Before I get into the details (and there are a lot of them…..if you don’t like long posts bail out now) I want to give out a few accolades. First to Kendall, Ryan and their whole Cooltech family support team for making it possible for Monica, Terry, Ryan and I do what we did this weekend. :thumbsup:thumbsup Talk about the total package of professional work and personal care. I can’t say enough positive things about Cooltech.
Next and equally important to this event was hanging out with Terry and Monica all weekend. Sometimes you get fortunate to meet people who are amazing on all levels. My wife could not make the event and Terry and Monica took me in and through a couple of dinners and tons of runs at the course I had the best time I have ever had in a car. Obviously I went there to drive :driving:……and boy did I get to drive……but driving home afterwards my overriding thoughts were that it would not have been nearly the experience it was without such great people to share it with as I mentioned above. Thanks to all of them.
Now a little background. This was my second mile event. I went to the one day March Mojave Mile and did five runs topping out at 181.9mph with Heffner pulley/tune on pump gas running on Bridgestones. I improved on every run and my last was my best. I had fun, but realized in my current set-up there was no chance of 200mph runs. Then came the research phase of our program. I checked out every type of TT system out there and asked a lot of questions. Thanks to everyone that helped me including a lot of Forum members. There were a ton of great options and it was a tough decision, but the one that I felt was best for me and my driving style was the Heffner TT. Once that was decided I talked to Kendall and asked him if that was an install he wanted to undertake. Little did I know that Terry beat me to the punch and had already contacted Kendall and ordered his. This would not be the last time I came in second to Terry. :lol
Besides 200mph which I took as a given, my goal for the weekend was to get 10 200mph passes at the event over two days. Little did I know that I would have to revise that goal due to the fact that there was low attendance and I would be able to run as much as I wanted.
So here I am at the course with my shiny new TT, running Bridgestones, unleaded race gas and having my hand held tuner in the bag. I did not know what to expect this time. We still had the 210 limit and had the three strike policy. I am more than willing to take two strikes :wink, but considering I was trying to organize a private event with them as well I did not want to upset the apple cart right away.......plus this is my "home" event and I want to continue to run here in the future. First run I was figuring out the car while trying to get a feel for things without taking a strike ran a respectable 202.6 to join the 200mph club. I was a very Happy guy!! :banana Then Terry came out and wowed the crowd with a big 207.3 on his first run on his 91 octane tune. SWEET!!! On my next run I realized with the heat coming up it was unlikely that I was going to “break out” of 210 and started to put my foot into it. Unlike Terry I did adjust boost settings and made a variety of runs the rest of the day but all my serious runs were in the 204 range with a high of 205. My “low” 200 runs the rest of the day came when I went back out with short shut downs. The car ran noticeably slower when the engine was hot, but I came to drive :driving:, so I went back to back a few times……and it was all fun. By the end of day run I had 13 passes with 12 over 200 and one at 199.5 when we were messing with the tune. (I did hit 200 on my Performance Box in the shut down area, but I am not counting this in my total. So day one and I reached my two goals, 200mph club and 10 200mph passes. Time to revise the goals and go for a 210 pass and 20 200mph passes. You got to have goals.
Now to the rest of the day one highlights. Terry again blew everyone away with a 210.4 run in the middle of the day to set the high run for cars……and the most amazing thing was it was in the worst heat of the day and on his 91 tune. The Big Red Camaro group was desperate to catch up to Terry to no avail the rest of the day. Now as impressive as Terry’s 210.4 was the crowd absolutely roared when it was announced that Monica became the first woman to run a 200mph pass at the Mojave Mile.
