Glad to here you can make it to Ocala. Just looked some weather forecasts - most are calling for a 40-50% chance of showers. Great.
Glad to here you can make it to Ocala. Just looked some weather forecasts - most are calling for a 40-50% chance of showers. Great.
That forecast is generally every day in FL, the normal rainy season is over but we do occasionally get rain that last a hour or so and then the sun is back. I wouldn't worry just yet, weather here can change quickly. I only signed up for Sunday so hopefully that's a clear day so I can get in a few passes. I normally park on right side of runway in the grassy areas just past starting area, driving Ram 2500 and silver colored enclosed trailer, come over and hang out if you have some time.
Good Luck in your runs!!!, keep me posted , see you at nve 4!!!!
Thanks, I will definitely let you know how it goes on the 26th, the 20th won't be any big numbers. We are just trying to make sure there are no issues with the build so maybe some 150 to 175 MPH runs at the most. I have such little time between those dates I can't take a chance breaking it in Ocala. You need to come run one of the days out at KSC, see what that snake will do.
More progress from Jamie and his crew on prepping the car. Fire suppression bottles mounted and auto/manual nozzles are being positioned, new windshield has been installed, removable Momo steering wheel installed, bracket for shoulder harness and seat support has been fabricated, lots of just tedious little details that have to be attended to so we are ready to run it. Honestly don't think this thing would have ever happened without Jamie and his guys planning out the entire process from cage to lug nuts. I feel like I have the easy part, strap in and work the pedals. Here are a few more pictures of the progress. I really appreciate all the support from everyone, hope that the attempt at 250 doesn't disappoint.
New Windshield Installed.jpg
Harness Mount and Seat Support.jpg
Body Panels Installed.jpg
Fire Suppression Bottles Mounted.jpg
Yeah I'm coming down regardless - staying at the Howie J in Ocala. I'll look for you Sunday.
Holy moly that cage is gorgeous
We loaded up and went to Wanna Go Fast in Ocala on last Sunday. Our main purpose was to do a few shakedown runs, make sure all the changes didn't cause any issues. I just expected to maybe do a few 150 MPH passes as I didn't want to take any chance of breaking something before our 250 MPH attempt. We unloaded the car about 11 and got in line, I got a friend in a SC Camaro to stage beside me with the understanding he would leave first so if I got loose I would be behind him. I leave the line and it doesn't take long to realize I have no traction control, car is just spinning tires, I go to second, more of the same and that went on for 2 more gears. I think that run ended up at 173 MPH. Back to the trailer and we all are discussing what is wrong. We look at the traction control switch and realize it's in the off position and back I go for the second run with it switched on. This was going to be a 190-200 MPH run except for the fact it was a repeat of the first run, so we learned it's something else besides the switch. I think that run was 177 or so. At this point I'm second in manual class and 1.48 MPH out of first. I decide while the experts are discussing what is wrong I will go back out and run some more. It's actually a little fun to have a car on the edge, kind of forces you to drive it a little bit. I turn the HP down, go to position 3 in the tune and run a 183+ with the car still spinning as I crossed the line. That put's me in 1st of 32 cars. I decide if position 3 is faster than maybe position 2 is better with even less HP so I switch and go again. Turns out position 2 is set up for 93 and I'm running C16, it pulls a lot of timing and although the car spins less it also is slower. That run was my slowest of the day at 164. So what we learned from the day was we have to fix that traction control issue, everything else worked great, and the driver has little if any control of that right foot. I'm so use to NA and progressive nitrous cars which are very linear/predictable and this car is about as far from that as they come. I think once the traction control system is back and we program in some boost by speed I will not have any issues taking it to big speeds.
