Good performance on the track is almost as much about driver seat time as it is about car prep. On Jan 31st we headed out to Willow Springs Raceway in Rosemond, Ca to work on both cars and drivers.
Our new track cars for the 2011 season include the Two JZ-GTE powered ’70 Maverick and the long awaited Carbon Camaro. Both cars are high horsepower pro-touring style builds and have been up north most of this year, the Camaro at Campbell Auto Restoration and the Maverick in the capable hands of Steve Schmalz and the Performance Fabrication crew.
The guys from both Campbell and Performance Fabrication came down with the cars to get some track time and test some of the recent upgrades. Steve from Performance Fab. started the morning in the Maverick on the Streets of Willow roadcourse, while Brandy, Mike and Mark set up a mini autocross on the skid pad and practiced running the Camaro through the cones.
The black Camaro looked pretty menacing carving around the practice course, with its one-off wheel flares and beefy 345/30ZR19 rear Kumhos. That vicious stance isn’t all show either; our newest 2nd gen has more horsepower, lots of traction, and a full modern suspension with customized adjustable rear sway bar. It’s also the first Spectre car in a long time to have power steering and power brakes, two additions which make a BIG difference on the tight turns of an autocross. Brandy finished up the practice session with a lot of enthusiasm about driving the car in upcoming events.
Steve came in off the road course a little less thrilled with the Maverick. Apparently the little blue Ford was acting up with twitchy steering and unpredictable handling. It looked very cool on the autocross though, even picking up a front wheel around the corners!
Everyone had better reviews once the Camaro hit the road course. There were a few clearance issues with the wide rear tires when the car was driven hard, but some minor adjustments in the pits soon cleared up any chafing. It was funny to see so many people under the cars, discussing possible solutions to both the Maverick’s handling tendencies and the Camaro’s tire rub problem. We really have an amazing group of people working with us.
Not only are there great people wrenching on the cars, but we are lucky enough to be working with some fantastic photographers too. Larry Chen and Linhbergh Nguyen from Speedhunters joined us at the track to take some photos and make a few laps of their own.
Larry brought his roommate, Yu-Chen in an Acura RSX, and they spent almost as much time on the track as we did. Larry rode with Yu-Chen and gave him some quick tips while the Spectre team was working on the cars. Yu-Chen picked up the racing line quickly and was noticeably faster by the time lunch arrived.
Why was he so quick?
“Video games,” he told us with a grin.
After lunch, Brandy and Mike took turns on track in the Camaro while Steve and Mark discussed options for improving the Maverick’s touchy handling characteristics.
By sunset, the team had a full eight hours of driving under their belts, and a solid plan for modifications and additions to both cars. We’ll find out the results soon, as our first competitive event, Run to the Coast is coming up this weekend!
Now in its 61st year, the Sacramento Autorama is “The Kustom Capital of the World” and boasts the title of one of longest running indoor car shows in the world. The Autorama is recognized as the custom car show on the West Coast. With over 450 of the finest custom cars, hot rods, classics, motorcycles, and specialty vehicles from around the county, there’s a good reason why people have been attending this show for over 60 years.
Of course, at Spectre, everything we do is an adventure, and as we packed up for the Autorama, the process of getting out of the Spectre parking lot and on our way to Sacramento was an adventure all by itself. It was like a reality TV Show; one thing after another just kept going wrong. How hard can it be to drive to a car show?
The plan was for the Toterhome to represent us in Sacramento. It had just been wrapped with our new logos, but was only partially finished. It looked good though, so we started to pack Wednesday with hopes to get out Thursday morning. When the toter pulled into the Spectre lot Wednesday morning, we had our first hurdle. Not only was the Jake brake not working, a taillight was out and then something went wrong with the alternator!
The toter went in to the shop to get repaired late Wednesday afternoon, but it would never be done in time for a 400 mile drive! Knowing that the show started Friday at noon, we reloaded our new truck as quickly as possible and got Steve out on the road.
