The official Salt is open

Today was the big day. After the weather problems of the last couple of days the salt had dried up and the race is on. We went to the salt around 7 AM in order to set up the pits. Once set up some minor work to the cars started.

After a delayed drivers meeting the rush to the gas station was on. Around 12 PM we succeeded in lining up. The first run of the Healey Team took place after 4 PM. Althought both cars were lining up individually, it was pure coincidence that the Streamliner and the Endurance Car were at the starting line almost at the same time. The Streamliner started up alright. The sheer sound of this thing is so scary, especially if you know that we are talking about a 4 cylinder here. The race control was talking to Dave Pike, the driver with the last guidelines and then it went of. The sound was great during the last 500 meter. Then there seemed to be a problem. One of the air tubes broke and that was the end of the attempt. The Endurance Car however was less exotic technology an made it easier to work on. After an accident on the run course (high speed at 250 miles per hour) the starting line was closed for about an hour. What is funny that after such a long wait all drivers want to end their run as fast as possible.

The ultimate waiting was over. I was going to drive the car on a measured run for the first time. the salt felt very different from the quality from yesterday. It was much more slippery. Just before the start someone mentioned that this is a kind of "drag race". This comment did stay in my head for the rest of the day. This could have explained that fact that there was a huge amount of salt spraying around at starting area. First gear, second and third and then the car stayed at the same revs. At shifting onto 4th gear it lost more power. 106 Mph official recorded. Not bad for a first day! The timing on the car has been changed due to the altitude.

Tomorrow is the 2nd racing day and Joe Jarick will take the helm of the Endurance Car. All previous tuning issues should be solved by now and should prove the car to be faster. We surely hope so. Due to the fact that the rooky session is over and less explanation is needed for people at the starting line, things should go much faster (barring any accidents or other unexpected events). This means that there will be more runs tomorrow. Given the retuning of the car we are very hopeful to increase the result that we got.

Bruno Verstraete