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Driver: Joe
Ellis Comments: Silver State Classic September 2000 Open Road Racing is a curious way to describe a form of motorsport that takes place on a closed road, but then this is a curious form of motorsport. Perhaps then it is better to see this activity as the ultimate celebration of the open road, free from the onerous imposition of speed limits and the clogging frustration of near gridlock that is the sad reality of car ownership in the 21st Century. Of course thousands of enthusiasts have taken to the ever-popular track days as a way of using their exotic cars in the way that their designers intended. Unfortunately road car dynamics are rarely seen at their best on a racing circuit and after going around in circles all day you end up where you started. Open road racing seeks to recreate the point-to-point element of the original classic road races, which drew people and their cars to compete against each other in the early years of the 20th Century. The sport started on the high desert roads in Nevada and now there are a number of events run throughout the year in Nevada, Texas and Mexico. The most famous of these is held on Highway 318 from Lund to Hiko about 200 miles north of Las Vegas. This road is closed for racing twice a year, in May the race is known as the Nevada Open Road Race and in September it is called the Silver State Classic. In order to draw a wide range of cars, entries are split into speed categories according to the experience of the drivers and the level of safety equipment present in the cars. Each group is set a target speed, which they must attempt to average over the 90-mile course, within strictly enforced maximum and minimum speed limits. The winner in these classes is the crew (a navigator/co-driver is an almost essential element of success) who gets closest to the target speed. Ultimately full race cars with suitably qualified drivers can enter the unlimited class where, subject to maintaining a minimum speed, they can go as fast as they like, and the fastest wins. After having raced saloon cars in the UK and Europe for six years it was this refreshing simplicity of rules that first attracted me to this event back in 1995, when, after doing some research in US magazines, I first visited the event to see what it was all about. I was immediately made to feel welcome, and I was even asked to speak at the opening press conference. I returned in 1996 determined to take part and entered a Corvette (rented in nearby Las Vegas) in the 105mph class. Running without a navigator I averaged 106mph and finished last but one out of 10 in the class. I was encouraged to return, and my new found American friends inspired me to bring a car that they hadn't seen on the event before, something British. After some thought I determined to build a Lotus Carlton for the race. The car was constructed from a bare bodyshell to comply with the Unlimited class rules, which was ultimately where my ambition lay. Mechanically the car was to remain largely standard with some concessions to extra cooling to aid reliability in the fearsome desert heat. The car ran for the first time at the end of 1998 and successfully completed testing at Bruntingthorpe, Donington and Silverstone during 1999. Whilst the car had performed well in the tests they were still no guarantee of what would happen over a 90 mile flat out run. The time had come to ship the car to the USA. Contacts in the city of Houston, Texas meant that the obvious point of entry was Galveston on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. Having collected the car and its associated tools and spares we were then faced with a 1500mile road trip to Nevada, a task considerably aided by the long straight empty freeways, plentiful cheap petrol and a huge V10 powered pick up truck. On our arrival in Nevada we stop initially at the hosting Showboat Hotel in Las Vegas, where scrutinizing of all the essential safety items is carried out before heading further north to the small town of Ely. The car show on the Saturday in the centre of Ely is when all the competitors from all over the States, along with several other overseas entrants, gather for the first time. A team of lady drivers from Japan is very impressive, with their three immaculately presented Nissans gleaming in the Nevada sunshine. Dozens of domestic Corvettes and Mustangs line up amongst the 230 cars that include several former Winston Cup cars, suitably modified to run in a straight line and with aggressive sounding unrestricted V8's. A new innovation this year is a team competition, for groups of 10 cars with a common theme, whose cumulative time is used to decide the award. The Lotus is invited to join Team Invaders, whose team members all drive imported cars or are imported themselves or both! Final scrutinizing is done at the show, where all the little things that we hadn't finished before like car numbers, event sponsor logos, and camera mounts are signed off. Awards are made at the car show for best engineered, best bodywork, most coveted etc. etc. Chromed alloys, masses of polished engine parts and multiflip metallic paint jobs are a pre-requisite for success at this part of the event. We carry on checking that our car is not going to wilt in the heat that is expected for race day. We have already found that alloy fittings such as mirror mounts and aeroquip fittings that were checked as tight in the UK have all expanded in the heat and are now loose. To help protect the engine against detonation we also take the opportunity to fill up with 100 octane 