WESTERN ZONE RENDEZVOUS - March 20 - 22

[kenalker]

Drag racing, auto-cross, and a road course all in ONE weekend - what a BLAST.  The last time I went drag racing was at the Los Angeles County Raceway (LACR) in Palmdale around 1986 when I was about 20 years OLD in my 1973 Gran Torino that I had hopped up with a rebuilt and balanced 351C (or maybe it was the 400 I bored and stroked; I can't remember), 411's, Edelbrock RV CAM, Carter 650CFM quad, etc, etc.  I got first place in the ET bracket racing category - mainly due to my reaction time - I was a first generation video gamer!  Well, my reaction time ain't so fast these days (gave up the video gaming a couple of decades ago), but I did pull a 12.6s 115mph 1/4 in my 1996 GTS.  What absolute fun; it really brought me back!

We need to warn everything about going home from Vegas on a Sunday!  We made good time right out of Las Vegas (left around 2pm) but I pulled over in Jean to let Lena drive the Viper (for the second time ever) and as soon as she pulled back on the freeway, it was bump-to-bumper stop-and-go.  What a way to re-learn a stick!  Traffic varied between 0mph and 70mph (40 minutes to go the next 11 miles) until we finally gave up and got off in Primm at Whiskey Pete's around 4pm (over 2 hours for what should have been a 45 minute drive)!  We hung out there until about 6pm when the traffic looked like it might be subsiding a little and we jumped back on only to find that it really hadn't changed.  There were times when we are gridlocked and completely stopped and times when we were happy to be going 30mph.  After over 3 more hours my gas pedal knee was in pain (and I've never had knee problems before) so I had to pull over and call it quits.  We checked into the Ramada in Baker for the night (normally a 1.5 hour drive from Primm) and headed out the next day.

It's interesting that a counter worker at Whiskey Pete's told me there was an accident and it would probably clear up very soon (wrong).  A security guard at Whiskey Pete's told me it was all due to construction and it is always like that and it would clear by 6pm (also wrong).  When we got to Baker the lady at the counter told me the I-15 from Vegas is like this every Sunday (and Monday as well on 4-day weekends).  Three different answers.... hmmm.  Anyway, I'm making a mental note to always stay the extra day in the future!  I hope no one else got caught in this mess!  It is amazing to think that there can be a 200+ mile long traffic jam.  The slinky effect was very strange - 0mph to 70mph.  It was a really slow time constant, unlike severe LA traffic, but it still caused a huge slow-down, averaging under 30mph for the most part.

Well, we finally got home late Monday night (traffic Monday was fine), I unpacked and immediately went out to wash the Viper.  On my way home from the car wash I goosed it on the freeway to help dry the car off and then got off at my off-ramp.  When I came to my full stop the "service engine soon" dummy light lit up, along with the battery light, and the oil light and then I noticed my oil pressure drop to ZERO.  The car immediately stopped running.  I was really concerned that I'd just blown my oil pump - uh oh!

The one nice thing about owning a Viper is it was only seconds before a bunch of people gathered around the car to help push it into the gas station parking lot next to the off-ramp.

I tried starting the car but it seemed that the battery was very low (despite the fact that it started every time over the weekend and I was watching the AMP gauge all throughout the trip and the alternator was putting out a good 14V the entire time).  The car would simply not turn over.  I was pretty close to home and someone who loved my "Cobra" gave me a lift.  I came back with my truck and jumper cables and got the car to all hooked up only to find that, with key in ignition and fan running (and remote INSIDE the car), the car door had shut and LOCKED!  I'd never had this happen before.  My car is now on with the fan running full-bore (for some odd reason), and I can't get in.  I lost my spare key a couple of weeks ago.  So, I went home again and got the spare remote, came back, and even though the horn would toot when I pushed the UNLOCK button on the remote, the doors would simply not unlock (even with jumper cables connected).  How nuts - the car locked me out and won't respond to the remote, and the fan is running full-bore.  It's like the car is unhappy with me or haunted or something.

The door was slightly ajar even though latched, so I grabbed the hanger I always keep in the truck to help others who lock their keys in the car (it's NEVER me ;-) and was able to drop it down into the car far enough to push the emergency release lever down to pop the door.  Thank goodness - I don't know WHAT I would have done if the door wasn't still a little ajar!

I tried to get the car to start and with the jumper cables it turns over really fast but simply will not start.  (Yes, I've got plenty of gas).  Fortunately, the oil pressure was climbing as I cranked the engine over - whew - oil pump is probably OK...  But, I finally gave up and called AAA.  They were able to send a guy who claimed to have towed many exotics in his 20 year career (I'm only 2.5 inches off the ground in the front due to the Eibach dual-rate springs).  He did a good job (check out the wooden ramps he used to keep the flat bed at a lesser angle) until he let it down at my house and dragged the chrome tail pipes across my driveway taking out a swath of concrete in the process (don't know what it did to the tail pipes - haven't had the inclination to look yet).

Well, anyway, the Viper is still sitting in the garage - I had to get back to work and it has been ignored since.  What a strange way to fail.  I just thank God it didn't happen on the way home from Vegas!

