Rice Vigeant Racing Newsletter 7/21/03
 

We had the July El Mirage race on Sunday, July 13th, I'm sorry that this is a week late.

In the few weeks between the June Race and the July race we spent the time building the lower half of our air box so that we would be feeding the motor cool pressurized air from the scoop. (see the large silver open box below)

The large black rubber gasket seals ageist the inside of our motor cowling.On Sunday morning there are 4 lines that the racing teams stage into: the "Even" and "Odd" that split most of the vehicles into two groups based on their standings position, "200 mph" lane for vehicles that can do over 200 mph, and the rookie lane for first time drivers.  Since we were 6th over all we jumped into the "Even" lane and left some space in front for numbers 2 & 4.  By the start of the race #2 had gone into the "200" lane and #4 didn't show up so we had a clear track in front of us while I was suiting up to run.

 (Just before we moved up to the starting line)

Richard of Southwest Superbikes faxed us a copy the the motor's torque curve and we calculated that we had changed the gear ratio the wrong way for Mark's run last meet.  We decided to go one step taller then we had used when James set the record in May. I got to make the third pass of the meet, by far the earliest we have ever run.  The track was in good shape but I was a little too easy on the motor since the last time I had driven the car I popped the timing chain.  As it turned out, I only went 173+ Mph, almost 5 mph below the record.  To make matters worse, after I stopped the car, I heard a crackling sound coming form the car.  It turned out that the driver's fire extinguisher was leaking.   Back in the pits Mark & I pulled the data out of the on-board computer and decided that we might have gone a little too tall on the gearing.  Since the meet was a small one (due to the HEAT of  105+) we were hoping to get a second run.  We managed to track down a spare fire extinguisher and changed the gear ratio back to James' winning combination.  At around 11:00 am it was announced that there was going to be a second round and we were first in line (Being 6th overall has BIG advantages!)

We were planning the switch back to our motor for the next meet so Mark suggested that this time I "drive it like I stole it" which I did.  The track was in awful shape with the whole surface torn up with no smooth spots left to run on.  I was being tossed all over the place but I never let up on the throttle even when I was sliding towards the timing equipment.  I went through the lights at 177.12 Mph hanging on for dear life.  That was not quite as fast as James but he had a better track and a heavy tail wind.  We earned 198 points putting us on top of the teams that have only set one record this year and again in 6th place overall going into September.

James & I will be going to Bonneville for the Speedweek race in Mid august to do the timing and earn the money that keeps the team racing.  The next newsletter will be in early Sept, just before the next El Mirage race.

-Alan Rice

PS the SCTA's page has a few more pictures of #9999 see the links below.

http://www.scta-bni.org/El_Mirage/ELM%2003/July/photos/cars_3/9999.JPG
Mark waiting for the rain.  The guy in the black hat and shirt is a government agent weve known since the '70's

http://www.scta-bni.org/El_Mirage/ELM%2003/July/photos/inspection/IM005064.JPG
Getting inspected.
 

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