gets my butt down on the floor. 2. fit the hood sides. I reckon currently I'm effectively increasing the frontal area of the car by allowing the air to hit the firewall, rather than flow around the body. By the way Dean- did you ever compare your 1/4 mile times with and without the tonneau cover on the bed?
You need to get some 'period' hessian sandbags to fill up as well, much easier to pack around in the back, and better looking than those modern plastic tubs you were making sand castles with after you got back to pits on Sunday
wondered why when you were mucking out the back after the last run there were big cubes of sand all over the place !
Awesome photos! Makes me glad to see Dean's (sorry, Steve's) RPU in action. That black RPU is killer too.
I'm just lucky enough and honored to be the current custodian but it will always be the 'Dean Lowe RPU'.
Steve, We ran with the tonneau cover, and without it and the tailgate off. Ran faster with it on. I guess the aero is better. Faster without the hood sides. The CD didn't seem to matter, but it gets hotter under the hood with the sides on. The air hits the firewall either way, and without the sides it can get out. How long is the sand course? I never heard that. Also, what gear do you run in the QC? Sounds like you are leaving the start in 2nd gear.
The course is 1/2 mile then 1/8 mile timed section. I'm running 3.85:1 in the QC. Yes, I'm leaving the start in 2nd gear. Most people do as it's too much wheel spin in 1st.
Fantastic event, big thanks to Neil and all who made it happen. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought that my little old Stude powered A would make the cover photo of the VHRA facebook site but it did. One well and truly ticked off the bucket list. Cheers, Ron.
Watch how the Old Master does it. No drama, no wheelspin, no sideways. All in a straight line Still, third fastest
The Jalopy Journal
