Goodguys Pleasanton – Nov 2011
November 14th, 2011Speed by Spectre hits Sin City – Sneak Preview of the SEMA Show 2011
October 28th, 2011Speed by Spectre’s “SPI”
October 26th, 2011We spend a lot of time on the track, whether autocrossing at Good Guys shows, skidding to a perfect brake stop or tempting fate on the wicked turns of HWY 341. Basically, we’re constantly surrounded by hot shoe drivers, from our own Brandy Morrow to friends like Brian Finch , John Hotchkis, Kyle and Stacy Tucker, Mary Pozzi or 341 double champion, Lou Gigliotti.
Recently though, we started thinking about all the great rookies we meet. When we go to shows, we meet whole families building cars together, and we really think it’s cool to talk with kids who are just getting their driving permits about their car interests and driving goals. We guess you could call them “new shoe” drivers, but we think of them as SPIs…Spectre People of Interest.
We decided that our new shoe drivers deserve as much attention as the hot shoes, so with no further ado, we’d like to introduce Sam Farrington, our very first “SPI” highlight.
Name: Sam Farrington
Age: 15 1/2
We first met Sam at the Good Guys Nashville show in May, 2011. Sam had been working his way through the passenger seat of all the vendor cars and when he ended up next to Brandy in the Carbon Camaro, she had a chance to chat with him while they prepared to run.
Sam was a pro at these Goodguys Shows. He and his family have been attending car shows and pro-touring races longer than many of us have been in the industry!
Sam’s parents Tom and Debbie are active car people. Tom has a ’66 Chevelle he races and Debbie has a ’64 Chevelle Wagon. Sam told us that both his parents encouraged him to get involved in building and working on the cars. If something on one of the cars needs to be checked, Sam is there alongside his dad looking under the hood of the car.
We ran in to Sam and his family at many more events this summer, including Run to Music City, Midwest Musclecar Challenge and Goodguys Indy. Sam was known as the “professional passenger.” He had more seat time as a passenger at the Goodguys Nashville Show than any one person did as a driver; and Brian Finch drove a lot of cars that weekend!
We spoke with Sam’s parents about his car adventures. They had been working with him on basic skills such as parking and even some autocrossing. Sam had also spent some time one summer with Detroit Speed. Kyle and Stacy had taken him in and he helped them around the shop.
Give or take a year… this kid will be kicking everyone’s butt and by the time he is 18 and allowed on a Goodguys track, all of us old timers won’t be able to keep up with Sam.
Sam impressed us because he quickly saw that you do not need a car to learn to drive and be competitive. Sam already has the experience years beyond his age. His seat time as a passenger has already helped him become a better driver. Even more so, his seat time with multiple drivers has taught him several different driving styles that he can apply to his own when he finally gets to switch seats and get behind the wheel. He’s already giving his mom and dad pointers when they take out their Chevelles. We know he’s eager to challenge his sister Kaytlin on the autocross and the skills that both Farrington kids learn on the race track will make them safer drivers on the street as well.
Keep an eye out for Spectre parts on the Farrington’s wagon and hopefully a custom install on Sam’s car when it is ready.
Spectre on the Road: Endless Summer Cruise and NSRA in Sacramento, CA
October 10th, 2011Foggy Mountain, No Breakdown: Bill Howell’s Run Through the Hills
September 26th, 2011Good Guys Speedway Nats
September 19th, 2011Holley LS Fest 2011: A Little Too Much Engine Excitement
September 12th, 2011Midwest Musclecar Challenge 2011: Hot Times in the Carbon Camaro
September 5th, 2011Good Guys Pleasanton: “Tweet” Days in Northern California
August 29th, 2011Bonneville 2011: The Challenge of 400
August 19th, 2011There’s no easy way to say it. We are done for the week and we broke pretty much everything but our spirits, and even those are a little bruised.
It’s just as much work (sometimes more) to race and lose as it is to race and win, and it’s far less satisfying. We had really hoped to bring you guys some good news and a new record.
Still, we would like to thank everyone for following along,visiting us in the pits and all the encouraging posts and phone calls.
All racing involves pushing the envelope, and at Bonneville, every run is an attempt to do something that no one has ever done before, often with parts that were never designed for the kinds of forces that record runs inflict on the machinery. In fact, the only component on the car which is “rated” for 400+ mph is our Spectre air filters, and you know, they have been working perfectly!
We’ll get a full recap video made after we pack up and get home, but in the meantime, we thought we’d mention some of the great things that happened this weekend.
We made a lot of new friends. Bonneville is one of the last “open pit” type races, and it’s a real pleasure to speak with people as they wander in to check out the car. We met some famous racers like NAPA Funny Car driver, Ron Capps,
and fellow landspeed record holders, Charles Nearburg,
and George Poteet and Ron Main. All of these guys know the drama of a new racecar shakedown!
Along with great racers, we were honored to have the company of some amazing photographers, like David Burnett, Linhbergh Nguyen and Larry Chen. We can’t wait to see all their images.
We also enjoyed meeting all the other Bonneville racers. There are big teams, little teams, families, all brought together by a common love of pure racing.
We’d like to congratulate all the teams who made it out to the salt. We know how hard it can be!
We do need to thank our crew, the many excellent media outlets who helped us tell our story and (perhaps most of all) Jacki and James, our incredible catering team. We would never have made it through the week without them!
A well-fed team is a happy team!
Next time, the record!
Bonneville 2011: In Shock from “Torque Shock”
August 19th, 2011While the crew packed up, Amir explained how much we’ve learned during the week, and how we’ll be back and ready for records next time.
Bonneville 2011: What’s in a Run
August 17th, 2011Bonneville is a pretty mysterious place. It seems like another planet, the weather is harsh and strange but when a car makes a run down the course it looks effortless and ethereal.