Steve arrived in Sacramento around 8:30 on Thursday night and parked the truck, but our troubles weren’t over, because the space for the truck was just slightly smaller than our display. After some creative maneuvering, Steve was able to park the truck although we had to move the Churro stand. Seriously, do these things happen to anyone else?
Despite the slow start, once the show started we had a blast. The attendance was great and the truck was filled with people.
Since the show is all indoors, it attracts a lot of amazing customs and builders. Trailer queens get a bad name, but some of these cars are really pieces of art!
Each section of building had a different display. We saw bicycles and children’s push cars, muscle cars, and even a boat hall. There were also tons of vintage racers, a Bonneville car, and rows of motorcycles. Outside the race car display was a tent that featured a whole rockabilly scene with cars of the 50’s and people dressed to match.
On Saturday Spectators lined the entrances waiting for 10am to come and the gates to open. The truck and trailer were consistently crowded throughout the day. People were even coming in at 7 and 8pm, just to have an hour of viewing time. There were about 100-150 participant cars outside in the car corral. There were several cars with Spectre intakes on them, which always makes us happy!
The show stayed busy all weekend and by Sunday afternoon, we were ready to pack up and head home. Even though we had a rough ride up, we think this show was a great sign for the coming months. People know who we are, they are interested in our products and it seems like the car hobby is going to have a good year.
The first Good Guys shows are in March. We can’t wait!
At Spectre, we work closely with the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) as well as with the automotive media. We were able to catch up with both industry and editors at the 2011 MPMC Conference in El Segundo.
MPMC stands for Motorsports Parts Manufacturers Council, and they are an amazing group of people who work tirelessly to arrange time for manufacturers and journalists to meet and talk about project cars and new products without the distracting background of the SEMA show. We’ve attended the conference since 2007 and find it extremely valuable.
As always, our marketing genius, Brandy, transformed our hotel room into a complete showroom experience. The display featured some of the new 2011 Spectre parts, the Streamliner at Bonneville and photos from the Spectre 341 Challenge. Did you know an upside-down hotel couch makes an excellent product display when covered with black cloth?
During the conference, we sat in our decorated hotel suite and had meetings with automotive magazine editors, filmmakers, freelancers, TV shows, and websites. It’s fun to hear all about people’s project cars and trucks, and to tell them about our upcoming events and products.
The Spectre 341 Challenge was a popular topic during all of our meetings. Most people we spoke to either wanted to come out to the event themselves, or knew of someone they planned to invite. It’s going to be an amazing race this year.
Every year there is an afterparty mid-week. Last year we hosted at the Spectre facility but this year Source Interlink Publishing (SORC) held an open house at their new offices and workspace in El Segundo. It was a great night. Their workshop is very cool, and they had many of the legends of publishing and motorsports signing the latest SORC book, HOT ROD Magazine: All the Covers, with the profits going to charity.
SORC also invited us to display the SpeedLiner in the massive white photo bay. Amir came out and had such a good time he didn’t leave until early the next morning!
Overall, it was a very worthwhile week, and we are looking forward to getting all our magazine subscriptions this year. We know there are going to be some great stories.
Like all celebrities, the Spectre SpeedLiner has no off-season. When the menacing black landspeed car isn’t on the salts of Bonneville, it is drawing attention at trade conference or providing a conversational focus point in a TV interview.
The SpeedLiner started off the year surrounded by a different kind of white groundcover, snow! The Spectre team set up at the Advance Managers Conference in Nashville in the middle of the worst snowstorm in years!
Despite the weather, many other manufacturers were present, including our friends at Peak and Mobil. The SpeedLiner got a lot of attention, and spirits were high, although attendance was down from previous years.
After the show, Mike packed up the parts and the car and headed for the TV studios of RTM Productions in Franklin, about 30 minutes from Nashville. The crew dropped off the SpeedLiner in the garage at RTM to await Amir and Brandy’s arrival a week later.