76 racing fuel, which only costs the same a normal unleaded does in the UK. The mandatory drivers briefing takes place at the end of the car show, where start positions are allocated and we find out what time we will run on Sunday. Cars are started at 8.00 am with the 150mph class starting first running down through the classes to the 95mph class. Then there is a one-hour break to clear the track before the Unlimiteds run followed by the 170, 165, 160 and 155 classes. We have entered the 160mph class and as such will be running almost last, at around the hottest part of the day. The reason the cars are run in this way rather than the quick cars going first in the cooler air, is that the organizers have found that it is the quickest cars that are most likely to either crash or blow up and oil the track. This would mean that the vast majority of the entry would then face delays or cancellation of their runs just to accommodate the relatively small number of faster cars. Quite understandably the organizers see no point in potentially upsetting the bread and butter of the event just to please the privileged few. An added challenge to running later in the day is that as the temperature rises in the desert so does the wind speed, and blustery conditions are forecast for race day. Lanes' Truck Stop just north of Lund on Highway 318 is the venue on Sunday morning for the final staging of the cars prior to going to the start line, which is about 5 miles further south. Lanes is also where we are staying on Saturday night, which saves us the added 30-mile drive down from Ely. This is particularly welcomed by our crew who have to take our tow vehicle down to the finish line in Hiko, and they have to cross the start line before it closes at 5.ooam. Shortly after waving them off we are awakened by the rumbling arrival of 200 odd racecars that are marshalled into starting order and sent off to the start line. It certainly makes for an impressive sight as the sun rises over the distant desert mountains. This is also our last chance to refuel before the start and we take the opportunity to top up the Carlton. We then have the almost customary last minute drama as we discover a fuel leak around the filler neck; it is the first time that we have completely filled the 110litre fuel cell. With our tools about 100 miles away we borrow enough spanners to tighten the offending fitting and carry on to the start line. Shade at the start is hard to find and becomes increasingly scarce as the sun climbs into the clear blue sky and even here which we know is considerably cooler than at the finish line the temperature soon rises into the 90's. Flagged off at one-minute intervals the slower cars are quickly cleared and the tension rises as the Unlimited cars are warmed up prior to their runs. One NASCAR leaves black lines for at least 100yards after the start line, which gets everyone cheering. The Race start is where Dave my navigator clicks his stopwatches and I zero the tripmeter to give us some idea during the run of where we are on the course. Lack of time prior to the race prevented us from doing a recce, which would have to be completed at the legal speed limit, as the organizers are very strict about disqualifying anyone caught speeding before the race. This means that we have to rely on the official course notes to warn us of hazards and a set of borrowed checkpoint times to monitor our average speed. Once we are underway it soon becomes clear that we should have fitted an intercom, the noise inside the car makes it very difficult to hear clearly what Dave is saying. The feeling of the car accelerating to 160mph is great though, it is so long since I was able to drive the car hard that I had forgotten how powerful it is. In an effort to keep the revs down I use sixth gear (an absurdly long overdrive on the ZR1 derived gearbox) on the first long downhill straight, the car chugs along merrily at 160-163 for a while, but it is clear as soon as the road turns uphill again that fifth is needed for any acceleration to be possible. We pass another car at the side of the road, I identify the driver climbing out as Dennis "Mad Dawg" Antenucci who in the May race crossed the finish line with his DeTomaso Pantera in flames, clearly the rebuilt car has developed a terminal fault. It is one of the safety rules that if you can't maintain a speed of at least 30mph below your target then you have to stop immediately, to avoid dangerous closing speeds. The sight of Mad Dawg's car out so soon and the knowledge that one other car in our class failed to make the start means that we now have a chance of a top three place if we make it to the end. The headwind that we felt while waiting for the start makes keeping a steady line very difficult, particularly as the centre of the road has quite a pronounced crown to it which tends to pull the car one way or the other. I opt to continue the cautious approach and concentrate on keeping a steady 160-165mph which doesn't appear to be straining the car too much. Water temperature is steady at 90deg, oil temp 100deg and very gradually rising; I flick the differential cooler pump on as the diff temp rises above 100deg. At this point on the course the road is fairly easy with very long open sweepers joining the long straights. I think back to my previous run in 1996 at 105mph and remember how much longer the straights felt at that speed than they do now. A glance down at the trip meter shows the numbers spinning in a way that recalls the fruit machines in Vegas. The temperature inside the car is rapidly becoming very uncomfortable, there