A Rookie's Perspective and Two Red Cam Videos from the Ohio Mile

[pdub]

I wanted to do the videos first, but while they are encoding forever at Daily Motion, I might as well be typing.

Having done Maxton as a spectator, I have some thoughts. The facilities are very very different from one another. As opposed to the communal campground that was Maxton, the pit boxes at Ohio are strung out on the side of the taxiway for about 3/4 of a mile. Not that I needed a pit box. I got one, but I never used it or needed it. It's just me and Red, driving and racing.

In his opening speech on the back of the truck, Keith Turk said, "Welcome to Maxton." He got called on that immediately. Okay, okay.

Holding a huge event in a new place under adverse weather conditions, Keith, from my outside view at least, held up extremely well. He was running like a hamster on a wheel, but he took the time to hold court and laugh and joke everywhere he was.

Keith said during his opening speech that he had little or nothing to do with organizing the event (he was training helicopters, remember?) But he more than made up for it over the weekend. Run, coordinate, run some more.

And it rained, yes. Keith had that to deal with, too. The weather is not cooperating.

So, from a true rookie's standpoint, I can say there are two ways to look at my experience there in Ohio. One view could be that I spent 2 and a half days there and got to drive Red on the track for a little over one minute in total.

With the rain and the interruptions, it was like the waiting line for a Disney ride on steroids. I hate waiting in line, but I never thought I'd actually not mind waiting all weekend for over a minute of fun.

I'm sure glad I did it, but honestly, at least today, I don't think I need to do it again. I was there on a mission - see how fast Red will go in a mile. On the second run I proved it. Now I know.

I mean .... okay been there, done that, literally bought the shirt, all of it. It was fun, but it sure was a lot of waiting. And I sure hate waiting, but this time I really didn't mind waiting.

From a rookie's perspective...

[realsteelfreak]

Congrats PW, glad you hit the number you wanted, or the one that you didnt think you could hit. Tell us what all you did to prep the car. Was the car hitting the rev limiter or the the speed limiter? what gear at 139?

[JOES66FURY]

waiting...its allaprt of the game PW....love it or leave it...tis up to you.

[pdub]

Congrats PW, glad you hit the number you wanted, or the one that you didnt think you could hit. Tell us what all you did to prep the car. Was the car hitting the rev limiter or the the speed limiter? what gear at 139?

Thanks man, that was a great 36-second blast.

I don't think it was the speed limiter, because the guy I got Red from said he'd had him buried at 145 on the meter. But I don't know about any of that stuff.

139.447 is as fast as that car will go in 4th gear, and it took exactly one measured mile to do it. Exactly. It couldn't have been more perfect. At that track - downhill, with a tailwind....the speed may be inflated from what I or anybody was expecting...yeah, the motor just quit at the time trap.

I wasn't watching the tach, but a guy in line told me he knew for sure that year of Stang GT would start farting at 6200. I keep listening for it in the video, but you cant hear it. Red said, ""That's it, no more" as far as RPM's are concerned. Just for less than a second, exactly as we were in the trap.

That's how fast he'll go in in 4th gear. That just worked out perfect. The GPS said 138 in the trap, but the time stamp says 139+.

I'm still waiting on the videos to encode. I want to link to them, all two of them.

EDIT: Ooops, missed the other question - prep the car? I waxed it and put numbers on the windows and fed him three gallons of 93 both mornings of the meet. I've had the car since November and I have opened the hood maybe 4 times, just to look mostly. But I don't even know what I'm looking at when I do.

[pdub]

Alright, I think the videos are published. Here's the setup:

Dan Stokes and I sat in Dan's truck on Saturday waiting in line. This was before my rookie run. I noticed that he had an awful lot of shit inside his truck cab. I say "shit," because that term will be used quite frequently in the video.

I had some shit in Red, too. Mine was a sweatshirt, a jacket, a ball cap and two water bottles. Well, watch Dan get busted at the starting line. And I got yelled at a little bit myself. Don't have shit in the car if you want to run the MIle:

This is raw video. I can't edit video here at Weeville. This is as long as the camera was running, all of it, my rookie run.

Wow! it works! Be patient - it takes forever to load..

[CaminoKid]

Pretty composed for a rookie,nice job PeeWee.

[pdub]

This is the 139 run, again raw video. I started the camera early because I have enough to think about without dicking with the camera. As it was, I was sitting at the start line ready to go in neutral with the hand brake on. And guess what? I took off with the hand brake on. That's the alarm you hear. I went through 1st gear and half of second with the hand brake on.

Laugh loud and often at peewee. peewee's an idiot.

[Barry Donovan]

that was awesome pee wee.

and well written.

[oletrux4evr]

Good for ya PeeWee. Glad you did well.
See ya in early June.

[pdub]

that was awesome pee wee.

and well written.

Thanks Boxer. You're the Video Man. I think it was more of an amazing accomplishment that my posted videos actually work.

[pdub]

Good for ya PeeWee. Glad you did well.
See ya in early June.

Heck yeah. That'll be a different event for sure. Maybe a race to see who falls down first!

[pdub]

Pretty composed for a rookie,nice job PeeWee.

Well, to me it was real easy after waiting so long to do it. Rookie nervous stiff? Not for me.

Not since I have driven Red in a straight line entirely too illegally fast on the highway. That's what's stupid. That's just dumb.

It was just relaxing to do the same thing in a setting where it's perfectly safe and legal. Or not illegal, at least.

If I seem relaxed on the starting line in the video, I surely was. I'd recommend that venue for anyone who wants to go fast. That's the right way to do it. The right PLACE to do it.

[Deaf Bob]

Congrats, Pdub!
You did a motorsport that requires a helmet and lived to talk about it!,
How the neck feeling?
Maybe run race gas next time and compare the differences.

[pdub]

Congrats, Pdub!
You did a motorsport that requires a helmet and lived to talk about it!,
How the neck feeling?
Maybe run race gas next time and compare the differences.

I dunno Bob, it's a real dead end. First, that's as fast as that car will go in a mile. Period. I did it, perfect conditions for it. That's how fast that car will go in a mile, no question about it.

That's what I came away with, now I know. And if I went any faster with that car I'd get a serious talking to, or a banishment from Keith. Don't want either of those things.

EDIT: Ohhhhh the neck.....it did okay! Since I didn't shoot pool in the helmet for a week before the event!

[BluLightning]

Awesome job Dub! Wish I could have been there to see it but I ran into a bit of trouble on the way down and had to go back home.