If any of you are unfamiliar with RTM, it is a television production company specializing in automotive, outdoor, and entertainment programming. They shoot many of the automotive shows seen on Spike and Speed TV, and they asked Amir to come do an interview about landspeed racing.
We were worried the Speedliner wouldn’t fit in the studio, but amazingly it did, with just a little room to spare! More amazing yet is that Amir sat still for the make-up lady, although as the pictures show, he was less than thrilled about the leopard print bib.
The interview with RTM host, Courtney, is great. They talked about everything, including how Amir got involved with Bonneville, why he does it, what was it like to go over 400mph and how setting a landspeed record helps us make better airfilters for our customers.
Don’t miss the first airing of the Horsepower TV interview February 26th & 27th on the Spike TV Network!
As we’ve mentioned before, Pleasanton, CA is close to home for many of the Spectre team, including our fearless leader, Amir Rosenbaum.
The Autumn Get Together was very well attended, partially because it is one of the few Good Guys events which allows late model American cars as well as classics.
We had our hands full at the booth fielding questions from diverse groups of truck, Lowrider and modern muscle car owners.
The plan was to run the Maverick in the weekend autocross, but the busy booth meant that the Spectre autocross team spent most of Saturday answering tech rather than running through the cones. It was probably for the best, as Thursday’s test runs had brought up a couple of tire rub issues.
Happily, we were well represented on the course by Mary Pozzi, Deanna Marengo and other skilled Spectre friends.
Brandy did get to run the track on Sunday in a “borrowed” 2010 Dodge Charger. It was a bit different from the normal Spectre rides, but it made a lot of noise and gave Brandy an appreciation for her well-sorted race car!
As always, we saw some great builds done using Spectre products, and did several installs in the booth. We were happy to host the Spectre winner of the Motorator.com Crew Chief Challenge during the show. As a runner up in the Motorator online tech contest, we gave Alex and his family passes to the show as well as a Spectre CAI for his ‘68 Mercury Cougar.
Amir and his family came out to join us in the booth and it quickly became clear that the young Rosenbaums take after their parents. After a quick morning introduction, 11-year old Adam Rosenbaum was talking to customers, explaining product details and selling parts. We’re going to have to bring him on the road with us!
The Pleasanton show was bitter-sweet, as it is one of the last shows of the year, but we won’t mope for long. 2011 looks to be our busiest show year yet! We can’t wait.
Sunday at LS Fest was a hot-rodders dream day. The weather was perfect, the sun was shining, it was warm and there was Autocross, Speed Stop Challenge, Top Speed Challenge and drag racing!
The booth was busy all day with spectators and customers. Brandy turned the driving duties over to Mike so she could talk filters and take photos.
There was a lot of action to photograph. There was a drift exhibition and tons of cool drag cars. Participants in the Speed Stop Challenge and Top Speed Challenge were starting to get pretty serious too. On Saturday, a lot of people stopped short; not knowing where the stop box started and when they needed to brake. The few that had competed in this event before started going the other way, getting a little too confident! Brian Finch proved that in his second gen yellow Camaro as he came up too quick on the stop box, went sideways and continued through the box only to complete a 180 deg spin and drive the remainder of the drag strip backwards.
By Sunday it was a whole different story. Everyone had caught up to speed and competition was fierce. Although Jeff Schwartz was unable to attend the event, he sent some of his guys out with two of their cars. Mike was really pushing Schwartz’s 1965 Pontiac Tempest on the Brake Stop Challenge. Even Holley had their truck on the course competing.
A lot of the participants were running Spectre components. Bret Voelkel of RideTech and Greg Schneider used a couple of Spectre tubes, a Spectre shield and a Spectre filter to create a custom true cold air intake on their ’66 Chevelle after completing an LS swap in the car. The filter shield was added to the filter to help block the mud and debris that was getting kicked up from the tire since the filter sits right in front of the passenger front tire.
