Salt Flat 130mph and 150mph club

[DanD]

I don't want to make a habit of thrashing my car at the drag strip or like events, but for a one time shot to "see what it can do". How about boneville salt flat speed runs?
Has anyone ever tried this?

This is a portion of an article describing this event.

"To gain entrance to the 130 Club, one must take their vehicle from a standing start to 130 mph within one mile. At the one mile mark there is a 132 foot trap that takes your final speed. If your speed is over 130 then you have to run again over 130 to back it up. If you exceed 140 at any time, you’re disqualified. You have 5 runs to do this. No nitrous is allowed. The 150 Club ups the ante a bit; you have 2 miles to reach 150 but not exceed 160 from a standing start. There is more vehicle preparation involved in this category, but in 20 years only 10 people made the group. Again, no nitrous is allowed. "
--another excerpt--
"and a Porsche 944 Turbo S (247 hp) made one pass at 131 mph but was unable to back it up with a second 130+ pass and didn’t make it into the club. "

The rest of the article is at http://www.audiworld.com/news/00/130club/index.html

A little Autocross, Road course, 1/4 mile, top speed runs, going to the grocery store, loading the back down with lumber, commuting to work while getting 27mph, it all adds up to a great all around car.


DanD

[PrerYDoG]

What? A 951 can't hit 130 in a mile. Hmmmm, I'm going to have to re-check my speedometer, I'm pretty sure that I hit that.

[DanD]

Having never been there, I'm not sure. But, I think the salt can affect traction and therefore acceleration. Otherwise, it would reach 100mph within a 1/4 mile and you would have 3/4 of a mile left to go 30mph faster.

DanD

[This message has been edited by DanD (edited 07-29-2001).]

[PrerYDoG]

Hmm, that would have to be that, never thought about that. But, if you've modded your car some, I'd definately take that challenge.

****, if you get it up to wolfpri's specks, I'd go for 150, cause if you can hit 130 in 2, you could do the extra 20mph in a mile. Come to think of it, the world speed records are set on those damn salt flats, I wouldn't think that they would slow a car up any, so something's akward here.

Check your Wastegate, if you're loosing boost on the upper end, that'll kill HP as you go for GOLD.

[ribs]

On multiple occasions, on the same straight, on a 1.5 mile long bridge in rural eastern maryland, I have taken my car to speeds approaching 170 miles an hour, in about 1 mile from 80ish, because on the other side of the bridge, there are often radar traps from the town you soon enter, so I only had about half the bridge to see what my car could do. But...6600 RPM's in 5th gear in an 86' 951 should be around 170 mph if I am not mistaken (speedo was buried above the 170 mark but I know these things are off at speed).

I read the article and this made me feel a little better about my 1/4 mile time: "Jason’s car is the former (2 year) record holder in IHRA Pure Stock drag racing. He’ll do a 13.21 at 101 mph in the quarter mile at sea level. Mike’s car is a 1965 Shelby GT350 and is a current member in both the 130 and 150 clubs." My car ran a 14 flat at 102.2 MPH with a terrible start (every time I ran the 1/4), but the trap speed tells me that I should be in the mid 13's comparing it to that mustang.

Why are all the cars so slow on the salt flats? You would think you wouldn't have much of a problem getting to those insane speeds with nothing to worry about, but maybe its the elevation. For those who didn't read the article, the fastest cars of the day were the turbo S 944 and a 914 with a 350 chevy in it. No other cars came within 15 MPH of the turbo S. I wish I lived closer to the west...I would have liked to show those fools up.

------------------
ribs, 86' 951

[jseel]

take the car to the local dragstrip! just be gentle avoid burnouts and full throttle gearslamming shifts. stay calm and dont try to impress the local motorheads and its a lot of fun. its probably better than jamming salt in every crevice doing 100 miles an hour, plus the salt flats are really bumpy going that fast so maybe need suspension setup for that. just my $.02

[IceShark]

The salt flats are a different animal and cars run slower. Altitude so you have to have boost going or else less air, the salt has more rolling resistance and it is apparently quite squirely with respect to handling. If you have ever seen interior videos of guys making speed runs their cars are jumping all over the place.