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Top Speed Run tonight finally done!

Evolution1980

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ZZ4, 700R4, Steeroids rack & pinion, VB&P Brakes
Well, I just got back in from running the car.

What happened was a bit surprising to me. Between 135-140mph, the speedo needle starts to float. This has happened once before (that being the only other time I was up that high.) I'm wondering if the speedo simply isn't capable of keeping the needle at 140 and beyond? Or, there is the real possiblity that my car just didn't get there tonight. It's hard to say.

I know that my original tranny and torque converter ("TC") are pretty worn. I'm thinking that hitting it hard at the dragstrip @ Bowling Green put some good (or should I say bad) wear and tear on it. I still have the problem of it kicking out of overdrive at WOT. I was around 130 when it dropped out again and pegged the tach at 7000RPM before coming back in. That's not good on anything!
So there was the 2 second delay from the car popping out of OD to where I was able to get back up to speed from a loss of about 5-7mph. That 2 seconds cost me the available road I needed to keep accelerating beyond the 140mph mark. So that was the mechanical workings of the night.

The video taping went as planned, more or less. Of the 3 cameras rolling, 2 got footage. My buddy up on the bridge got my rolling under him at 135. Sounded great! (Those at SharkFest know the sound.) Unfortunately, Due to slightly heavier traffic than anticipated, I had to be in the far left / fast lane. He was setup, looking down, in the 4th lane. So although he got me on tape, instead of it being a true 'right above' shot, he had to do a slight pan. Still got the shot though.

My buddy Josh who accompanied me to SharkFest was driving while I was manning the in-car camera. Unfortunately, there were a few factors working against me. The biggest was that the highway lights in addition to the natural darkness outside caused the camera to up the video gain, which gave me grainy picture. Another possible issue may have been that I used a wide-angle lens on the camera because I wanted to be able to get both the road and the speedo. Well, just wanting to be able to film both posed it's own problems. One, at that speed in an older vette, keeping the camera zoomed in and focused on the speedo is a challenge because the slightest bumps in the road get amplified through the eye of the camera. Two, the run itself happened so fast (No Kidding!?!) that while I wanted to get video of the road, I also wanted the speedo to be in focus. Can't have the cake and eat it too with what I have to work with. So by the time we hit our 'top speed', we were past the 'finish' marker. Sooooo....

On to camera #3, under the bridge doing a full follow up, and fly-by, then filming until I'm out of the frame. This is one I really wanted (well, I wanted them ALL to turn out). Unfortunately (Damn, there's that word again!) while my buddy was waiting for me to go blowing by him, a tow truck decided that my buddy looked like he was broken down. People, we don't need no stinkin' tow truck! We didn't call one! :hb Of all the times one is ever broken-down on the side of thge road or highway, how often is that within a literal 2 minute period a silly tow truck just happens to pull over for you! ARGGH!!!!! :mad
So anyways, my buddy must not have been thinking because rather than just let the tow truck come up to him and then tell him he doens't need a tow, he drove off the next exit ramp to come back around re-setup. Well, my timeline didn't allow for him to do that. So I'm a little miffed I lost that shot. Although, he said he heard me go by. Yea.... :eyerole No matter really, I can easily setup that shot again sometime. With that shot, the difference between 100-110 and 135-140 is negligable from the eye of the camera. The car is still going to pretty much sound the same as well. Plus, for one shot, it won't require all the people it did tonight. As well as I can still splice it seemlessly into the final footage. So another time for that shot.

Overall, I think I feel what 69MyWay ("Chris") may have felt after putting his car on the dyno at BG. It was kinda fun and kind of a letdown at the same time. You know what your car can do, but it's disappointing when your tests don't show the truth. When you build up for something like this, and you know the car can do more than what it did, it's like Grrrrr....

So, I'll be happy with a flutter between 135-140 for this season. I look forward to next year when I replace my ol' TH350 and TQ with the new 700R4 and HD TC. Knowing that I'll have a tranny that will lock in a .70 OD at WOT brings a smile to my face :) Next spring for sure I'll find out what the speedo is capable of doing. Maybe I'll just need to find more road...But I have plenty of time for that now...

As with the BG video clips, I'll add these in as clips I need to get posted for y'all... :L

:duh The sun is coming up! Time to go to bed!
 
Andre,

The closest I have ever come to 150 mph in a car was in my 1985 Vette. It was equiped with a 3.08 rear gear, 700R4 trans, and a very modified engine. In early 1990 we located a late model full roller block. Stuffed it with new .030 pistons, a one off custom ground full roller cam, off road Bowtie aluminum heads, a "Strip chip", roller rockers, headers, and super trap mufflers.

The car was very quick considering the L98 was still state of the art at that time. It had a stock intake.

At that time I was single, in college, and yet very seriously dating Ms. Nikki. She loved to go fast in a car back then.

