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NOTES FROM THE TEAM A Week to Go! Finished up a few minor tweaks to the car yesterday. Suze repacked the supply/spare parts/tool containers. Shined up our dually and checked it over, fluids, etc. Will go to Reno Thursday evening to pick up the trailer. Will load everything Friday, expect to be ready to roll by the end of the day. Plan is still to head for Bonneville early Monday morning. Weather at Bonneville looks great for the next 10 days, warm days, cool nights. 29 August 2010 The car is pretty much ready for the salt. Finished putting the body on and put a coat of Lucas "Slick Mist" on it over the weekend. Started organizing spares, tools and misc. equipment. Will finish the preliminary packing this coming weekend. Expect to pick up the trailer from storage on the 8th and start loading the equipment and car. Plan to be ready to head for the salt bright and early on the 13th. Conditions at Bonneville continue to look good. There was some precipitation last night that has slowed the activities/racing at the BUB motorcycle meet this week. Expectation is they will be back to running later this afternoon. More later. August 2010 The new GFI/Impco fuel regulators are installed along with the new Clean Air Power (CAP) injectors. We had Paul Yaw at Injector Dynamics test and profile the injectors. In July, Shane Tecklenburg of Tune By Shane and Dave Ferguson of Veracity Racing spent two days tuning the car. The engine now fires up, idles and accelerates better than it ever has. We have made some improvements to the boost control system that will provide for additional manifold pressure boost. In addition, we’ve increased the low-pressure fuel line sizes by approximately 50 percent to enhance the fuel flow from the regulators to the injectors. We are using a new synthetic oil developed by Lucas Oil that we expect to help enhance engine performance. We have installed Alloy Racing Covers on the exhaust system, which will substantially decrease the internal heat issues we have experienced in the past. There have been a number of other minor tweaks, tunes and adjustments in the past several months and we are confident that the car is in the best condition that it has ever been and we are ready for the Salt! The Lessman/Lucas Streamliner is entered for the World of Speed meet at Bonneville September 15-18, 2010. The team will arrive in Wendover on the 13th of Sept; go through tech inspection and pit set-up on the 14th and commence running on the 15th. To date, salt conditions at Bonneville were excellent for the recently completely Speed Week meet. With a little help from Mother Nature, the conditions will be perfect for the September World of Speed meet. March 2010 We have been busy going through the car and checking things out this winter. Have rebuilt and relubed all the CV joints, found 2 that needed the balls replaced. Removed and inspected the transfer cases. After reviewing the data from the 2009 racing season, we have concluded the engine wants more fuel. It appears we need higher flowing regulators and injectors. We worked with GFI/Impco to build us much (twice the current ones) regulators and have them installed on the car. We are working with Clean Air Power to build higher flowing injectors. We will be doing some bench testing in April at CAP and expect to have 16 new high flow injectors available for installation shortly after. Of course we will have to have a new fuel map loaded into the Motec ECU. We just recently were in Pomona at the 50th Winternational drag races. Lucas Oil asked to have the car on display in their booth on the midway. World Finals result We continued to make progress and tuning the engine. The first run out of the trailer we were timed through the measured mile at 323 MPH with a exit speed of 332. On the backup run Friday morning the car accelerated harder than it has before and we were headed for a very good run. However we lost the clutch on the 1-2 shift. Because of the work required to get at the clutch, we were not able to make a repair on the salt. While we were disappointed, we made progress. More later. World Finals We are ready to go back to the salt next week. Plan to arrive monday the 5th, run on the 7th-9th. we have the electrical problem that plagued us at the World Of Speed fixed. We also had burned 3 spark plug wires and those have been replaced as well along with a fix to prevent it from happening again. The weather may be an issue. A cold front moved through the area the last few days but it did not rain on the salt. Another cold front is supposed to pass through the area on Satruday. If it does not rain as well, we will be in business. Post World of Speed Thbbpptt! Pit set-up and racing was delayed for a day and a half due to rain and wet salt. We were able to make a couple of tune-up runs on Thursday and Friday mornings to identify and correct the lean out problems we experienced in 2008. We believe we have that issue resolved and behind us now. However, on Saturday morning we discovered a problem with the crank trigger sensor circuit. It appears we have a short in the wiring harness. We know where it is but we ran out of time to fix it on the salt. We are considering returning to the salt for the World Finals on October 7, 8, 9, 10, 2009. More later... World of Speed, September 2009 Everything is tuned, tweaked, locked and loaded. We are heading to Wendover tomorrow, 14 Sept. Pit set up and Tech Inspection Tuesday, then step on it Wed. The weather is looking pretty good. It's a little iffy in the first part of the week, but improving mid-week. We are really looking forward to seeing the Lessman Racing Crew, old friends, and some who have not been on the Salt in a number of years...200 mph club member (and perhaps the oldest) Bill and Lorraine Brooks. July 2009 We are making progress. the engine is back from Tony Borello's shop in Garden Valley. It is installed back in the car with plumbing and wiring hooked up. Did a chassis set-up per Riley's instructions. We have only a few minor tasks left on the car, put a little polish on it and we are ready for Bonneville. I did some modifications to