Another Spectre customer had come to our booth and wanted to see if one of us could come to his car and see what he had done with our product. He was not racing, but had come for the car show portion of LS Fest. Unfortunately, we did not get his name, hopefully we’ll see him at another show. His custom intake was pretty innovative!
Awards came at the end of the day. Mark Stielow won the Spectre Top Speed Award with a top speed of 87 MPH. Brian Finch came in second. Mark Steilow also walked away as the overall winner. Since Mark had to leave early, Yancy Johns accepted both his awards. We can’t wait to see what the competition is like next year!
Major props to Holley and FM3 Marketing for organizing and promoting the event. We were all really impressed with the magazine and television coverage. Next year will probably be bigger with ten times more participants. We are really looking forward to next year, hopefully we’ll be featuring our rebuilt LS powered 2nd gen “Carbon Camaro”.
Saturday started out perfectly. There were scattered showers on the forecast, but the morning was dry and competition on the autocross was serious. There were way more competitors than the day before, lined up and ready to run. The SCCA Autocross chapter that helped run the autocross was extremely helpful. The main instructor, and course designer, was busy the entire day jumping in and out of cars, giving people tips. He had good advice, after his lessons, drivers were improving by a second or more! He even joined Brandy in the El Camino for one round to give some pointers on some of the decreasing radius turns on the course.
Brandy drove all morning, but it isn’t all racing and fun for the Spectre crew. We were there to work, and it was time for the Spectre Top Speed Challenge. This was the first event where we decided to tie in the Top Speed challenge with Baer Brakes SpeedStop Challenge and it went really well. although it did mean that we had no time to send a driver out to participate in the drag racing, or to watch the Engine Swap contest, which we heard was very cool!
Maybe it’s a good thing we weren’t able to make it on to the drag strip, Nick Licata, editor of Camaro Performers, broke his driveshaft while on the track mid afternoon! Everyone pulled together to get the car off the track safely. Some people might have called it a day, but Nick is a racer, and he had one goal, get back on the track! Nick was about to have a driveshaft shipped next day from California, but the car gods were friendly and he and fellow writer, Steve Rupp, found one locally.
One of the engineering/ mechanic schools that had competed in the Engine Swap contest offered to help Nick replace the driveshaft that night and everyone signed the broken driveshaft the next day as a little memory of the event.
One of the coolest things about LS Fest is how focused the participants are on racing, yet everyone pitched in and helped each other out. As we are becoming a familiar sight at so many events, the Spectre booth ends up being a hang-out for journalists and other racers. We opened the lounge in the truck for our media pals to store their equipment, parked cars under our awning, and sat around joking with everyone, telling stories and building memories.
It’s great to see folks like Bret and Greg from RideTech, Stacy from DSE, the crew from Holley, our own team and so many old friends. Some of the usual participants like Brian Finch and Yancy Johns came out with their cars as well. Brian Finch debuted his version two Spectre Cold air intake at the LS Fest. Brian already had a couple of our parts on the yellow Camaro, but was adding on to the kit to make it a true cold air intake. This was Yancy’s first event driving his 2010 camaro that he just got back from Steve Rupp and Camaro Performers. We hope to install an intake within the next month or so or do a custom kit on his car.
We had time to chat, because around 3pm the rain came back. It came down in buckets, but luckily only lasted a short time. By Sat evening the racing was back on, and we were able to see the
Prostock cars run for the first time. Very cool.
The Inaugural Holley LS Fest in Bowling Green Kentucky should have been non-stop auto action. After all, this celebration of all LS powered vehicles has participants spending three days competing for the grand championship through a series of events including drag race, autocross, 0-60-0 speed stop challenge, show-n-shine and a scavenger hunt cruise. On Friday morning however, the only thing that was thundering on the track was the rain. It was pouring!