We found a long stretch of road and nailed it. The digital dash starting clicking off numbers like a cash register during a womens shoe sale. In no time the bar graph reading up to 85 mph was pegged. The numbers continued to climb until they were in tripple digits. The super traps were wide open and pumping out the sweet sound of a tight reving small block. We watched 115, 120, 125, 130, 135, 140.....right about 140 something strange started to happen. One, the car got loose feeling, and the air pressure racing over the cabin started tugging at the side glass making them break the seal and created a rushing air sound that was competing for the scream of the motor. Two, my transmission kept going in and out of OD. I much like you learned I had to "ease" it to the floor to keep it from kicking out. Back on the speedo we saw 141,142,143,144,145,146..........I pulled out. It must have taken me five miles to slow down, and when we hit 55 mph, I felt like we were going backwards.

What a thrill!

However, after having that experience I am extremely suspicious of claims to fame by others telling stories of 150 mph + runs in cars with less mods than I had at the time. When I hear these stories, I just grin knowing that there is more to traveling in excess of 140 mph than just Z rated tires and a good looking car (no matter what the magazines say). In your case, I am convinced that you were really there, really had done that, and had similar results to mine. Do you remember the rushing sound of the wind around the cabin?
 
I did a high speed run yesterday. I have a Gm Goodwrench 350, 700R4, 3.08 gears. I held it in 3rd till 5000 rpms and I hit 130. Because of the 3/4 throttle she wont shift into OD till I let of the gas a little. With the Corvette wide open throttle option I would run to 150 mph easy. 120 mph comes in at aprox. 3500 rpms.
 
I did 110 last night, I didn't intend on going that fast I was trying to put a mustang away for good. I saw him doing one of those ricer flybys, after I burned him twice, and I stopped him as soon as he reached my front fender. I said "nah lets finish this now" and kept pulling in 3rd. Something clicked and I realized I was going pretty fast, I looked at the gauge and 110mph:eek She felt really light but the car was controlable. This was at about 11 at night and some traffic.

There is a nice long stretch of freeway that I just might use to see what she can really do!
 
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Uh-Oh...what have I started here in the C3 forum??? :L :L :L

69MyWay....as for wind rushing around the cabin? I've always had the issue as my windows have never completely sealed. I've lived with wind noise ever since I've had the car. There really is little difference in the cabin past 80mph, believe it or not. The engine itself pretty much drowns out anything, but it's tolerable. Again, it's what I've come to know as simply a characteristic of this particular car. Feeling-wise, going in a straight line, it's solid as rock at WOT / top speed. There might be the slightest hint of lift in the front, but nothing that would cause any regular driver to fret.

As for people claiming 140+ and actually doing it...unless you have two people running together, and one's a known constant, people can only report what they see. If I recall reading correctly in Car & Driver, Bimmers are notorious for the speedo exaggerting speed past 120, like it showing as much as 17mph faster or something like that.

MMVette80...
700R4, 3.08 gears. I held it in 3rd till 5000 rpms and I hit 130. Because of the 3/4 throttle she wont shift into OD till I let of the gas a little. With the Corvette wide open throttle option I would run to 150 mph easy.
...this is exactly what I'm expecting. I'm going to get it so it locks the OD at WOT. I'm also going with the Level 3 trans build from BowTie.com so I have some room to grow.
 
i'm sorry to say this, but since we're on the topic...
140 does feel good, it's too bad i found out in a F*** Cobra SVT.
my mom's 97 took 140 with ease, with two passengers alongside. had plenty left, too. it feels great goin' twice as fast as people on the interstate. makes them all seem still. as far as exaggerated speedos. i don't like to say it, but that cobra was goin' 140 when it said it was. i've taken my sister's 95 tang GT to 135 with the same 2 passengers, kinda didn't feel as good as seein' that glowing speedo at night passing the 1 4 0....
as for my c3.... got my '77 in triple digits a month ago. can't say she liked it very well. she got so d@*n pressurized she blew the seal in the oil filter. she's a torque baby. loves city roads.
 
Suggestion....

Evolution,

I was once at 125MPH in my old Mazda RX-3SP, and the feeling that came to me at that speed was the concern/fear of blow-out on a tire (I still had over 2k RPM left over on my tach and the governor was still not engaged...lol...). I know that there could be no comparison between that occassion and your experience, but I wonder if maybe we can all plan a trip to the Salt Flats and put the cars and claims through the paces. There seems to be enthusiasm for Top Speed testing.

I am willing to find out what my car can do, but the high number of un-knowns that could be found on a deserted road or empty freeway cautions me from exploring top speed on my vehicle.

I am catching a "road trip" bug from the trip to Ky, and I know that this year is winding down, but maybe next year we can group enough people for the Salt Flats.
 