artyarty Honestly I was as excited for her as I was for anything I did that day. It was an incredible moment to see……people clapping all over as she drove up to get her time slip. And she proved that it was no fluke as she made multiple 200mph runs, including one in front of her Dad. What a moment. The only other car that went over 200 day one was the Camaro with a 208. The driver of the Camaro was a great guy and he and his crew were constantly stopping by to chat. They were filming for some reason and I know that they really wanted to get to Terry’s number. There were a lot of new ZR-1’s (running in the high 170’s…..none cracked 180), one 430 scuderia (ran a high of 175) and a variety of other cars. There was a crazy Challenger that ran a 183.7 (pic below) and a Shelby GT 500 out of Vegas that ran mid 190’s all weekend. The motorcycle guy who ran a 255 was sick. I included two pictures of his bike below. I was fortunate enough to be behind him when he launched on that run so I got an upclose view. His front wheel lifted off the ground on the first three shifts. :eek It was INSANE!!! Take a close at that bike…….I mean most of the moto guys had nice looking rides. This thing looked like it would fall apart on the way to the line………and he rode it exactly in the form that you see in the pics with all that stuff in the center exposed. Every time he ran they had to get accurate wind readings and make sure they were basically zero. Nice guy but way crazier than I will ever be. He also had a 245, 250 and several 220's.
So with a great dinner under my belt with fabulous company I hit the hay trying to figure out ways to improve. I decided to go race tune all day Sunday and kick the boost up to the high of my car's last dyno run. Unfortunately we got a late start, all the cars running day two only got first crack and it was a much hotter day. Air density was horrible coming in at over 5,500. Well I made 10 runs Sunday all over 200mph. My low was a back to back run which came in at 204.6 however the rest were mostly 206’s, a couple of 207’s and a high of 208.8!! Very happy with that considering how much hotter day 2 was from day one. I did not reach it through the traps, but with over a mile shut down area I did continue to accelerate for a just a little bit :wink on a few runs and reached a high of 214.2 on my Pbox. Very happy with that. My car seemed to like the race tune better than 91 tune for running hard and it was a noticeable difference particularly through the first three gears in acceleration. I actually thought WHOA the first time I launched hard. If saw the first X-men think Wolverine on the motorcycle when he presses the shiny red button. Huge smile on my face. I can only imagine what it would be like with real good air temps. The April event should have those….and I truly believe we will have our limit on the GT’s raised or removed by then. Traction was really no real issue for me all weekend and I think the same would go for Terry and Monica. There was only one other GT there with a fresh Pulley/tune that ran around 184 I believe. I know that driver was very happy with that. :thumbsup
As noted in Kendall’s thread the highlight of day 2 was Ryan’s assault on 200. I was lucky enough to go to the staging area with him and get into to the box next to him to watch him take off. Words do not do justice to what a great job Ryan did. :thumbsup:thumbsup He was cool under the pressure and I can’t imagine how he felt busting 200. Congrats man, it was a sight to behold.arty:bow:bowarty
Kendall, you should have Ryan write up and post his experience at some point. I would love to read that. Video will be on the way to you guys shortly.
As Terry noted on another thread there was a crazy Viper (pic below) that added more than 20mph to their best run at the end of the day to steal best car run. I was sure Terry was going to finish with best run, but it got snaked away.....pun intended. :biggrin It was an especially impressive run considering the heat. Another interesting car on Sunday that made a couple of passes was an RX-7 with a corvette engine that ran a 202.
All in all it was a great experience. 23 passes, 22 200mph runs through the traps and a GPS high of 214.2. Goals met and I had a phenomenal time. Next time I am dragging out the wife though. We need to get her involved in all this, right Monica!! Also, screw weight watchers. You want to drop some weight make 23 runs in your GT in desert heat in a fire suit over two days. That will drop a quick 5 lbs off you in a hurry. :lol
I can’t say enough positive things about the staff and event organizers at Mojave. :thumbsup:thumbsup Even with a disappointing turn out they were positive and awesome all weekend long. They definitely made it an incredible event. Now as a side note I am meeting with Mike Borders on Friday to finalize an unbelievable format for a potential GT only Mojave Mile day. We have the broad strokes in place and I don’t want to give it out until I know everything including price, but I can assure you it will be something that you will not want to miss. It will meet every GT owner’s fantasies for big time straight line runs on a long course with perfect pavement. :banana I will post a new thread about it early next week.
In summary WHAT A CAR!!! 22 200mph+ passes in hot conditions that were not ideal in any way shape or form and the car just performed. Then I drove it 180 miles home and put her to bed. Although I have to say it was a hard drive home because your perspective of 70mph is quite skewed after all those 200mph runs.
I am sure I forgot something interesting (oh yeah the hand switching video right Terry :lol) , but all I can say is from staff, to all the other drivers, to our extended GT family it was just a surreal weekend. :thumbsup:thumbsup
Till next time…………..