Everyone was sure the day would (literally) be a wash-out, but after RideTech tested the course and a couple changes were made, the autocross course was finally opened late in the afternoon. The course was soaked, with enormous puddles everywhere.
We were all surprised they were going to let us run the course since it was still sprinkling, and at first the action was nuts. Our fearless driver Brandy Morrow was in the El Camino and initial runs were on the wild side. She wasn’t the only one all over the course, drivers were spinning out, going sideways, it was quite a show.
Brandy’s first reports on the El Camino were concerns about how the rear kept coming loose. Even a small application of the gas pedal sent the car sideways. Never afraid of a challenge, and with the help of co-driver Mike Morrow, Brandy got used to the wet weather handling and started drifting the course, letting the back end come around on the tight corners.
Even dry, the course was one of the more challenging configurations we’ve come across this year. Many of the competitors struggled at first. There were a lot of DNF’s the first couple times (including Brandy). Rather than making a complete run through the course one way, this course required drivers to complete a 360 degree turn, only to go back the same way, retracing the route, and exiting through the finish line. It was a quick course, with times in the low minute range once the water dried up. The tight turns and the giant puddles made it popular with the photographers, if not with the drivers!
After toweling off, competitors jumped back in their cars for the cruise and scavenger hunt. Each participant had to drive around the town looking for items on their checklist and taking pictures of the items as they found them. The weather forecast looked promising for Sat so we crossed our fingers and looked forward to morning.
Spectre Performance announces 2nd annual hill climb road race challenge where the fastest street cars on earth will race up infamous Nevada Highway 341
When: June 17-19, 2011 Where: Nevada Highway 341, South of Virginia City, NV More Info: Available soon at www.Spectre341Challenge.com
Spectre Performance is heading back to Virginia City for the second running of the Spectre 341 Challenge on one of the most technical and thrilling mountain roads in the United States. After a stellar turnout at the inaugural event in 2010 that included world-famous drivers and high-profile media coverage, the 2011 event promises to be even better with a variety of exotic cars and new activities. The race, set for June 17-19, 2011, will pit supercars, muscle cars and imports against the clock in a full-throttle blast up the mountain road, which will be closed to the public for the event.
The Speed by Spectre 341 Challenge is a rare opportunity to drive flat-out on one of the most technical and aggressive stretch of mountain road in the country, without the worry of oncoming traffic or law enforcement. The paved course is 5.2 miles long with 22+ turns, a 1,216-foot rise in elevation, steep drop offs and no guardrails! Vehicles must be street-legal and registered. Tires must be DOT legal. Event highlights will include a track talk, warm up laps, class qualifying, a car show and parade through the iconic old-west style mining town, two days of racing and a banquet for all participants. The road will be closed for racing in coordination with local agencies, and once again competitors will have a chance to be inducted into the exclusive “3:41 Club” if they can crack the three-minute, forty-one second barrier.
“This is one of the only events in the world where a driver can show up with a street car and truly test the vehicle and themselves in a real-world environment,” says Spectre Performance founder Amir Rosenbaum. “We are in the speed business – we engineer and sell cold air intakes for muscle cars and late model vehicles. This is more than a race – it’s about having fun. We work with FM3 Marketing to present a professional, well-organized, fun weekend at a cool old-west town where the entire family can show up, hang out with other car nuts and have a great time. The 2011 Spectre 341 Challenge will feature even more racing and family activities.”
The original Virginia City Hill Climb was founded in 1972 and run through 2002. Rosenbaum holds the all time record for the event, running the course in three minutes, ten seconds in a Ferrari F40. Six new members were inducted into the 3:41 Club in 2010.
This Lancer Evo RS was one of the fastest vehicles at the Spectre 341 Challenge, thanks to a host of subtle engine and chassis mods and a Reno-based driver who knows Highway 341 like the back of his hand. That combo of experience, power and AWD created a nearly unstoppable and shockingly consistent competitor, and everyone in attendance was thrilled to watch Jeremy Kappus run.
