Steve_R

Last Saturday was the annual Big Bend Open Road Race (BBORR) in south Texas. If you don't know, it's an annual race (technically a rally) held on a closed two lane highway between Ft. Stockton and Sanderson TX. We each run the 59 mile course both directions, from a standing start both times, trying to get as close to our target speed as possible. There are classes from 85 mph to unlimited. The highest speed class you can run without a full cage, fuel cell, etc. is the 150 class, which is what I run. That class has a tech speed of 168, so if I'm clocked faster than 168 mph I'm disqualified. I'm also disqualified if I'm clocked slower than 130 except for a couple of the curves.

I put right at 2,500 miles on the Vette last week, including the trip down and back and the race.

The trip started out Tuesday when I had to drive over the mountains to pick up my new navigator in Denver. There was a huge snowstorm last Tuesday. Here are a couple of pics of the drive over: (Warning: If you're one of those Vette owners who doesn't drive your car in the rain these pics may shock you)

This is at the top of Vail Pass:



This is heading down the east side of Vail Pass; that's shiny glare ice. Michelin PSS tires are awesomeness at high speed on warm dry roads. They pretty much suck on glare ice. I'm sure a lot of comments were made by other drivers about the idiot driving a Vette in those conditions.



A little farther down the slush on the road was deep enough that I was plowing it with my front splitter.

Something you don't see on a Vette every day:



The rest of the trip to Ft. Stockton was pretty uneventful. We made it, went through tech inspection (after spending almost $20 at a car wash) and ran the course twice at legal speed to teach my brandy new navigator what I'd need during the race.

Every year they get a few cars to visit the grade school in Sanderson, which is a huge deal for the kids. I always go, and let kids sit in the car and put my helmet on for pics. The smiles are huge.





While the upper speed classes are dominated by Vettes, there are some very cool cars. There were 13 cars in the 150 class; 10 Vettes, one new Challenger, one highly modified Viper and an Audi TT. The Audi broke on the first leg and didn't finish. One thing that's super cool about BBORR is that the people there run their cars hard and with few exceptions don't baby them. There was a 427 vert, for example, that already has 9,000 miles. They raced it in the 120 class. Except for this guy, who ran this in the 105 class.

Gearhead Jim

More pics are always welcome...


Trying to "drive" the road on Google Earth, it's hard to get a feel for what those curves are like. What kind of speeds to you run through the various curves?

Steve_R

The race is usually super safe with no issues. This year there was a wreck in practice. A ZR1 ended up spinning out and backing into a raised RR track, then endoing backwards over the track and landing on the top. The car was destroyed but the driver got out and walked away without any injury - except to his pride and checkbook - before help arrived almost instantly. It's another testament to how well these cars are made.

Saturday morning dawned bright with unusually cool temps, perfect for the race. Here's some of the 153 cars lining up on the road for the start:



We started 13th out of the 153. The first half of the road has some decent straights, and I ran it up to 165 as quick as I could and kept it there. I use 5th gear for the entire race and never use 6th or 4th. My new navigator learned that no matter how many times you've heard how fast things are coming at you at those speeds you have to experience it to believe it. He got mixed up on split times and we ran the first leg just under 145 mph average. That told me I had to average 155 on the return leg to hit our target speed of 150. That's doable, but it's pushing HARD.

The return trip started out great, then got very weird. About 20 miles in both the video camera mounted on my helmet AND THE CAR simply quit at almost the exact same time. I was running right at 150 through some curves and it was like I shut the car off, which I didn't. No warning, no check engine light, nothing. It simply shut off. I shifted it into Neutral and started to look for a checkpoint to get off the road and didn't see one right away. So, what to do? I barely touched the brake pedal to get the signal, pushed the start button and it fired right back up. No warning lights, nothing. I put it back in gear and glanced at the speedo; I was down to 80. I knew I couldn't average 155 by then, but I did run it right back up to 165 for the rest of the course, including a number of curves. Even with that, I averaged 146 on the return leg. It was a fun ride for sure.

I haven't touched the car since I got home late Sunday night. I'll spend several hours cleaning this off tomorrow, clay bar it, wax it and detail it.



Denver-based team, all Vettes, we took third in the team competition:



As I said earlier, doing this is hard on a car. Here's how the driver's side skirt looks now; it's time to replace them with carbon fiber.



I can gaurantee that Vettes don't melt in rain or snow. I can gaurantee that they're made to run at high speed safely. I can gaurantee that driving one that fast is simply the most fun you can have with your clothes on.

Steve_R

I only take one curve below 120, a couple below 130 and all the rest at 150 to 165. Those yellow curve markers you see on roads all the time, with the "safe" speed under them? I can easily double or triple them.

Here's a video from my helmet cam of the entire southbound first leg. Like any video it doesn't do high speed justice. Suffice to say I'm pushing the car hard and using every inch of road.

bud miller

pretty cool steve...

Steve_R

Here's a pic of the 5 unlimited cars at the staging area Saturday morning. The GT40 usually traps over 200 mph in the trap both directions and averages over 170. That is simply insanely fast on that road. It has a small block Ford V8. I've been behind it when he launches off the line, he shifts at 9,000 RPM. It's the sweetest sounding engine I've ever heard.

peter pan

Thanks for the vid I always wanted to do this when I had my boosted C5. It appears the road is rougher than I thought it would be for going that fast or it is just the vid. It appears the Vette moves up and down a lot at those speeds.

Steve_R

Some of the straights seemed rougher this year but not bad. Fortunately the curves are all pretty smooth and in good shape. I think some of the camera movement is because it's on my helmet, not on the windshield or harness bar.

Gearhead Jim

Looking at your profile, it seems like your car has the base springs but Z51 sways and Bilstein (Sports or HD?) shocks.

Any kind of oil or tranny cooler?
Did any of your temps get high enough to be a concern?

Great video!

jack5hd

i would like to try that...any special prep for car?really kool.

Rustysocket

Looks like a blast. Thanks for sharing.

Steve_R

Suspension mods. Rear wheels have been widened to fit 325/30 rubber on the rear and fit inside the fenders. Harness bar and 6 pt harnesses. APR CF splitter and diffuser. 'Glass side skirts that need replaced with CF. Fire extinguisher. No extra coolers. One thing I always do at the end of each run is check and record temps and tire pressures. I've never seen anything of concern. High tire pressure warning on the DIC is a PITA since I start with 40 psi cold.

Depends on what class you want to run. Rules are at BBORR.com. I think you can run up to 120 class with factory seat belts, no firesuit, and no other real mods. As you go up in speed class the required safety gear increases. There was a new 427 vert there; husband and wife drove it in the 120 class.

Seriously, if you've ever wanted to drive your car fast legally, this is the way to do it.

Next year I'm gonna figure out how to record the conversation between me and the navi over our intercom and dub it over the in-car video. I think people would be fascinated at how calm our conversation is during the race.

1bdvet

Someone had fun!

redrckt97

this is a very cool thread -- thank you for posting -- it sure looks like fun!!! Amazing what a Corvette can do.

Gearhead Jim

Thanks for the car info!

napp e roots

wow I have to do this in my life

smurfkiller

looks like a blast, i dint hear about this till the event was going on sure as h3ll going to try to make it next year. i love actually driving my car there is a open drift event here in houston in about a month i wanna go do that as well. cant be any harder on the car than road racing and drag racing it

Steve_R

5 hours over the last two days and it's finally cleaned up. Worth every minute.