News from Midwest challenge...

[HRpartsNstuff]

Just got a call from Dave England (gold TSM car) (re-evaluating on here). I couldn't make the event like I usually do, had way too much back-orders here to catch up on. Rather keep the customers happy, than to go & be further behind when I get back. Anyway, to bring people up to date, he has some new parts (mainly T/A heads) this year, and has been fighting little issues & lack of time to sort it all out this year. Didn't do much at the Norwalk event, had an issue at the Nat's & bent a bunch of valves, couldn't really make a full pass at the BPG in salem for one reason or another & finally blew a gasket too. Just not enough free time to do all the testing & sorting out necessary this year. Did a rebuild with new rings/gaskets and a few other minor things after BPG, and went to the midwest challenge without any passes on it & after thrashing all week to get it done (all by his lonesome, since all his helpers bailed on him) .

Well, 1st pass was an easy 12 psi to make sure all was well & break it in some more, didn't say et/mph. Next pass was around 22 psi & went a 9.7x with a 1.3x 60 ft. time! He made another pass & got some MAJOR air, and felt like the steering wheel or column came loose, so he got out of it kinda fast & slammed it down. Took a chunk of concrete out I heard, but didn't hurt the car any. Turns out it was the tilt popped out of position. He went on to make the finals, and took that with a 9.9x at 136+ (spun hard on the line, 1.4x 60). He was actually approx 100# heavy too. Sorry for no exact numbers, messages & conversation wasn't great from poor phone reception out there & bad memory from really long day :frown: Basically he had a couple 9's at very conservative boost levels, and I think 3-4 passes with 60's in the 1.36-1.39 range, and mph like 136+. Just wanted to pass on he finally made some decent passes on basically a new combo, and it looks good for some fast testing later this fall! Long time overdue!!
PS- Thumbs UP on the T/A heads, working GREAT!
I will see if Dave can post details & Sun action when he gets back. Man I am missing the fun! Working till 10:00 on a sat nite sucks!

 

[72firebird]

I've got two videos of dave that are alright quality. One of them is when he came down hard on the cross member. He left his signature on the track. If someone could host them for me let me know one is about 9 mb and the other is like 8mb. Dave stood it up for everyone every time but the last one. Here's a picture that I got, moved the camera a little too quick but you get the idea.
http://home.comcast.net/~FIRE72BIRD/IMG_0993.JPG (big picture)

Was a cool event and nice to see some quick turbo buicks.

 

[gmpower6]

Got back from the races and dave blew the hell out of the motor chucks of piston and block material all over the place. Took 45min to hour to clean up.

 

[ijames]

Ouch, ouch, ouch. I'm so sorry to hear that, Dave, just when you were finally getting some clean passes on the new combo. Guess you won't be making Cecil Co this October, huh?

 

[72firebird]

Got back from the races and dave blew the hell out of the motor chucks of piston and block material all over the place. Took 45min to hour to clean up.

When did this happen? I watched him run in the final round of TSM and I think he ran like a 10.3 or so but he didn't launch nearly as hard as he did previous rounds. It sucks when things like that happen, the car was simply badass and ran like it didn't really have any problems.

 

[gmpower6]

It was today about 1:30 or 2:00. It was not good. Yeah the car is bad ass.

 

[MAX PSI]

When did this happen? I watched him run in the final round of TSM and I think he ran like a 10.3 or so but he didn't launch nearly as hard as he did previous rounds. It sucks when things like that happen, the car was simply badass and ran like it didn't really have any problems.

It happened today during quick-8. I talked to him just an hour ago. He replaced the plug wires (had a bad set) and the car picked up enough to spin the tires in high gear. The motor went to 7700 rpm hit the rev-limiter and BANG.

 

[S2V6RACER]

The motor went to 7700 rpm hit the rev-limiter and BANG.

This is not good. Sorry Dave.

 

[turbosam6]

Wow, where does he normally shift with a rev limiter at 7700?!?!

 

[top gun]

It happened today during quick-8. I talked to him just an hour ago. He replaced the plug wires (had a bad set) and the car picked up enough to spin the tires in high gear. The motor went to 7700 rpm hit the rev-limiter and BANG.

My Rossler trans hits so hard I spun the tires and kissed the rev limiter @ 8000 on the 1-2 shift at Salem last month. A well built 109 should be able to withstand some big rpm's.

Congrats on the victory Dave! You have 7 months until BG, get to work!

Looks like you need some drag radials that thing is hooking too hard.

 

[Sam Colalillo]

I've got two videos of dave that are alright quality. One of them is when he came down hard on the cross member. He left his signature on the track. If someone could host them for me let me know one is about 9 mb and the other is like 8mb. Dave stood it up for everyone every time but the last one. Here's a picture that I got, moved the camera a little too quick but you get the idea.
http://home.comcast.net/~FIRE72BIRD/IMG_0993.JPG (big picture)

Was a cool event and nice to see some quick turbo buicks.

Holy Crap !!!!!!! either that guy in the picture is a midget, or Dave pulled the tires about 5 feet off the ground.