World famous race car driver Steve Millen gives us a tour of his Stillen Nissan GT-R rally car at the Spectre 341 Challenge in Virginia City, Nevada. The Stillen #10 car was one of the fastest competitors at the event and and Steve is now a member of the exclusive 3:41 Club.
The Inaugural Spectre 341 Challenge
By Amir Rosenbaum – Founder
Mark Gillies, Car & Driver Executive Editor and accomplished race car driver extraordinaire looked me in the eye and murmured something to the effect of; “You know, they lose at least one a week at the Nürburgring…… ”
No, I didn’t known that.
Was that supposed to be comforting?
It was 4:45 pm. Our First Spectre 341 Challenge had just finished and the last 2 cars were up on the course. The paramedics and fire truck crews stationed at the top and bottom of the hill had packed up their stuff and were ready to pull out and go home when the call came in on the radio “……… car over the side……… ”
Shit!
The Spectre 341 Challenge is a very unique happening in that it is very real. It is all about reality. And I’m not talking about reality TV, which is anything but real. Reality consists of intangibles. The human condition consists of intangibles. We are all irrational illogical creatures trying to act rational and logical. But we can’t. We live in a super high tech world where we try to break everything down into precisely defined measurements using micro-metrics and nano-bytes. And while we are able to measure just about everything, the most important stuff, the intangible stuff, can’t be contained within any sort of metric.
The Spectre 341 Challenge is a 5.2 mile mountain road with 22 [ or so ] turns and is most emphatically not a race track. It wasn’t designed by a race track designer, it was built to conform organically to the side of a mountain so that ore carts, and later, trucks, could bring their deposits to a place where they could be processed.
It is as real a road as you will ever encounter anywhere, other than probably the Nürburgring. None of the turns are the same. The camber of the roadway changes radically, for no rhyme or reason. From afar, some of the straight sections of roadway look like a long piece of orange Hot Wheels track, twisting back and forth. Never straight or flat. A “correct” line here means avoiding the snow markers, which are sometimes positioned right where you would want to apex a corner. And sometimes not. And they get replaced every few years with new ones that crop up in different spots.
There are very few guardrails. None where you think they should be. There are no run-off areas, no tire walls, no hay bales, no berms, no nothing. The drop offs are everywhere and they are unforgiving.
It certainly wasn’t an easy event to put on. On our first day, just as we were scheduled to start running it started to rain. That’s right, in the Nevada desert. In June! Are you kidding me? This cannot be happening. Rain? Really? Or, I guess, reality.
And then it stops raining, and we are about to flag our first car on the course when the paramedic van and fire truck pull out, sirens blaring and lights flashing. WTF? Turns out that if there is a highway emergency nearby, and they are the closest, they get the call. And of course reality dictates that a highway emergency will occur just when you are about to start. But we paid for them to be here! For us! Doesn’t matter, someone needs them more than we do, and so off they go. And we don’t go. Man, this reality is starting to suck.
After only 20 minutes or so the fire truck and paramedic van returned and we finally got going. By Saturday afternoon we had logged 204 runs. That is truly amazing and a testament to all the time, hard work and professionalism invested by our crew at Spectre Performance and the terrific organizers we hired; Jimi Day and Wally Olczac of FM3 Marketing.
In 2002, after 13 years of running the hill, I set an all time record of 3:10 in my not so highly modified Ferrari F40. Everyone thought it was highly modified. OK, we ran a cheater hose from the waste gates to fool them into thinking the car was at sea level, which increased the boost a little. That’s about it. The secret to running so fast? It’s all in the intangibles……..
So everyone is asking me what I think about the possibility of my record getting broken. And I respond with a pat answer, something like “yeah, well, you know, records are meant to be broken……..”
What a crock.
