I made 8 passes during Speed Week, all of them over 300 MPH and learned an incredible amount of knowledge on each run, as well as gaining experience and confidence. But the high level of respect and awe for the speed never diminished.
Although it seems fairly straightforward and simple there is actually a tremendous amount of pedaling and steering involved, along with counting gears, remembering what parts on the course are rough or soft and need to be avoided, looking at RPM, paying attention to the sounds of the engine and the car and being on alert for the unexpected to happen. And let me tell you, unexpected stuff happens! Boy, does it ever. To see some of this unexpected stuff log on to our blog and watch the videos at www.SpectrePerformance.com/blog
Pedaling the car is especially important in the beginning part of the run when wheel spin is at its most violent. Although you can experience wheel spin at all speeds in all gears and on every part of the course, the start is crucial. On one run I let the car go a little too much and the back end came around. I was able to catch it [ I got lucky as the car is 39' long with a rear wheel track of less than 3 feet ] and I was told later that there was a collective and loud “Ooooh” at the start line as the people who saw it thought the car was coming around. But pedaling is effective and I got the car straightened out.
Unfortunately, this also costs time and distance. The secret of Land Speed Racing is in establishing good speed early on, so that by the 3 mile mark you’re ready to get on with the program. A rule of thumb is that 10 MPH more at the front end could mean another 20 MPH or even 30 MPH through the back door, so the start and the first mile are critical. On a boosted car you don’t want to back off the throttle because you lose the boost. But when you get wheel spin you have to save the car. What do you do? You consult an experienced driver like we have on our team; Kenny Hoover, and he tells you a “secret” that allows you to maintain boost and keep the car relatively straight. What is that secret? I can’t tell you, it’s a secret. But I can tell you that it works. Thank You Kenny!
The next part of the run is to bring each gear to its designated redline and get to top gear [ 5th in our case ] as fast as possible. For me, that means that once 100% throttle is established in 1st gear, it stays that way through the next 4 gears, all at 100% throttle. The idea is to never lift. One obvious reason is that you can’t go fast if you lift. Another is that if you take enough load off of an air shifted Liberty transmission, it can pop out of gear into neutral, and the run is done.
Then there is steering the car and remembering what gear you’re in. Steering is done very gently. I hold the cut down wheel we use with a thumb and one finger, very lightly. The car looks for ways to try and go off course, and you have a 90′ wide track, and for the most part you let it take you where it wants to go until you start getting close to one side and then you need to gently bring it back. In some cases I went through the last 1-1/2 miles with the steering wheel crossed up at 90ยบ, one hand on top, one on the bottom. This is not comfortable with a butterfly style wheel intended to move only an inch or so in either direction. But that’s what it took to keep the car going straight. This can be caused by a cross wind, or the condition of the salt, or who know what. Oh, and when that happens both hands are now clenching the wheel, no more of that gentle finger and thumb crap. It also means that the shift light and tach are covered up, so you rely on remembering what gear you’re in and the sound of the engine.
So, how hard can it be to count the gears? There are only 5 of them. You start off in first by releasing the clutch, matching revs and then need to shift only 4 more times with the air shift button; 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th. One, two, three, four. Really now, how hard can this be? Well, I must be a moron because I found it incredibly difficult. And I wasn’t the only one. I met a guy in impound who after struggling with this problem for years finally gave up and converted his car to an automatic transmission. And after a few beers many other drivers will also admit to this problem. I think I know why this is so.