Wanna Go Fast 10-20-19.pdf
I think we have the traction control issue worked out. We are wrapping up some other things to include the chute mount, long wheel studs/open lugnuts, tires balanced, alignment and putting together some spare parts we may need out at the runway. At this point as long as the weather is good we expect to make multiple passes on Sunday from 1/2, 1 and 2.3 miles. I had calculated it should do 250 in 1.25 to 1.5 miles so the plan is to use the 1/2 and 1 mile runs to gather data and make adjustments for the 2.3 mile run. Plan is to ease out about a mile and then make the run and if it doesn't reach 250 then maybe ease out 3/4 of a mile and see how that works out. I feel good about our chances of breaking 250 but we all know that everything has to work right to make it and only 1 thing breaking could end our chances for the day. Here are some pictures of the chute mount Jamie fabricated, we run a 200/300 landspeed chute which is a much smaller diameter than a drag chute and the tether is probably 3 times as long. 72 hours from now I should be staring across the hood of Blucifer and hoping it all holds together for that big run. I will post the results next week.
Chute Mount 1.jpg
Chute Mount 2.jpg
Chute Mount 3.jpg
We were unable to make any runs this weekend. At first we were told Saturday was cancelled and we would be out on the runway on Sunday. Everyone came in Friday to get their badges, ready to go for the weekend. Saturday was looking very much like rain anyway and Sunday looked like a great day. By late Friday afternoon the call came that cancelled Sunday. No one really had any idea what was going on until Sunday morning we all learned a space plane had landed on the shuttle runway early that morning, https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/techn...cid=spartandhp , kind of explains why we were not told much. So now the next open date is Dec 7th. Gives us plenty of time to double and triple check everything and make any adjustments needed. It will also be a little cooler and typically Dec has lower chance of rain here in Florida. I will keep updating the thread as we make any changes to prep for Dec. These are some pics of the chute release.
Chute Release Handle 3.jpg
Chute Release Handle 2.jpg
Chute Release Handle 1.jpg
Here's a pic of the ACR-X long studs and open end lugnuts required to pass tech for cars capable of more than 200 MPH. Thanks Tom for that fantastic service on these parts and thanks Bart for the loan of the ACR-X wheels for the run.
ACR X Long Studs-Open Lugnuts.jpg
Jamie did an amazing job on your car.
Here is one of the passes I made at Wanna Go Fast Ocala Florida. It looks so slow but without traction control once the turbos spooled up it was nothing but tire spin. I think that pass was 173 or 177 MPH. I was in and out of the throttle constantly trying to figure out how to make the tires hook up. I was running street tires which I know drag radials would have been so much better. Just wanted to run what I was planning to run on shuttle runway so I would know what to expect out there. I'm sure a few of you experienced TT guys will recognize from the video that this is my first TT car.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-OW...ew?ts=5dafa96e
Last edited by DEMO MAN; 11-04-2019 at 01:58 PM.
Well we are down to 4 days before we have to load up trailer sometime Thursday so on Friday we can get our badges, get the car thru tech inspection and do our prep work at the runway. We have multiple tunes in the car, each a little more aggressive than the previous one. We set up the boost by speed from zero to 240 MPH and increased it based on where each gear tops out. What we have left to do in next few days to fine tune the traction control, install scramble boost button ( my just in case I'm at 249 and the timing lights are coming up ), install a body pan under the engine with oil absorbent pads ( this is just in case engine goes boom ) to keep oil from reaching the rear tires...……….I really hope this was a total waste of time, fasten the fire suppression lines to the cage, mount the revised diffuser, mount the new shift light, remove the wipers/mirrors, pack the chute and then wash/wax it because anything that makes the car slicker makes it faster. After that it's loaded up, along with all the C16, generator, fans, spare parts and tires etc. Once Saturday arrives we will run the half mile, maybe a few times to gather data, I won't push the car hard at all, maybe a 190 MPH run as the whole goal here to break 250 and I won't risk breaking the car in a distance I know it can't reach 250. After the half mile runs are over we will set up for the mile and make a few passes again probably just gathering data in various tunes. I will probably run it hard in at least 1 of the mile runs but I suspect in reality I need 1.25 miles min to make the 250 MPH. After the day is over I will post an update, hopefully that we set the record but good, bad or ugly I will let you know. We will have a lot of pics and videos of the runs and will post those as the editing is completed. This has been a long time in the making and lots of people put some serious effort into making this attempt possible. I hope it all comes together and by late afternoon Dec 7th we have reached our goal.