The truth is I had already started to put my F40 back together after running it on the Bonneville Salt Flats at over 220 MPH. I’ll be ready and running at the Second Annual Spectre 341 Challenge in 2011. You can count on it!
Records are be made to be broken my ass.
But this year, for the Inaugural Spectre 341 Challenge, we had a bunch of phenomenal drivers, awesome cars and some very very fast times. Here they are, from the top of the hill:
Mark Gillies, from Car & Driver magazine showed up in a 2010 Viper ACR. It is a “borrowed” car, on loan from Chrysler/Dodge/Fiat whatever they are called now.
I wonder, what did he tell them he was going to do with this car? A road test? Check the mileage? Well, yeah, this would be a test all right. The car shows up with 80 tread-wear tires, and for this, our first inaugural event, we had spec’d a 100 tread-wear minimum. We decide to let him run in an exhibition class, and what an exhibition it was! A 3:19. First time ever on this hill. What does this mean? It means that Mark Gillies is a very very competent race and street car driver, possessing intangible skills that cannot be honed on race tracks. This is a street racer’s street racer. Mark got 14 runs in, as well as the two fastest times. Until you come here and drive the course, you can’t really imagine how fast a 3:19 is for a first time driver. Or for any driver. Hopefully Mark will be back next year, with boost. If he does, he’ll be way faster. This guy is really good. The real deal. And, Mark gets inducted into the Spectre 3:41 Club, of course.
The official First Place, with a time of 3:21 goes to Lou Gigliotti in his super bad 2010 Corvette ZR1, bristling with all sorts of LG Motorsports parts and exhausting what smelled an awful lot like what you smell at the airport when jets take off. Lou got to run a total of 13 times, another first timer at the hill, but with a pair of 3:21’s and a pair of 3:22’s, he got it going on in a big way. No small thanks to hill veteran and ultra fast driver himself, Guy Cunningham, who would have competed more this year, except he and his lovely wife Soraja handled all of our catering. Guy gave Lou a ride in the Griggs Racing GR40 Mustang, and Lou, consummate professional and quick study that he is, promptly knocked 6 seconds off of his times, and cinched 1st place and membership into the Spectre 3:41 Club.
Second place for 2010, with a time of 3:22, goes to Steve Millen. Yes, that Steve Millen, of IMSA, LeMans and Pikes Peak fame and owner of the super parts company Stillen. Steve brought a race prepped looking Nissan GT-R, a crew, and enough pre-event smack talk to embarrass a politician leading in the polls, boasting on his website that not only were they going to beat the record, they were possibly going to go under 3 minutes. Then reality struck. It looks like the Kiwi gets to eat crow, right? No, not so fast [ hah, pun! ]. See, Steve and crew had to rush the car to the event, and also worry about having to prep it and stick it on a boat on the Tuesday morning after for an event in Steve’s homeland, New Zealand, which meant that the car showed up on its stock Bridgestone run flat tires that weigh probably 65 lbs. each and have the frictional grip of olive oil on a Teflon pan. Steve only took 9 runs, declaring the course “greasy” and stopping early.
If you don’t understand the value of tires, then you can’t possibly understand the heroics pulled off by Steve in running a 3:22. This is not the proverbial knife at a gunfight. This is bringing a note from your Mum to the gunfight. Steve says he’ll be back next year, with a second car for son Kyle too, and tires that do more than just hold air. I can’t wait. Steve gets a Spectre 3:41 Club membership as well.
Third place is probably the most impressive to me; local boy Jeremy Kappus in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo RS, with some modifications, sure, but at the end of the day it’s still a 4 cylinder car up against these monster engined machines. Jeremy ran a 3:25.5 on Saturday afternoon. He had already run a 3:25.8 on Friday. In fact, on Friday, at the end of the day, he had the fastest time of anyone. Most of his 14 runs were in the 3:27/3:26 range, so he is not only very fast, he is also very consistent. And like I already said, just outstanding! It is an honor to present Jeremy with membership into the Spectre 3:41 Club.
