Well was supposed to be opening day at my local track, as usual they had to much rain the day prior despite being bright and sunny all today.. Found out Ohio track was opening at 12:00, left for 2:15 hr drive at 11:25, get there well after racing has started.. First pass leave at 3000 where previous owner had 7al set, 1.36 60ft, spun some, short shifted both ran 9.41 @ 147 - not to happy with that, but track is notorious for being 2/10 slow.. Next pass decide to leave at 4000, car gets real squirly just out of hole, then on 1-2 shift again - fight to stay in it, ride it out - hit slow pedal end of track - to the f'ing floor!!!!!!!!!!!!! Mind you, I have never seen the end of this track, in complete panic, try the pedal 2 more times and even hitting gas once looking for any pedal to work.. Reach for forign chute that I have never touched, yank it about 300ft from end, there is a farmers field at end that has been plowed and grown with trees about 1000ft in. . Blast into field becomming airborn a good bit, jumped an irrigation ditch, start cutting wheel to scub speed and vear from trees without rolling, trying to induce a power slide..

Finally stops!! Checking pants, all good.. Found master cylinder linkage that I had shortened fell off due to someone (not me) forgot to put carter pin back in after he inspected my work.. Car is ok it seems, towed back home stopping at lowes real fast to get some allthread and pipe to make a new linkage.. My track is supposed to open tomorrow now, we will see.
That pass was 9.38 @ 147 1.3260ft, still alot to work out, glad I am alive, just some back pain from harsh ride.. See what happens tomorrow.

 

OMG!!!!!! Dude I`m glad to hear you are ok! That is a nightmare, I can`t believe your going to go out again today, you gotta have some big hairy kahuna`s So did the chute save you or all the terrain and obstacles? I couldn`t imagine the feeling of the pedal falling to the floor at a 140+

 

Thanks! Me too
The chute helped for sure, but I would say I was still going 100+ when I hit the field.. Yeahs its not a cool feeling.. I can't imagine 157 dude! You are cooking man! Your car is completely bad a$$ man! Looks sweet, super fast, cool guy driving it! Congrats, you deserved it! I will be leaving here in about 1hr to give another go, can't say Im not worried a little.. You were right to, this thing feels like your riding a really fast skate board!! Not nearly as stable as I thought it would be..

 

Not a good way to start the season

I have a chute on my car now. Even if I don't hit 150, it's good to know it's still there in case I need it.

I'm not sure I would use threaded rod for brake linkage. It's soft metal. Regular 3/8" solid rod threaded for end pieces is better.

 

what no ebrake?? wow man, thats a scary ride! glad to see you have the car running but be careful out there!

 

Bandimere just lengthened their sand trap, changed the net arrangement, improved the walls on the sides.

Steering side-to-side is NOT the thing to do at the beach. Understand your situation was a little different, but a few years back a nitro coupe racer did that in the sand trap after his chute streamered, he'd probably still be alive today if he had just held it straight.

 

Holy cow, glad to hear everything came out as okay as it could've given the circumstances....that's a ride nobody wants to have, see, read about...luckily you had a chute to help ya out even if it did'nt have a chance to really scrub ya down.

I'm with Stephen, is'nt anyway i would consider threaded rod for a brake application, i realize the length wont be that long, but it's just too soft for my likeing given the fat your using it to exert great psi in order to stop which you life depends on....just not worth the rush to make this happen, but to each his own i guess.

 

Our local track, I'm hard on the brakes as I cross the finish to get slow enough to take the last turn. When I went to Edmonton last year, I didn't slow down fast enough to take the first turn and had to speed up to get down to the end of the track for the last turn. I think if my brakes failed in Edmonton, I could coast to a stop.

 

That's the way Gateway is too, if we go back i'm packing a cooler with a lunch for the trip back to the pits...i think i used more fuel coming back then i did going QOT for a 1/4mile...it was crazy.

 

I used 3/8" steel pipe, with the threaded rod through center for extra strength, only about 1" sticking out of edn to allow adjustability.. Believe me, it was aluminum rod threaded inside prior, alot stronger set-up now..