…………oh yeah…………I went over 10,000 smiles on the way home. :cheers
Next and equally important to this event was hanging out with Terry and Monica all weekend. Sometimes you get fortunate to meet people who are amazing on all levels. My wife could not make the event and Terry and Monica took me in and through a couple of dinners and tons of runs at the course I had the best time I have ever had in a car. Obviously I went there to drive :driving:……and boy did I get to drive……but driving home afterwards my overriding thoughts were that it would not have been nearly the experience it was without such great people to share it with as I mentioned above. Thanks to all of them.
Now a little background. This was my second mile event. I went to the one day March Mojave Mile and did five runs topping out at 181.9mph with Heffner pulley/tune on pump gas running on Bridgestones. I improved on every run and my last was my best. I had fun, but realized in my current set-up there was no chance of 200mph runs. Then came the research phase of our program. I checked out every type of TT system out there and asked a lot of questions. Thanks to everyone that helped me including a lot of Forum members. There were a ton of great options and it was a tough decision, but the one that I felt was best for me and my driving style was the Heffner TT. Once that was decided I talked to Kendall and asked him if that was an install he wanted to undertake. Little did I know that Terry beat me to the punch and had already contacted Kendall and ordered his. This would not be the last time I came in second to Terry. :lol
Besides 200mph which I took as a given, my goal for the weekend was to get 10 200mph passes at the event over two days. Little did I know that I would have to revise that goal due to the fact that there was low attendance and I would be able to run as much as I wanted.
So here I am at the course with my shiny new TT, running Bridgestones, unleaded race gas and having my hand held tuner in the bag. I did not know what to expect this time. We still had the 210 limit and had the three strike policy. I am more than willing to take two strikes :wink, but considering I was trying to organize a private event with them as well I did not want to upset the apple cart right away.......plus this is my "home" event and I want to continue to run here in the future. First run I was figuring out the car while trying to get a feel for things without taking a strike ran a respectable 202.6 to join the 200mph club. I was a very Happy guy!! :banana Then Terry came out and wowed the crowd with a big 207.3 on his first run on his 91 octane tune. SWEET!!! On my next run I realized with the heat coming up it was unlikely that I was going to “break out” of 210 and started to put my foot into it. Unlike Terry I did adjust boost settings and made a variety of runs the rest of the day but all my serious runs were in the 204 range with a high of 205. My “low” 200 runs the rest of the day came when I went back out with short shut downs. The car ran noticeably slower when the engine was hot, but I came to drive :driving:, so I went back to back a few times……and it was all fun. By the end of day run I had 13 passes with 12 over 200 and one at 199.5 when we were messing with the tune. (I did hit 200 on my Performance Box in the shut down area, but I am not counting this in my total. So day one and I reached my two goals, 200mph club and 10 200mph passes. Time to revise the goals and go for a 210 pass and 20 200mph passes. You got to have goals.
Now to the rest of the day one highlights. Terry again blew everyone away with a 210.4 run in the middle of the day to set the high run for cars……and the most amazing thing was it was in the worst heat of the day and on his 91 tune. The Big Red Camaro group was desperate to catch up to Terry to no avail the rest of the day. Now as impressive as Terry’s 210.4 was the crowd absolutely roared when it was announced that Monica became the first woman to run a 200mph pass at the Mojave Mile.