the handling dolly which should improve on the slat operations a bunch. Plan is to head for Wendover early on the 14th of September, tech and pit set up on the 15th, start runs on the 16th. Spring 2009 A short update. The engine is out of the car and at Tony Borello's engine shop. Looks like we did not do too much damage last year. We holed one piston and slightly damaged several others but no big problems. We have a spare set of pistons so should be able to get things back together soon. We have made a few tweaks on the car and will do a final set up after we get the engine back. Looking for the engine around the 1st of June. We are also going to install a water injectionn system to help with the detonation problem we had last year. We should have everything back together and the set up done by the end of June. Will just need to load and go. Not sure if we are going to try and run Speedweek in August or the WOS in September. Will update this post a little later. Pray for good salt! Spring 2009 A short update. The engine is out of the car and at Tony Borello's engine shop. Looks like we did not do too much damage last year. We holed one piston and slightly damaged several others but no big problems. We have a spare set of pistons so should be able to get things back together soon. We have made a few tweaks on the car and will do a final set up after we get the engine back. Looking for the engine around the 1st of June. We are also going to install a water injectionn system to help with the detonation problem we had last year. We should have everything back together and the set up done by the end of June. Will just need to load and go. Not sure if we are going to try and run Speedweek in August or the WOS in September. Will update this post a little later. Pray for good salt! Fall 2008 September 16-20, 2008. We headed to Wendover on the 16th and had the pit set up and ready to go early on the 17th. Weather and salt conditions were absolutely beautiful and tech inspection was a breeze. The crew stripped down the streamliner and we did a few practice starts to check the systems. This year we were fortunate to have Ellen and Dave Ferguson, owners of Veracity Racing Data, crewing with us. Their data collection and expertise in analyzing data was a tremendous help. The first test run out of the trailer was a nice, easy 250 mph. The second run was aborted because of a knocking sound that turned out to be a loose body panel. Easy fix. Our third and final run gave us an official speed of 311 mph with a peak speed of 324. Unfortunately, we blew a piston on the second run and were unable to complete the second half of the process to achieve a record. However, the handling issues from 2007 were all resolved and the run at Bonneville this year showed us that the car has a lot more speed in her. We’ll pull the engine over the winter to replace the blown piston and will be ready to head back out in 2009. SPRING 2008 A quick update for those of you that may be paying attention. Upon retruning from the salt last fall we did a series of tests/inspections with the help fo the Riley folks to try and determine what was up with the weird steering. We finally found a front a-arm pivot that was mis-located. Riley modified the a-arm to compensate and it looks like the probelm is fixed. We also removed the steering box and had it inspected and adjusted by Sweet. The only thing left to do is check the set-up one last time to make sure the car is balanced. We are confident that we have fixed the problem and are looking forward to getting back on the salt to check it out. We do have for work to do on the trailer (I side swiped a light pole in Elko) and soem tweaking to the handling dolly to make things just a littl better in moving the car around. Looks like we are about ready. We are going to skip Speedweek (August) this year. There are just too many participants. We will go to the World of Speed meet in mid September, 17-20. Not only are there considerably less participants, the weather is generally a lot more pleasent. See you on the salt. LATER IN OCTOBER Sorry for the slow up date, been busy cleaning the salt off the car. While we did not go as fast as we wanted, we did make progress shaking the car down. First run we ran the entire length of the course and was timed at 238 plus for the mile. It looks like we were up around 240 peak speed. Second run was aborted because of low fuel. We experienced a tendency for the car to wnat to veer right requirig I steer it fairly hard left. Ron McMahon, GM from Riley Tech did some checking and discovered the rear end was slightly out of alignment. That was corrected and we went out for our third run. At this point the front end was really loose and the car was going from one side of the course to the other. We returned to the pits and found the stearing box needed adjustmet. We tightened things up and belive we corrected the problem. It appears that after we got the car ro go straight, we just had too much slop in the steering box. As long as I was steering to the left the problem was not apparent. It's the reason we do shake down runs. Friday moring we went back to the salt but the weather was not looking good. We loaded up and went to the starting line but the BNI officials evetually cancelled the meet becauise of the weather conditions. We loaded up and came home. I believe we are ready to step it up next summer. The engine and drive train worked great and I believe our handling issues are behind us. We will do a few minor tweaks to the car and be ready to return to the salt in September at the World of Speed. Oct 4, 2007. Update from the Salt We arrived on the Salt Tuesday. The course conditions are just okay. The first three miles are rough and the last three miles are in pretty good condition. We made one run on Wednesday and run the full length of the course. The car felt pretty good, all systems were working. It did want to pull to the right but I think we have that issue corrected for today's runs. Speed on Wed 238+. It looks like today may be the last day on the salt because of a storm front moving through. It's great to be back on the salt. Still Waiting-- I