are no windows open for aerodynamic reasons and although the glass is heavily tinted the sun combines with the heat from the engine and turbocharged exhausts that run close to the floor pan which radiates into the cockpit. An incline forces me to drop into fifth so as not to lose too much speed, the curves also are now more frequent and bleed away speed from our average. Dave confirms 27 miles completed, surely by now we must have gone further than that, I think, we are not even at half distance yet. A sharp noise followed by a whistling sound grabs my attention; part of the windscreen rubber has been pulled out of its seat by the relentless air pressure tearing at it. The added volume makes it even harder to hear each other, which is probably as well because Dave is worried about a noise from the gearbox. Some more broken down cars flash past us at the side of the road, then the trees and shrubs of a desert oasis add to sensation of speed compared with the stark expanse of the high desert. "Faster" Dave yells and I resolve to squeeze down some more on the throttle as the next straight appears. The engine note noticeably hardens as we surge beyond 170mph. I approach a left hander over a crest slightly too fast, anxious not to lose our speed too soon, the gusting wind threatens to put us on the wrong side of the road, the crown of which exacerbates the adverse camber of the double apex corner. It takes all the road and the shoulder to be able to coax the car back on line without any violent steering inputs; I don't want to be fishtailing down the road at this speed. Another check of the diff temp reveals the needle climbing inexorably to the top of gauge; the cooler is on, what else can I do? The road has a lot more crests and turns now and even though I hear Dave calling out straight I cannot help but lift fractionally when I approach blind brows at 170+. Even a slight lift puts our speed back to 155mph and the car regains those last 10-15mph agonisingly slowly. I spot a deer cross the road in the distant heat haze, fortunately it continues, oblivious to our impending arrival. Dave spots a slower car ahead. A slower speed category car has decided to break one of the most serious rules and re-enter the course after having stopped. Once stopped, cars are not allowed to continue even if repaired until the road has been reopened at the end of the race. Fortunately he pulls right off the road before we pass him. I am convinced our average will be too slow, as I know that the twistiest section, known as the narrows is yet to come and after that there is only another 10-15 miles to go. At 58 miles I am getting very confident of the cars ability to go the distance, we have got this far and the engine temperatures still look normal, only the diff temperature remains a concern. Even the fuel gauge has hardly moved, I actually start to think that we might make it. The engine revs suddenly skip as we encounter a particularly bumpy section of road, we must have been airborne! It is not over yet. Lots of shouting from Dave and a large orange warning flag alert me to the entry to the narrows, which is approached over a daunting blind brow. I slow rapidly to about 120mph for the first right-hander, this is the only part of the course where the minimum speed rule is waived, discretion is definitely the better part of valour through here. It is an exciting sequence of fast bends bordered by the imposing sandstone canyon walls that give it its name. The rear of the car rolls a lot more than I am used to and starts to drift gently wide, we hadn't expected to be still carrying such a weight of fuel at this point, and maybe the dampers are over heated. Relieved that the worst is over I accelerate back up to speed again as we exit the narrows. Flat out to the finish now, only one or two more corners to go and some nice long downhill straights. Suddenly Dave says slower, I shed about 5mph, No, he says, much slower 130mph. I respond, confused. Almost immediately a Corvette flashes past us on our left with smoke trailing from underneath. Dave realises he has made an error; he lost his place on our time chart through the Narrows. I chase after the Corvette, but keep in mind that it might be dropping oil on to the track. We are not catching it and there is too little time left to regain our average. We zoom through the finish line at over 160mph, diff temperature off the clock. We made it. A relieved and somewhat sunburnt crew greets us in the collecting area. I then went to apologise to Mike Lally the Corvette driver who I never saw behind me. The door mirrors were so distorted in the heat as to be unusable and the rear view mirror was full of video camera. He was fine about it and said he thought I had seen him, anyway he was more worried about his burnt out differential. After letting the car cool we loaded up and headed back to Las Vegas for the awards banquet at the Showboat Hotel. It was only once there that I realised that I hadn't seen Eric Petersen's Mustang, the only other car in our class to start behind us, cross the finish line. Some asking around revealed that he had suffered an oil pump failure just a few miles further on than Mad Dawg's Pantera, which had a broken camshaft. So even though we were way off our target speed, a finish had ensured that we received the second place trophy, which was a wonderful way to finish off a terrific event. I can't wait for the next one. Acknowledgements Stuart and Lisa Donaldson
for their help and hospitality in Houston Copyright Joe Ellis 28th September 2000 |
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