The Open Sports Nationals Saturday:
Perfect racing conditions were forecast for all weekend, and Saturday did not disappoint. Clear skies, warm sun with a gentle breeze! Fantastic, what else do you need in life?
We towed down for the first run against Bob Glassup in the beautiful candy red Xtreme Racing topolino. After pulling the burnout and staging, we launched together only for this to happen:
Photo courtesy of Peter Donaldson
The burst panel went about 30 feet out, spraying air and fuel everywhere. Stopping just after the finish line, we towed back and fixed the panel
The second run of the day was to be a solo in the far lane, in which we ran a good baseline 7.70 @ 170mph.
After that run we serviced the car and enjoyed the evening ready for whatever it might bring
Sunday:
Sunday morning we were to be paired against Frank Bennett and his Relentless Topolino. After driving through shake (their was plenty to go around for us NFAA guys unfortunately) the engine laboured to a 8.0 with Frank winning with a 7.4
After checking over the car, we found the timing had been knocked out 7 degrees and one of the magneto's had gone down! After firing the car up again and it sounded very strong, we pulled to the line in the hope of a good number. This wasn't to be as once the car launched it laboured again to a 8.3 at 160.
Monday
After a night of thinking and mulling things over, we tested the entire fuel system for leaks etc. After finding a loss in flow in the fuel system, when we fired the car it sounded strong again, but after putting the engine under load the problems were still there, and it showed during the morning run against Frank when the car didn't go up on the tyres on the burnout and fell flat on it's face on launch.
We were so disappointed we didn't even drain the oil after the run, the car just went into the trailer and we went home. As i'm typing this my father and our crew chief are in Indianapolis with no less than SIX magneto's getting them tested when they visit the US Nationals (Though they are probably in a Hooters! somewhere however!)
We should be out for the Hot Rod Drags, the site will be updated with any news. Please check the multimedia section for videos of the car from the weekend
I have to say a big congratulations to Frank for winning the meeting, to Tony Betts for setting the NFAA record once again with his 6.4, to John Wright for running Chaos' first six at well over 200mph, and finally to Neil Townson who had a dream first meeting with their re-built Northern Spirit altered. Well done guys!
See you at the track soon!
Joe and the Team
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