Victory at the 2013 Festival of Power

The Festival of Power was a very very cold event, with intermittent snow flurries on the first two days meant we were watching a lot of downtime due to strange weather conditions! Alas, we were able to get a few gaps in the weather and make a test pass on the first day.

Our first pass was a second gear launch which after a few wobbles, I coasted the car to the line with a 8.48 second pass.

Photo copyright of Rob Cox

By the time we ran this pass the evening was beginning to come in so we kept the car ready for the Sunday, where we ran early afternoon. The weather was slightly better this time around. After a brief pause before the burnout we took to the line against Chaos. I unfortunately rolled the starting beams and activated the timers before I launched the car, and as such sadly lost a sizable chunk of ET on the pass. The car still ran 6.84 @ 205, but looking at the mph incrementals (171mph at the 1/8th and 195mph at 1000ft), it makes me think it had a lot more in there to come.

Here is a video from the startline of this pass:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kRTjLtTaQI

Chaos wasn't able to attend the next run in the day, so we decided to save the car until the next morning so we can run as a pair again. The Monday started with another pairing, and after a brief burndown, our car shook hard on launch and went up on two wheels, here is a shot to show just how bad the ride got for me:

Photo copyright of Chris Eyre

This lead us to run the final. We narrowly had lane choice over Chaos for the final round. The weather was getting colder as the Monday went on so we made some small changes for the final.

On launch, the car went hard and straight while Chaos spun and smoked the tyres at the hit, leaving me alone to pedal my way to a 6.99 at only 176mph.

Photo copyright of Chris Eyre

The car really began to move around a lot at the top end, so for the car to run a six after a lot of pedalling and playing with startline routines, it really backs up our earlier laps and that the winter changes we put in place are really beginning to work.

 

 Photo copyright of Chris Eyre

We have a LOT of people to thank for their help over the weekend. First all my family and crew for braving the cold and getting us the victory. To Lawrie, Nick and all the guys on the Chaos team for helping us put on a good show for those fans who braved the cold, I hope we made the cold a bit easier to brave. To Adam Gleadow for giving us a bit of commentary assistance during our passes, to the guys at Forge Motorsport for putting their Go Pro camera on the car for the final run (video to come!) and to Martyn Jones and Crunch for letting us borrow their starter motor when ours gave up the ghost! Massively appreciated all of your efforts, and we look forward to racing again soon!