Las Vegas Motor Speedway
May 1
8, 2002
"The Conquerors of Las Vegas"


7 Tracks in 7 Days to determine who really is the fastest driver/car combo

I wake up at 5:45 a.m.  I call Erik, to see how the cars are doing in terms of rebuilding the Flamemobile.  He says they are on the road heading to Vegas, but don't expect them before noon!  Awesome news, as if we can get two run groups in during the afternoon, we can still take 3rd overall out of 60+ cars.  I ask him how the test drive went.  He says, "uh....I haven't tested it yet."  Strange.....Erik is the kind of guy that would drive it around before throwing it into the trailer, to make sure it handles properly.  Remember, Erik's philosophy is just give me a car with adequate power, as he feels he can change the suspension to gain all the lap time he needs to win, as opposed to just throwing a big ass motor in the car and trying to win with HP. 

 
 

Erik says that the motor isn't done yet, but Larry and Reuben are putting the motor together in the back of the trailer.  "WHAT?"  Erik says he is blazing towards Vegas driving the rig, and NSX Modified is in the back of a moving trailer, finishing up the motor.  They have two way radios to remain in contact with each other, so Erik can yell at them to hold on if he has to slam on the brakes.  People said I was nuts, but Erik, Larry and Reuben are nuts AND dedicated to trying to get us into the top 3.


The BMW guys at the track

I gotta eat breakfast, and head off to the track.  Gotta see what type of times Rupert, Mumford/Provost, and Ondrack/Salter in the 914-6 are running.

Mumford pulled over with his trailer and picked up the Allen/Hardee NSX that was in the ditch.  Apparently the car is fine, since it was strapped down good, despite the trailer behind on its side.  The trailer is totaled, along with the tow vehicle (I think it is a surburban). 


Hardee/Allan, working out of Mumford's trailer

But the car made it out okay, and their entire team is at the track, in one piece, ready to duke it out for the final day of the OTC.

===========

So I get to the track.  The 914-6 is running 52 second laptimes.  Mumford is running 56.  We are using the infield course at LVMS.  Mumford is bummed, as the course is like a very short autocross, and with him on street tires, he can't take out the 914-6, as he doesn't feel he can find four seconds anywhere.  

I call Erik at 10:00 a.m., and he said that they just past the Rio hotel.  The motor swap was successful, and Larry radioed to him that the car is ready to be fired up.  I told him to park outside in LVMS parking lot, as there is uh...no speed limit for testing out there.  Inside the race track, you are not supposed to go over 10 miles an hour or so.

They pull outside the stadium, and we do the following:

1.  Put rear hatch on from Florin again.

2.  Bleed brakes.

3.  Gas in car

4.  Charge battery

5.  Install belt on supercharger

6.  Tie down exhaust, diffuser, etc.

We look like a NASCAR team in the outside parking lot, with Larry working on the motor, Reuben and Florin on putting Florin's rear hatch back on, Erik and I bleeding the brakes, Brian/John/Wayne checking nuts and bolts, torquing wheels, etc.

Erik takes it around for a test drive, and says he thinks it is ready.  He said that he has to nap for at least an hour, as he is dead tired.  He probably only got another two hours of sleep last night.

I go out on the track in run group 3, (we missed the first two), and I run a couple of sloppy 56's, trying to learn the track.  We figure if Erik gets a quick nap, we throw him in the car, and if he can run three 1:52's, we can be tied for 1st in our class, and take 3rd overall out of 60+ cars.


Perfect apex
(photo by Head-On  Photos)
(click here for bigger)

We strap Erik in for run group 4, he goes out, and does a couple of warmup laps.  We notice that when Erik is in the car, everyone seems to try to grid behind Erik to watch his line, and Erik uses Cheating Bastard tricks like doing the wrong line on the warmup laps, getting two tires off into the dirt and purposely "dusting" the guy behind him, etc, until he is sure no one is following him.  He then proceeds to go for it.....but then we have a belt break on the supercharger.  In our haste to get the car on the track, Larry didn't have time to do his super alignment of the pulleys on the car.  Bummer.  No boost.  Rupert beats my laptimes by a tiny margin.  Oh well.  But we get fourth overall in our quest to be King of the OTC, not too bad considering we had to trailer the car back to Huntington Beach twice, replacing parts and the motor.

But, I believe we took 2nd in class, and 4th overall.  I believe the 914-6 is the overall winner, then Mumford/Provost, Rupert, and then the Flamemobile.  If it wasn't for a faulty RC injector, we woulda had an excellent chance at taking 1st place overall.  But I can't complain.  If Larry, Erik, and Reuben didn't go back to H.B. and put the other motor in, we probably would have dropped to 20th or so, so I can't complain much about 4th place.  I am pretty damn happy!

Porsche 914-6 Ondrack, Salter 0:52.028 0:52.329 0:52.695 2:37.052
Ford Mustang Roden, Manor, Bettin 0:54.773 0:54.984 0:55.057 2:44.814
Chevrolet Corvette Bragg-Smith 0:55.419 0:55.540 0:55.705 2:46.664
Subaru WRX Sheehan, Holdener 0:55.179 0:55.888 0:56.065 2:47.132
Ferrari F40 Rosenbaum, Wilson 0:55.840 0:56.037 0:56.339 2:48.216
Acura NSX Hayashi, Mello, Messley 0:56.044 0:56.282 0:56.409 2:48.735
Dodge Viper ACR Mumford, Provost 0:56.147 0:56.509 0:56.515 2:49.171

 


(photo by Head-On  Photos)

All in all, it was a great event.  Feedback was extremely positive, people like Amir said he is ready for next year's OTC event, and will be better prepared to do battle against everyone.

Gotta jam, off to awards banquet, etc.

I will add more pictures, clean up the stories, etc, later in the week.   Thanks for following the OTC results


We took 4th overall out of 60+ cars
(photo by Head-On  Photos)
(Click  here for bigger)