http://gacphotography.blogspot.com/2011/06/hey-yall-wanna-see-something-cool.html?spref=fb
Ok so, Super Chevy is coming up in two and a half weeks and we had just replaced the entire rear suspension on the Nova. Obviously, just going to a massive National meet with 350+ semi-professional and professional entries would be a joke, so we went to Numidia again on Sunday for a shakedown. Now there was much pressure for this lowly test session. Half of Plains went with us, so there were many eyes on us, Geoff and Amanda came to take photos, so we had to show off, and if we broke we had only two weeks to rebuild the car before Super Chevy, a near-impossible task. Plus Rags, one of my crew, had three stints put in his heart on Saturday and was calling in words of encouragement from a hospital bed, rather than the pits with us. We wanted to put in a good showing for him, but above all make sure the suspension was dialed in and the car went straight.
Well the massive amount of pressure wasn't on me first pass, as the Old Man decided to drive for the first run. I got to be Crew Chief, which meant I smoked alot, cursed, adjusted the carbs and air pressures and was just generally bossy. Much to my surprise, the Old Man, despite leaving at only 3500 rpms, ran the Nova out to a 10.526 at 125mph. The front end still came up, but not nearly as much, and the car went straight, more or less. I hoped in for the second pass, did a much better burnout (see above) and left at 4000rpms and ran a 10.535 at 123mph. While it was 9 thousandths of a second slower than the Old Man's pass, I had a better 60ft-time, so the suspension is really bang-on, even if the car still pulls a bit to the right on launch. After that, being so consistent, Mr. S. order us to pack up and go home, and my pleas to turn the bottle on and launch at the full 4500rpms our converter allows in an all out banzai qualifying lap were ignored. Oh well. Geoff got some stunning pictures of the front end in the air, which when you look at them, gives you a great idea of how high the car was last time out, as the Nova pulls wheelies less than half as high as before (why didn't we get a picture then! grrrrrr!).
When I retire, I'm totally becoming a team owner/crew chief. It was so fun ordering everyone around, deciding when and how we would run, and in what lane. And since the driver is always wrong, it was nice to not be wrong for once! And to have someone to blame. Yelling at the Old Man to focus when he was in the Staging Lanes was a nice ironic twist, one not lost on Mr. S. who laughed quite hard at it. I just need to train my replacement.........Any applicants?
Ok some news. The last (#300) Bugatti Veryon has been built/sold. And hear that? Yup, no one cares. Why because you can still get the convertible version, the Grand Sport, which is the same car, but a drop-top. And yeah, still nobody cares. In more interesting news Chevy has sent the Z06 around the Nurburing again, and it laid down a blistering time of 7:22! Trouble is, its not really a Z06. It is a Z06 equipped with a "Z07" package. Basically, put all the ZR1's suspension pieces on a Z06, tune the LS7 some more, and add DOT semi-slick tyres and you get the Z07, a crazy hybrid of the ZO6 and ZR1. No word on if Chevy will sell this car to the public, or for how much, but I hope so, as its badass. Probably won't happen though, because if that comes out, there is literally no reason to by a ZR1 anymore. Anyway there's a video of the run up on Youtube, but since my Youtube is trying to upload our video, I can't give you the link. Stay Tuned for it tomorrow!
And on that hideous segway, goodnight!
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