spent quite a bit of time on the phone and internet during the recent BUB motorcycle meet to try and get a feel for the condition of the salt. As mentioned easlier, we had planned on going to the World of Speed meet the 12-15 of September. the conditions and length of the course did not appear ideal for us to make our runs. So, deceided to wait for the World Finals October 3-6. I have entered the carm made room reservations and plan on arriving the evening of 1 October in Wendover. the weather reports look good between now and the race date, sunny and warm. See you on the salt. August 2007 - waiting.... The streamliner is polished and ready to go, the trailer is loaded, the new Mickey Thompsons are here and ready to roll. But it will have to wait until September. After watching the weather for weeks and reading the reports from officials, my crew and I have decided to skip Speed Week and put everything on ice until September trials. While the salt is reported to be dry enough in some areas for a couple of short tracks and one long track, we'll give the salt another month to get really good and dry. Streamliners and damp patches do not mix well. The revised plan is to head to Wendover September 10, go through inspection on the 11th and start runs on the 12th. Check back for updates after Sept 10. If this business has taught us anything, it has taught patience. April 2007 Great news, Mickey Thompson Tires has announced they will be producing new Bonneville tires by August. I have ordered 4 sets. I have only had 1 set that was used to fabricate the car so I have been holding my breath they did not get damaged these past years. We are making progress on the GPS/speed reference installation to activate the MoTec traction control. Should have it up and running in a couple of weeks. Have been a little bored with nothing of significance to do on the car so have bee taking some parts and pieces off to be powder coated and anodized. Car will look sharp. More later. January 2007 Things are looking up. We fired the engine a couple of weeks ago. It started easily, ran great and sounded awesome. Looks like we have fixed the electrical gremlins we had during Speedweek with the 3 new wiring harness'. We have also tweaked a number of other items that needed attention. We had a few things that needed attention as a result of tech inspection. The SCTA/BNI has removed the restriction against the use of traction control so we are putting a GPS device on the car to feed a speed reference into the MoTec to implement traction control. Going to be interesting to see how it works. We have also added a second battery to double the juice, thought it would be a good idea at this point with all the devices drawing power. We have a new handling dolly to ease the effort at Bonneville. Works great and much easier to handle the car. We are actually finished with our "to do" list and only have to pack and load the car to be ready to head for the salt. Hopefully we will have good salt again this year. Will update as we get closer to August. Should you have any questions or comments, please feel free to send me an email, rlessman@ewpartners.com. October 2006. The World Finals scheduled for the 11th-14th of October were cancelled because of rain a few days before. We have a new handling dolly which should help operations on the salt. We also had our electrical problems fixed (we hope) and were ready to get serious. Looks like we will sit and wait for Speedweek 2007. The car is ready and do not anticipate doing anything other than applying a few coats of polish. I will try to get some new photos posted shortly. 20 AUGUST Returned from Bonneville Friday. We did not get a run off at Speedweek. Too many gremlins in the electrical system. We will get a new harness for the engine control system made immediately and will return to the salt flats at the World finals in mid October. More Later. 15 August Arrived on the salt Sunday afternoon. We got the pit set up and began preparing the car for tech inspection. We had a few glitches with the wiring controlls and monitors the engine. Spent Monday sorting out the problems. Looks like we have the problems fixed and plan to go though tech this morning. with a little luck, hope to get a run off this afternoon to shake the car down. More later. July 24 UPDATE We retrieved the engine yesterday and got it installed last night. Still have some plumbing and wiring to hook up but no big issues. Plan is to finish the details of prepping the car this coming week end. Will load the car and trailer the following week end. The team will be staying at the Salt Flats Inn in East Wendover. We will arrive on the Salt the 13th and hope to make a run on Monday to continue to shake the car down. First hand report from the salt is that there is 11 miles on good salt. Best in years. I can’t wait to get there. January Update-2006 I decided against going to Australia this year. We just do not have enough shake-down runs on the car to be comfortable traveling that far to a very remote area. Maybe in the future. We have removed the engine and shipped it to my engine builder, Richard Farmer. The plan is to do some additional development work including changing the camshaft, installing a new fuel injection module to flow more CNG and do a little additional tuning on the dyno. At the conclusion of last summer's dyno work, Richard had a comfortable 1100 HP. We hope to be at the 1500 +/- range after this latest effort. We should have the engine back by the mid March and installed and buttoned up by the end of March, 06. We are completely finished with work on the car itself. We should be in very good shape to make the first Bonneville meet in August and hope to go back in September and for sure in October. More later.
Pray for dry salt! Winter Update Bonneville has been a bust this year. Speedweek in August was a "rain out" after two days of racing, World of Speed in September was cancelled and the World Final for October has likewise been cancelled, all because of the salt flats being wet or under water. The team is considering several options, they are as follows:
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