So sorry to hear about your motor Dave, wanted to head back over to 41 again today and watch but to much other stuff going on.

Sorry to hear your working such long hours Paul, but it looked to me like all the cars that were getting really good traction at US41 had your suspension under them, so I don’t think your going to get a chance to rest any time soon.

I don’t think it would be possible for Dave to get any better traction. I got some pictures and some video clips, I’ll burn them to CD and send them to you guys. Those launches were awesome.

Should Scott add a rule to TSM, that your name has to be Dave in order to win a TSM event? Just Kidding.

 

[72firebird]

Holy Crap !!!!!!! either that guy in the picture is a midget, or Dave pulled the tires about 5 feet off the ground.

So sorry to hear about your motor Dave, wanted to head back over to 41 again today and watch but to much other stuff going on.

Sorry to hear your working such long hours Paul, but it looked to me like all the cars that were getting really good traction at US41 had your suspension under them, so I don’t think your going to get a chance to rest any time soon.

I don’t think it would be possible for Dave to get any better traction. I got some pictures and some video clips, I’ll burn them to CD and send them to you guys. Those launches were awesome.

Should Scott add a rule to TSM, that your name has to be Dave in order to win a TSM event? Just Kidding.

No the guy is standing on a slight hill. That's nothing compared to a few runs before it when he launched on 20psi instead of his normal 15. That was possibly like 4 or 5 feet or just below the stage lights on the tree.

 

[HRpartsNstuff]

Wow, what an event I picked to work thru! Got the call from Dave sun afternoon, NOT what I was hoping to hear. I believe he figured it was either towards the top of 2nd gear or on the 2-3 shift when it broke traction & started skating around on him. That stuff happens in half of a blink of an eye, so hard to figure it all out. Just glad he & the car didn't get bashed up any! That can turn real ugly real quick as we all know. He said it was on a good pull (better than the 9.7's) because it was his worst 60 ft of the event, but the 330 was a tenth & a half better!! I believe he was shifting at 6800, nothing crazy going on there. Me personally, I think he was getting into the "sweet spot" of where those bigger turbo's start to come on strong (22+ psi). He turned it up a little too, not just plug wires doing it. It had a LOT more in it, just needed a better track surface to put it to use. Norwalk in the Nov cool air would have been nice He said LOTS of people got several wheelie shots & videos of it PLEASE send anything you guys have to me, really appreciate it! I will try to post all of them I can on our site for all to see.

Don't want to speak too much for Dave, but it seems fixing it any time soon is NOT in the budget. It takes a deeper wallet than many think to have a good TSM motor put together. He might take a it to even look at it closer, too depressing! His trailer won't be rusting anytime soon Congrats to Dave anyway for putting on a great show & puttin down some great numbers!
I might try to talk him into his car & my V-8 Buick Nascar head combo for quick 16 in '06 :biggrin: That would be fun too!

 

[Nashty]

I guess the tune wasn't too conservative. How much timing was he running and what was his target A/F?

Dave's a good guy, sorry to hear about his motor but very happy he didn't end up on his roof.

 

[Turbo-Archie]

Why is it the nicest guy in the world has all the bad luck.

With some of the crap I've seen him go through over the years, I don't know how he keeps plugging along.

Sunny, I wish there was something I could do to help out. :frown:

 

[BobbyBuick]

Dave Will Be back .He needs to get away for a while and not look at the car.In all he has been thru he still is calm.
Im just glad he is ok and he didnt roll or hit the wall .He was skating bad probably goin 115 or so with oil and sharp parts spilling like mad under his slicks and car.Again Im just glad he is alright !

 

[HRpartsNstuff]

Why is it the nicest guy in the world has all the bad luck.

With some of the crap I've seen him go through over the years, I don't know how he keeps plugging along.

Sunny, I wish there was something I could do to help out. :frown:

Got to keep plugging along! No sense dwelling on the bad times or what's done already. Remember the fun times, learn from mistakes, and move ahead!

If you want to help out, sending donations would surely help

I am kinda guessing here, but his A/F ratio was definitely NOT near the edge yet, and I think timing was only around 22*. I think back to my stock ported head setup going 10.70's at 30 psi & 28* timing. Dave is a second faster with a heavier car at much more conservative levels. Just has bigger turbo, bigger heads, bigger cam, etc. It could have went low 10's on pump gas & lived a long life. Oh well, got to push it to the edge right?

 

[S2V6RACER]

It could have went low 10's on pump gas & lived a long life.)

Is this a typo??

 

[S2V6RACER]

Who took out Bamford anyways???

 

[GRNDNL]

Dave made 3 passes in a row where he had to peddle the car before the 60ft to stop it from going on the back bumper.... ....the 60fts could have been better if there was some more time to tune the wheelys out. The track went away by the end of the day and there was no way it was going to hold any HP.

Congrats to Phil and Scott for new best times (Phil in the 9's with Irons ) and of coarse Dave for being the low qualifier and Race Winner!.....