We are now up in Davis going to watch the US First Robotics regional competitions!  My son's alma mater, Dos Pueblos High School (Goleta, near Santa Barbara), is competing and then we are dropping him back off at Berkeley on the way home.  He came home for Spring break on Thursday after we'd left for Vegas so he got the house for himself for 5 days.  Lena and I used our new VIPER BAGS to tote our clothes with us - they are wonderful.

Thank you Cathy and Dan for a great weekend - thank you Lance and Lori for the awesome bags!

Here are a couple of pictures of the Viper being taken home on the flat bed - again, it just makes me grateful it happend around the corner and not any earlier in the day after such a LLLLOOONNNGGG trip home!

Oh - there's an auto-cross in Santa Barbara at the Earl Warren showgrounds today  ($85 or $100 at the gate).  I'm out of town, and my car isn't working ANYWAY so I won't be there, but wanted to let everyone know!

One more thing - I took some video from my home-made camera mount that some of you saw and I'll try to post on YouTube when I get more time.  I forgot to turn it on during auto-cross and road racing (just having too much fun), but I remembered to turn it on for my 12.6s 1/4 mile!

Ken

[NK BREKR]

Wow Ken! Definitely lucky it didn't happen in Vegas or along the way.  Hope you get the Viper back on the road quickly, let's hope it's just being tempermental due to the stop and go traffic.  My Viper does a jerking motion whenever I'm in traffic, I feel that it's going to stall and then I remind myself that Vipers simply don't like to go slow. I know that you're feeling quite down, but you can only go up now  >v

It was great seeing you and Lena again, she'll have to come out to the next NARRA event and drive, since you'll be in the blue group, don't try and pull a "Lance" and take up permanent residency in GREEN <F

[Newport Viper]

Newport Auto-X
=15

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sQjS6L5TXE

Very Cool!  Thanks Lance!

[MoparMan]

Wow Ken! Definitely lucky it didn't happen in Vegas or along the way.  Hope you get the Viper back on the road quickly, let's hope it's just being tempermental due to the stop and go traffic.  My Viper does a jerking motion whenever I'm in traffic, I feel that it's going to stall and then I remind myself that Vipers simply don't like to go slow. I know that you're feeling quite down, but you can only go up now  >v

It was great seeing you and Lena again, she'll have to come out to the next NARRA event and drive, since you'll be in the blue group, don't try and pull a "Lance" and take up permanent residency in GREEN <F

Art, did you manage to head out of town early enough to miss the sort of traffic Ken described?

Ken, the Sunday traffic from Vegas to LA has been like that for years. Before we moved to Vegas (10 years ago) we used to drive up Thursday night or Friday morning, spend the weekend and when Sunday hit we'd just get up eat and hit the road by 9. That way we missed most of the traffic and still got back to La Canada in well under 4 hours.

[kenalker]

Here are a few pictures I took with my iPhone.  They are pretty crummy, but I still can't get over the "Hemi under Glass" Barracuda with the engine in the back and the dual drive-shafts to transfer the rotational energy BACK to the differential.

[kenalker]

And for those who missed the Quarter-Mile of Mopar at the Cannery on Friday night (along with the Disco band; which actually wasn't bad... brought back memories).

Oh - make sure to look very closely at the window sticker (look at the last item on the list; it is "priceless"!)

Ken

[kenalker]

continued from previous post...

[hemotox]

you can open the trunk manually with the key, crawl in and open the door

[PCH VIPER]

Thanks for posting the pictures Ken !
I took a couple pictures of the Hemi under Glass car last year.  I didn't get to see him run though cause something went wrong just before his run.

So what is up with your car?

[PCH VIPER]

Since you asked Ken... the Full size group picture and fisheye is now posted on my site.
I tried to upload it to this thread but it is too big.

[Newport Viper]

Since you asked Ken... the Full size group picture and fisheye is now posted on my site.
I tried to upload it to this thread but it is too big.

>w












Lance, You can up load photo's on the VCA site and it will resize it for internet forums for you......

[Super Villain]

Well, Ken asked for a FULL sized pic...having it re-sized down kinda misses the point.  I think Lance meant it was too big to fit in the maximum allowable width of the forum.

[Super Villain]

I had a really great time out in Vegas!  Thank you again to everyone for putting in the hard work to make it possible and especially Dan and Cathy!  And thank you to Lance for all the great pics!  And our Viper bags were very cool!

It was great to hang out with Lyle, Pattie, Kala, and Dai.  Thanks Kala for taking those pics during our time with Shelby!

Not sure if I would do the MATS event itself again as it was quite a disorganized mess, but the Club event was awesome.  I have a few pics I'll try to post up as soon as I get more time.  But here is clip of one of my runs...a little disappointed in the times as I am sure with more practice I can get her down much faster (won't be happy until I am in the low 11's!).

http://www.pod9.com/ant/viper/viper_vegas_drags_2009.wmv

[hemotox]

Anyone going to the VCA Regional Zone Rendezvous in Brekenridge Colorada on July 4th?