In the words of Annie Lennox of Eurithmics fame "Here comes the rain again". The SummerNationals was officially washed out at 10.00 am this morning (Saturday). I had 2 qualifying passes yesterday and I've come up with this Drag Racing equation
Low horsepower + good traction + above 4000 ft. corrected altitude = rubbish ET's
My ET's were so bad (mid to high 12's) I feel bad posting them. The car gripped then bogged on every run. Jetting , tyre pressures and increasing launch RPM'S made no difference (P.S. Dave, I'm slowly catching up in launch RPM's!!)
Out of the darkness there is always light, so the highlight of the weekend for me was catching up with old friends and acquaintences some of which are doing very well in their respective classes thank you!! I'd post names but I think that's name dropping
Anyway, I flew the VW flag but it got wet and tangled

Cheers for sharing Henry. Guess as long as you had a good time at the end of the day hey

Thanks for the update Henry,
at least you still got seat time,
and another set of conditions to try and adjust for.
You and I would both be lost if we had nothing to tinker with.

If the tyre wont slip then the clutch has to i suppose, (hehe).
I found my limit was about 7100...that is about as low as I can go.
Normally set at 7500-(8400 if I forget the two step switch) for high altitude,
and 7300 if i think the track may be slick.

How were the mph numbers in the heat?

2008 warwick the track was so slick on Saturday,
that it went up in spin, even on a 6600 launch.
..but you know I lost less than a tenth with wheel spin,
but about 3 tenths if it bogged.

Plus of course when ever the engine bogges down off the start, the poor old tranny starts to groan.

Dave,
The run numbers were

Corrected Altitude
1st Run 3975ft
2nd Run 4120 ft
60'
1st Run 1.796
2nd Run 1.965
330'
1st Run 5.163
2nd Run 5.398
660'
1st Run 6.974
2nd Run 8.017
MPH
1st Run 85.06
2nd Run 85.45
1000'
1st Run 10.529
2nd Run 10.761
1/4
1st Run 12.657
2nd Run 12.902
MPH
1st Run 105.83
2nd Run 104.79
Tyrees
1st Run 12 lbs
2nd Run 15lbs
Adjusting tyre pressures didn't make too much difference to the contact patch as the wheels are square i.e. tyre and rim width equal. I might try going down to a 4.5" rear rim to give me some response to tyre pressures.
Launch RPM
1st Run 5200 RPM
2nd Run 5800 RPM
Changing the launch RPM just made the car angrier which lifted the front higher then dropped it harder
I took 8 litres of drink (water) and 20 litres of fuel on Friday - came home with 0 litres of water and 20 litres of fuel
It was a very interesting non event meeting. I've now run 3 really exhausting, hot and humid meetings and I'm still not used to it

The heat has still got to me, in the times listed I gave the opponent's 660' time for the 1st run. The first 660' should read 8.249. I'm sorry if I scared anyone

great update Henry

So the car is still good and in one piece

Dave, The only thing wrong with the car is that I didn't cover the velocity stacks overnight and some of the massive rain storm seeped through my car cover into my carburettors and engine and hydrauliced the engine (it stayed at the strip overnight). It meant pulling spark plugs in the rain to be able to get rid of the water and drive it onto the trailer
A neat thing that came to mind as to what cylinder had hydrauliced was to check the dissy and see which cylinder the rotor was pointing to to determine which cylinder to pull the spark plug on - as you can imagine the plugs are really difficult to get to and you don't want to remove them unnecessarily!!
The only other thing is that there is more grass (and mud) on and in the car than there is on my lawn!!

i bet the back parking lot was a complete mess mud n junk every where

any news on when they might re do the meeting

As the meeting included Group 1 (Top Fuel, Pro Stock , Top Doorslammer etc.) It's pretty hard to reorganise quickly and cost efficiently (John Zappia and others travelled from Perth).The meeting will dissapear in a whisp of humidity. We will have to wait for the Nitro Champs at the end of April for the next big meeting although there are low key Sydney meetings that I will enter prior to the Nitro Champs.

Thanks for sharing the details mate, pity the meeting got rained on but by the sounds of the humidity it wasn't much fun. As DB said any time in the seat is worth it.

Matt, with the weather being what it was, i had trouble having mental purpose and direction about the VW, therefore no real data or useful "bum in seat time" was noticed. Being an eternal optimist and looking for positives in everything, I learned more about what to take and not take with me in regard to spares, food etc. especially in multi day meetings

pic a mate of mine took...

Hi Henry when you going stop this straight line stuff and come and play with the circuit boys.. ..just joking, good to see you still showing the young blokes how to do it...Paul.

Paul, Good to hear from you! Let me say that I am already doing what you are trying to do (straighten out the corners)

Henry, good to see u still have your sence of humor after that weekend !

Pete, what doesn't kill us only makes us stronger! Those that have been around long enough know how much I love the sport (and Volkswagens) and a minor hiccup in regard to the weather won't dampen my enthusiasm or "drive" to win

yea very true,good to see u still got that positive drive after so many years