Saturday just wasn't our day, car had issues from the first few seconds of the half mile shakedown run and we were never able to recover from that. The issues seemed to be related to a corrupted tune which I understand was the result of trying to merge a new tune with older firmware. We will regroup and go again but huge disappointment to everyone involved in this attempt. It's tough to spend the better part of a year prepping a car for an event just to have it all fall apart on the day of, but we all know that if it was easy everyone would be doing it. Back to work and I will post as we progress toward a new date and other mods we may do to the car since we have some more time now. I will say that it may not be fast but it sure looks like it is even sitting still in the pits lol.
Dec 7th 2019.jpg
We continue to make progress on the car, the corrupted tune issues have been resolved and it's now back at the tuner getting more dyno tuning work done. That should be wrapped up by the end of the week. There are a few small details that should be done the first week of 2020 and then I want to get a little seat time on the highway just to become more familiar with any little quirks it might have. We are making position 1 the 93 octane road tune and will set it up with lowest boost/HP possible, then positions 2 thru 5 will be the C16 tunes and each will be progressively more boost/HP. After all is completed it's just waiting until we can get back on the runway and make another attempt at some big speed. Here are a few pics done at Jamie's shop in Lakeland.
Blucifer 7.jpg
Blucifer 8.jpg
Blucifer 9.jpg
Blucifer 10.jpg
Ever wonder how many people it takes to pack a parachute? LOL the answer is 6 when it's us, 2 were out of view holding the chute and lanyards. We continue to make progress toward the next attempt. Things are looking really good regarding the previous issues being resolved. Fingers crossed the next one goes as planned.
Parachute Packing.jpg
Test Runs.jpg
Blucifer on the Runway.jpg
Well we have a ready to roll Blucifer and are going to make another attempt. I appreciate everyone's support and all the well wishes on this endeavor. I also would never be in this position without all the work done by numerous people and shops here in Florida. I drove the car on Tuesday and the acceleration is brutal, that car terrifies and thrills me to no end at the same time. Tomorrow morning we head over, go thru tech again and then line up looking down the concrete hoping that everything goes our way this time. Flag drops and I'm off...……………………….
Best wishers for some clean passes! You make us even more proud of our Vipers.
163.63 standing half mile
191.4 standing mile
2008 with Gen V intake, Belanger headers, straight pipes, tuned by True Street in McKinney TX, 2010 ACR-X tranny. Full mod list here. Car made 635RWHP on last dyno.
Video of a buddy of mine hitting 191.0 and missing 2nd gear.
Worth mentioning, we did run a smaller tire size in back to get the gearing we wanted for the 191 runs. Looks are not everything!
20151025_144547.jpg
Texas Mile Oct 2015 191.4MPH.jpg
Last edited by FrgMstr; 01-17-2020 at 12:26 PM.
This is a fabulous build and thanks for sharing the progress info with us!
Just a heads-up: I would strongly suspect that 'chute launch plate is costing you some not insignificant aero drag - even in a relative dead zone. You might try the old-school yarn tuft flow test method and experiment with different height/standoff positions since your car is running such a clean body.
It's official.........252.588 MPH
Congratulations!!!!! Awesome car. Obviously very well driven!!! Handling that kind of acceleration is no joke.
Well done!!!
Wow thats amazing!! Very cool to take over the title. Well deserved with all the hard work, congrats!!!
Thanks TA Two Oh and Vipes, the day couldn't have gone better for us. Everything leading up to this has been a bit of a struggle but well worth it. I'm still in disbelief we are the fastest Viper in the world and the first one to crack 250 MPH. I will sit down soon and write up the day from the first half mile to the struggle to stop it from 252 MPH and everything that happened between that. I appreciate so much all the help and support I got getting to this moment and all the texts and calls that came afterwards congratulating us for the success. I will have some videos and pics to post soon I hope. I don't know what will come next but no one tell my wife that 260 isn't really that far away...………………..
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