artyarty Honestly I was as excited for her as I was for anything I did that day. It was an incredible moment to see……people clapping all over as she drove up to get her time slip. And she proved that it was no fluke as she made multiple 200mph runs, including one in front of her Dad. What a moment. The only other car that went over 200 day one was the Camaro with a 208. The driver of the Camaro was a great guy and he and his crew were constantly stopping by to chat. They were filming for some reason and I know that they really wanted to get to Terry’s number. There were a lot of new ZR-1’s (running in the high 170’s…..none cracked 180), one 430 scuderia (ran a high of 175) and a variety of other cars. There was a crazy Challenger that ran a 183.7 (pic below) and a Shelby GT 500 out of Vegas that ran mid 190’s all weekend. The motorcycle guy who ran a 255 was sick. I included two pictures of his bike below. I was fortunate enough to be behind him when he launched on that run so I got an upclose view. His front wheel lifted off the ground on the first three shifts. :eek It was INSANE!!! Take a close at that bike…….I mean most of the moto guys had nice looking rides. This thing looked like it would fall apart on the way to the line………and he rode it exactly in the form that you see in the pics with all that stuff in the center exposed. Every time he ran they had to get accurate wind readings and make sure they were basically zero. Nice guy but way crazier than I will ever be. He also had a 245, 250 and several 220's. So with a great dinner under my belt with fabulous company I hit the hay trying to figure out ways to improve. I decided to go race tune all day Sunday and kick the boost up to the high of my car's last dyno run. Unfortunately we got a late start, all the cars running day two only got first crack and it was a much hotter day. Air density was horrible coming in at over 5,500. Well I made 10 runs Sunday all over 200mph. My low was a back to back run which came in at 204.6 however the rest were mostly 206’s, a couple of 207’s and a high of 208.8!! Very happy with that considering how much hotter day 2 was from day one. I did not reach it through the traps, but with over a mile shut down area I did continue to accelerate for a just a little bit :wink on a few runs and reached a high of 214.2 on my Pbox. Very happy with that. My car seemed to like the race tune better than 91 tune for running hard and it was a noticeable difference particularly through the first three gears in acceleration. I actually thought WHOA the first time I launched hard. If saw the first X-men think Wolverine on the motorcycle when he presses the shiny red button. Huge smile on my face. I can only imagine what it would be like with real good air temps. The April event should have those….and I truly believe we will have our limit on the GT’s raised or removed by then. Traction was really no real issue for me all weekend and I think the same would go for Terry and Monica. There was only one other GT there with a fresh Pulley/tune that ran around 184 I believe. I know that driver was very happy with that. :thumbsup
As noted in Kendall’s thread the highlight of day 2 was Ryan’s assault on 200. I was lucky enough to go to the staging area with him and get into to the box next to him to watch him take off. Words do not do justice to what a great job Ryan did. :thumbsup:thumbsup He was cool under the pressure and I can’t imagine how he felt busting 200. Congrats man, it was a sight to behold.
arty:bow:bowartyKendall, you should have Ryan write up and post his experience at some point. I would love to read that. Video will be on the way to you guys shortly.
As Terry noted on another thread there was a crazy Viper (pic below) that added more than 20mph to their best run at the end of the day to steal best car run. I was sure Terry was going to finish with best run, but it got snaked away.....pun intended. :biggrin It was an especially impressive run considering the heat. Another interesting car on Sunday that made a couple of passes was an RX-7 with a corvette engine that ran a 202.
All in all it was a great experience. 23 passes, 22 200mph runs through the traps and a GPS high of 214.2. Goals met and I had a phenomenal time. Next time I am dragging out the wife though. We need to get her involved in all this, right Monica!! Also, screw weight watchers. You want to drop some weight make 23 runs in your GT in desert heat in a fire suit over two days. That will drop a quick 5 lbs off you in a hurry. :lol
I can’t say enough positive things about the staff and event organizers at Mojave. :thumbsup:thumbsup Even with a disappointing turn out they were positive and awesome all weekend long. They definitely made it an incredible event. Now as a side note I am meeting with Mike Borders on Friday to finalize an unbelievable format for a potential GT only Mojave Mile day. We have the broad strokes in place and I don’t want to give it out until I know everything including price, but I can assure you it will be something that you will not want to miss. It will meet every GT owner’s fantasies for big time straight line runs on a long course with perfect pavement. :banana I will post a new thread about it early next week.
In summary WHAT A CAR!!! 22 200mph+ passes in hot conditions that were not ideal in any way shape or form and the car just performed. Then I drove it 180 miles home and put her to bed. Although I have to say it was a hard drive home because your perspective of 70mph is quite skewed after all those 200mph runs.
I am sure I forgot something interesting (oh yeah the hand switching video right Terry :lol) , but all I can say is from staff, to all the other drivers, to our extended GT family it was just a surreal weekend. :thumbsup:thumbsup
Till next time…………..
…………oh yeah…………I went over 10,000 smiles on the way home. :cheers
