Head Job

[keyplyr]

Been saving my money since last year and just today got my Corvette [apassion4jazz.net] back from the install of All Pro Heads [allproheads.com] having my friendly machine shop do a resurface and port to my Edelbrock Competition Supercharger [edelbrock.com]

This should put me well over 700hp at the tires.

Also reduced more overall weight putting the car under 3k# (without my fat ass in it.)

Going out to Chuckwalla Valley Raceway [chuckwallavalleyraceway.com] (near Palm Springs) this weekend to see if I can qualify *up* a class from last year.

Got rid of my minivan over a year ago when I decided I would no longer drag my music gear around town, so the Vette is my daily driver now. I admit, it's often difficult to keep the speed limit in town, especially when I know I have so much power and every kid with a rice burner wants to race me.


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[Shepherd]

Good looking car. Good luck out at the raceway. These days i save all my speed for when I'm in the air.

That pic of the sand rail though, that looks like fun!

[keyplyr]

Do you fly Shepherd?

I got my private pilot license about 10 years ago. Rented a few planes. Flew up the coast once and haven't climbed into anything since.

Too much air traffic where I'm at. I'm right on the Pacific Ocean but also next to a major airport with a lot of airlines taking off and heading directly out to sea or up the coast.

[Dimitri]

Be careful, a bug crashed on your car hood.

[engine]

Nice, 700 to the road is good. I know you know how to handle that, and i'm sure you'll enjoy it.

[phranque]

i like silver.
too bad you can't see more of the supercharger.
are you going to paint those covers silver?

chuckwalla looks pretty cool - surprised i hadn't heard of it.
which direction to you run it?
any idea what your highest trap speed typically is on that track and where?
lap time?
what are your new expectations for lap time?

[keyplyr]

Paint the SC covers? No, of course not. They are powder coated and look really nice.

CWR says they run in both directions, but I've only seen counter-clockwise. However I've never been there on the motorcycle days. Maybe the bikes run clockwise.

Haven't been there since last year and only went twice then. The track has been upgraded since then according to their newsletter.

So far I've only been part of Corvette events class 3 which is multiple cars on the track. Although we always time our laps, it's not really the point, only to qualify and have fun. Trying to get up to class 2 but we'll see.

Track is about 2.7 miles. I think last year's best time was over 6 minutes, which is pretty slow. I'll get better.

Another track I'm interested in driving is Bondurant in Phoenix, AZ. A little farther away from me but my Dad has a house out in Surprise so it's convenient to visit him as well.

When I was working in Las Vegas pretty steady, I'd sometimes get out to Spring Mountain. That's nice.

There's an older track named Willow Springs in Rosamund, CA near one of my brothers. Haven't been up there yet but might try it next time I visit him.

[Shepherd]

Got my private 20+ years ago in Vegas, had a kid so I took 18 years off, just getting back into the left seat over the last year. In Ohio now so air traffic is no issue, just weather. SoCal is no place i would want to spend any time flying, way too crowded. Heading up for a $100 hamburger lunch here in a few hours.

[keyplyr]

@Shepherd - actually, there's the desert where the air space is relatively open. That's where all the race tracks are anyway. In fact Chuckwalla has a small airstrip (or one very nearby) and they have some type of package deal for lodging and daily Corvette rentals if you fly in. That might be interesting to do, although it's only a 4hr drive for me and a lot cheaper than a plane & gas round trip.

[phranque]

CCW is unusual for a road course (probably based on euro sports car racing conventions?), although COTA and laguna seca run CCW.

i've been to willow springs a few times.
the road course is a really cool track with elevation changes.
there's actually a motorsports complex there with several tracks - the "streets of willow", mx, go karts, dirt oval, etc.

i know a few people who go to [buttonwillowraceway.com...] which would be 250ish miles for you.

[keyplyr]

Does COTA have amateur events? Always wanted to dive that track, it beautiful and BIG. Haven't been back to Texas since I graduated UNT in Denton.

[phranque]

you can drive an audi r8, tt rs, or rs3 there:
[circuitoftheamericas.com...]

[keyplyr]

you can drive an audi r8, tt rs, or rs3 there:

You can just about *buy* an audi r8, tt rs, or rs3 for what they charge.

i know a few people who go to buttonwillowraceway which would be 250ish miles for you.

I have another brother in Fresno, about 100 miles from that track. Too hot up there though. At least the desert is breezy :)

[tangor]

Have to confess that my mania with cars ended about 1972, so when I saw HEAD JOB in the recent posts another image came in mind (due to current political correctness, etc).

What a relief it was about cars! :)

(Thought Lou Reed was posting... and if that dosen't link, listen to TAKE A WALK ON THE WILD SIDE)
[youtube.com...]

[lawman]

I drive a really fast grocery getter. I have two tunes, one for street and one for drag strip. And yes, it's been a little over 4 years since I've uploaded the race tune and put C16 gas in the tank. I've even given away the 5 gallon gas can I used for the race gas. Still haven't gotten around to taking out the roll cage.

Now it's time to replace my rear Toyo R888s and when I do, it'll be the first time in 8 years that a race compound tire is not on the rear. Regular street tires will last 3 or 4 times longer and cost half as much. I'm actually thinking what I once would have considered a heretical thought - detuning.

[keyplyr]

The project coming up next is installing a 1TB SSD w/ software and removing the Bose head unit. Already have the touch screen in the dash set up for navigation but it can be used to display anything.

I've already swapped out all the OEM Bose speakers for higher-end Polk Audio and in the trunk I have a 2000 watt dedicated amp powering a JL 18" woofer.

Now I just need to get storage for all my MP3s, videos and Apps. Been using my Android phone, but tired of the Mickey Mouse set-up. There's so many things I can do with a SSD.

The money I had earmarked for a new surfboard [webmasterworld.com] is being diverted toward this project.