OUR FAMILY CAR IS A 2002 ALTIMA 3.5 v6 WITH THE 5 SPD MANUAL. i HAD IT UP TO 145 TILL THE GOVERNOR SAID NO MORE. THATS A 4 DOOR SEDAN!
 
great idea

GerryLP - the Salt Flats is a great idea !! ... and Bud and I can make it there in about 10-11 hours. West Wendover, Nevada, has really exploded, so we could book rooms at the Peppermill or some other casino....and leave the Blending to them. :J...NOT !!!
That may have some potential for the next "FEST"
 
pretty good for a C3 i've heard they float bad though....

i've had my 87 upto 160 mph late one night with a friend in the car. auto 2.59 rear gear and it ticked off 160 then i let out. was taching at 4600 rpm in OD so if the brick wall comes in at 4800 rpm i was there almost. she felt solid and sucked down on the pavement nice and tight. my 82 Z/28 with crossfire and 305 with 3:42 gears would do 135 taching at 6500 rpm in a 3 speed 200 metric the 2:73 gear probably bout 145ish. the vette is definetly faster in top speed! in both cars you can actually feel the rear end squat down and hug the road after 130mph. anyone up here in mid atlantic there is a road course to goto which is pretty nice i'm thinking about doing www.summitpoint-raceway.com they got a 1 day driving school you get to run the course.

sorry i know this is a c-3 forum so i'll stop ranting
 
My friend just let me ride his new rice rocket. Suzuki 600. My first time on one. I did 120. nice!! Now im wondering what a 1200 would do.
 
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I don't want this to turn into a crotch-rocket thread, but with rice burners, "size doesn't always matter". With that said, going fast on a bike is completely different sensation/thrill than in a car. To me, a boat by far is the craziest. 35mph on water seems like 75mph in a car...
 
"35mph on water seems like 75mph in a car"

That explains the sensation I had the first time I water ski-ed. (sp?)

I got up on the skis the first try...it was a creepy sensation to have my feet not moving and the water going past at a phenominal speed!
I let go of the rope.
Water enema.
Sorry.
Too much information?
Heidi

Evo, will you be setting up another run to get the two shots perfected? (overhead and pan from the side)
 
Heidi,

I've got tears rolling down my face, I'm laughing so hard!
 
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Another day, another shoot

78SilvAnniv said:
Evo, will you be setting up another run to get the two shots perfected? (overhead and pan from the side)

The overhead shot is 'good enough' for now. I may try to make plans to do another whisker-shaving fly-by, but I'm not sure right now. I'd more like to redo the run and have cleaner footage of the speedo. Like I mentioned, it was a bit more grainy than I would have liked, plus it's a bit shakey. I'd do it again without the wide-angle lense. Either way, it will for sure happen next year after the 700R4 install.
 
Evo,

What you could do with getting the speedo into the shot is have 2 onboard cameras, take one of the road, and the other one at the speedo. then set the speedo as an inset on the road video. Not too hard to do with the right software. Let me know if you need a hand on that

Michael :w
 
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MLGower said:
Evo,
What you could do with getting the speedo into the shot is have 2 onboard cameras, take one of the road, and the other one at the speedo. then set the speedo as an inset on the road video. Not too hard to do with the right software. Let me know if you need a hand on that

That would be ideal, except that have you tried placing a camera hugging your chest, focused on the speedo, while doing a top speed run? :L It's hard. Well, hell, doing a top speed run or not is irrelavent. How would I get a camera stationary and far enough from the speedo that I could videotape it? I more or less had to be leaning quite far in front of my driver to get the shot as it is. Not easy to keep steady and focused.

The reality of it is that from the eye of the camera, high speed on a road just doesn't seem rightly exciting. Even me going by under the bridge at 135 doesn't seem all that fast when you view it. That's why I wanted the under-bridge flyby. That would give a better sensation of speed. Even on the video I have of the cruise caravan in BG, the difference between 35mph and 75mph is just barely noticeable. Problem there, and with any shot where there's not a lot of traffic, is there is no point of reference. Unless I keep the camera at a 90° angle to the car and just see other cars flying backwards as I go by them. A lot of things sound cool in theory, but without a full setup, it's no Fast & The Furious...

As for doing the video editing, I appreciate the offer, and I may ask for some hints or what not. My dad and my roommate both do digital video production with Avid workstations, so that's what I use. Can't get any better than that for having the right tools available! Of course, the analogy here is, having a hammer and nails doesn't make me a carpenter.
 
What you can do for the speedo cam is have a second camera (one with a video composit input) and one of those eyeball cams, you know, the little round ones like for using for video chat, and rubber mount it to the steering column. plug the cam into your recording source (second camera) and record from there. You may have to play with the mount a little bit, but I bet it can be done pretty easy, plus the speedo cam doesn't really need to be a real fast or high quality cam since as long as the cam is mounted stationary, it's not recording a full frame of moving video, just the speedo (or speedo and tach).

Michael
 

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