In reality, there’s a lot of work which goes in to every run, those that break records and those that simply break parts.
We’ve been breaking more parts than records this week, but it’s not for lack of trying. The crew had the new AA Gas engine in the car, but it looks like we’ll have to switch to the A Gas instead.
Somebody burn some sage or something and chase the bad luck away!
Anyway, while we’re moving motors around, here’s a step by step list of exactly what it takes just to make a single run.
This isn’t just something we have to do for the Speedliner. Almost every team out here has some version of the same checklist. This is a dedicated group of racers.
1.Raise the car on jacks ( These things are heavy!)
2.Test fire. This is when we check all the fluids, the computer, run through the gears, check the tire pressure, etc.
2. Put on the body panels: It takes over 300 Dzus fasteners to button up the liner.
3. Pack the Parachutes.
4. Top off the fuel.
5. Lay out the ramps.
6. Load the car
7. Load the chase car with safety gear, helmets, tools and coolers.
8. Head down to the staging lanes (about 4 miles from our pits)
9. Choose a lane: There’s a special lane for 300+ mph cars. The officials have graciously let us use it all weekend. It’s not easy to get a 38.5 ft streamliner to make tight turns, so after we unload the car, we push it up by hand.
10. Keep the cockpit cool. Unlike a modern Caddy, this car doesn’t have climate controlled seats and it can be really hot in the staging lanes. (This is actually a problem for the crew members pushing the car too, it gets warm enough to burn your hands!)
11. Put the car back on stands and warm the engine. Racing is funny, it can be 110 degrees and while the car and crew are melting, the engine oil is cold. Engine oil needs to be warm to lubricate properly.
12. Fill the intercooler with ice and water. Unlike the engine, turbos need to be kept cool.
13. Suit up the driver. Drivers wait until the last minute to get in the car, because all that fire gear is hot, and the fumes from race cars ahead in the lanes can be unbearable in the tight confines of the cockpit.
14. Strap in the driver
15. Start the car
16. Bleed the intercooler. Like a radiator, an intercooler won’t cool properly if it has air in the system. Once the water pumps are on, the crew cracks two small bleeders at the top of the intercooler and that allows the air out and the cold water in.
17. Stage the car. Staging is a bit informal, cars pull up in their lanes and officials talk to the driver, advise of wind conditions and ruts or bumps in the salt and just generally check the readiness of the team for the run.
18. Turn on the data system. Modern racers are lucky to be able to review details of rpm and tune after a run. In the old days, everything depended on a good ear and an astute driver.
19. Turn on the cameras. The RePlay HD cameras that we run at various points on the car are another helpful tuning tool. Even before reviewing the data, Steve and Courtney can hear the engine, see when the boost comes on and check on the parachute deployment.
20. Wait for the signal. This is the big moment. The starter waves us in and it’s go time.
21 Push start!
Once Kenny is enroute, the rest of the team makes a mad dash to their vehicles and races (uh, within SCTA speedlimits of course) down the return road to meet the car at the finish.
Once Kenny comes off the return road, the ramps have to come out again and the car gets loaded up on the trailer and brought back to the pits (or better yet, the impound).
Wash and Repeat.
Bonneville 2011: It’s the Little Things
August 17th, 2011So you may have noticed in the previous post that we mentioned changing the engine. Again.
We could hear the collective gasp and the question: Did you ever even make a run?
Answer, no. No, we didn’t even get to make a pass yesterday. The AA engine spun a bearing in the pits during the test run.
Those of you who are racers need no explanation, the more you push things, the more you blow up.
For those of you unfamiliar with that, less celebrated, aspect of motorsports, Amir explains the relationship between pushing the record and pushing components out the side of the block.
Never fear though, the new engine is already in!
Good Guys Joliet: From the Driver’s Seat
August 16th, 2011As the summer winds down, the racing heats up at the Good Guys shows. Spectre’s skilled hot shoe, Brandy Morrow has been on a winning streak, and we decided to let her relive the drama of her victory at Good Guys Chicagoland Nationals:
“Ryan Matthews from DSE brought intense competition to the table while driving the DSE 1963 Nova Friday and Saturday. He and I played a game of cat and mouse for two straight days. As I pulled ahead a tenth of a second, Ryan would catch up and bump me down to second place. Next round I would come back and knock him down pulling ahead another tenth of a second. This game went on for multiples laps- finally resulting in Trent from Goodguys (the coordinator of the autocross) refusing to update the score board until the end of the day for Ryan and my scores.
Phil Gerber from the Roadster Shop was a close third while driving Chris and Linda’s 1966 Chevelle. The chevelle has given everyone quite a run for their money including myself. Chris, who took first in the Street Machine class, is one phenomenal driver and is only getting better each time he comes out to an autocross event. It was also nice to see his wife Linda who was racing her Chevelle out there improving on her own times and having fun.
Saturday afternoon called for big storms. I was able to stay in first throughout the day, though Ryan ran his fastest run Saturday falling just 9/100’s of a second behind my quickest time. We would like to thank Ryan and all of DSE team for all their support for the Spectre team. If Ryan had beaten me it would have been a well deserved win, but luckily I was able to stay ahead of him by that nine-hundredths of a second. Ryan and I both agreed that the next autocross is always a new day with new competition. He is a fantastic role model to watch and learn from. Ryan has been great help throughout the year offering advice and making sure I am doing all right throughout the day. In a way it’s like having a big brother out there. He wants to help me but also wants to kick my butt! Haha.”
Congrats on holding the victory, Brandy! We’re proud of you!
Bonneville 2011: We got Class
August 16th, 2011While the crew works on the motor, Amir and Kenny tackle the paperwork. It’s not glamorous, but the reason SCTA records are so respected is because the classes are strictly defined and the officials keep track of every change.