Next up: Guy Cunningham, a veteran of the hill, who ran 3:28 in the Grigg’s Racing 2007 GR40 Mustang. I am sure that were it not due to his catering commitment, for which we are all grateful, Guy would have run even faster yet. And even though Guy was already a 3:41 Club member since 1999, he did improve his time by 1 second.
Ezra Dyer, one of the funniest car journalists I know, showed up in another “loaner” car, a bone stock 2010 Porsche Turbo. With only 9 runs, due to having to leave early to catch a plane, Ezra beat the living daylights out of this showroom fresh [ not anymore ] car with a best time of 3:33 and membership into the Spectre 3:41 Club. That’s at an average speed of almost 88 MPH. That’s average. Many of the corners are marked at 25 MPH, so even if you triple that, it’s honking fast.
Our last 2010 entry into the 3:41 Club goes posthumously to Alexander Djordjevic with a time of 3:36, run on Friday, in a highly modified Porsche 996 Twin Turbo. In order to respect the families’ wishes, I will only say that this was a tragic and unfortunate incident that is all too real. Our heartfelt thoughts and prayers go out to his friends and family.
Besides the 3:41 Club inductees, there were several other drivers of note that helped make this event so special: J.P. Rademacher, in a Subaru WRX STi had the most number of runs with 20! I believe he had to go get gas twice in order to accomplish this feat.
Another local boy, Adam Auerbach brought out what is probably the most intensely engineered GMC Syclone on the planet. You have to see the pictures to believe it. Truly an epic exercise in performance engineering.
Gaetano Cosentino brought out a beautiful ‘69 Camaro and Jeff Smith brought his ageless ‘65 Chevelle and both guys ran under 4:00 minutes, with 3:59 times, which is incredible when you think that this is their first time on the hill, driving cars that are over 40 years old! Seriously, is there any worry about metal fatigue? Lack of technology? Who needs technology? Check out the photos as these are some of the best looking cars on the hill for sure, and they are very fast too.
But those cars are spring chickens compared to Dean Smith’s 1952 DeSoto. Hey, that car is 58 years old! And he ran at an average speed of almost 70 MPH.
Jody Takagi drove 15 hours straight from Seattle in her Boxster, after being nominated by her Forum group (6-speed Online), and then did them proud by running a very respectable 4:22 with an average speed of 71 MPH. This is an excellent result for a first timer at the hill, who brought her mom for moral support. Jody livened up the weekend with her enthusiasm and infectious smile. We want her back for sure! And mom too.
One other mention I need to highlight is Paul Feeny, who couldn’t bring the car he wanted to bring, so instead he bought a Miata on eBay for $202.50 and brought that, and ran a 4:14 at almost 74 MPH, and for sure got the best bang for the buck of anyone. That’s real too.
We will be announcing the dates and rules for the 2011 Second Annual Spectre 341 Challenge very soon. We’re planning for a bigger and better event next year where once again, we try to define the intangibles of what is the fastest street car on a real road, ever. In the mean time, keep it real.
Jeff Smith of Car Craft Magazine brought his road race prepped 1965 Chevelle road race car to the Spectre 341 Challenge hill climb. From Silver State to countless track events, Jeff and this car literally helped start the pro-touring movement, so it was fun watching the heavy Chevy scream up the mountain.
Ezra Dyer of Automobile Magazine showed up at the 341 Challenge with a brand new 2010 Porsche 911 Turbo, and after acclimating himself to the road, he promptly logged a series of blistering runs that secured his membership in the exclusive 3:41 Club.
Jody Takagi raced up the hill in her modified Porsche Boxster S, and was selected by 6-speed online to represent the online community at the event. One of the coolest competitors at the hill climb, Jody showed all the boys what a woman in a Porsche can really do.
