Bonneville 2002 - 8/12/02

[DBesic@domain.elided]

Bonnie spent all of Sunday morning in the pits with Eric Storhok and Jim 
Steck attempting to eliminate the gremlins from the data aquisition system so 
the we could record an entire run.  The crude tinfoil-wrapped wire was 
replaced with CAT-5 shielded cable, which significantly reduced the 
interference from the ignition system but it took them almost an hour to 
figure out the gasoline-powered generator charging the car batteries was 
creating enough "noise" in the electronics to cause the computers to go 
haywire.  (I love engineers.)

After the better part of the day was spent in the pits and the onboard 
computers were checked and deemed reliable, Bonnie was pushed to the start 
line of the Long Course for her third run of the meet.  Mike Besic noticed 
boost dropped off significantly in third gear and was almost tempted to abort 
the run when boost suddenly shot up to 20 psi in 4th.  His terminal speed in 
the measured mile was 195.615 mph, just a fuzz faster than his best time last 
year.  Mike also noted that the car was once again covering three lanes of 
traffic.  Could it have been from the chin spoiler or the rear spring spacers 
we removed just prior to the run, at the engineer's insistence?  "Too much 
drag," he says.  Hmmmm.... (Did I mention I love engineers?)

On Monday, the decision was made to replace the 24" rear tires with a pair of 
25" diameter tires, the idea being that it would allow us to keep the engine 
in its peak power band in 4th gear AND adding a bit of a rake to the attitude 
of the car.  We had determined the F1 strakes in the rear of the car were 
working SO well that they were sucking the rear down and in turn lifting the 
front, causing the instability.  The 1/2" lift turned out to be all we needed 
as Mike reported that Bonnie ran straight as an arrow... and FAST too .  
Check this out:

202.002 MPH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  

More tomorrow..... time for some serious celebrating!

Darren Besic
Bonneville LSR Team
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