The Annual Spectre 341 Challenge 2011
FAST RELIEF !
That title, FAST RELIEF says it all for me after the conclusion of what is unquestionably our best ever Speed By Spectre 341 Challenge. After what happened last year at the very end of what was, up to that point, a successful inaugural event, you can imagine our relief when this year no one died. A crunched wheel and a few broken transmissions and clutches is all the mountain could take from us this year. That’s the RELIEF part.
Let’s talk about the FAST part.
We almost doubled the number of runs from 205 to 391. Of course we had twice as many participants too, but still, that’s a lot of runs. Think about this – 391 runs up a very fast and twisty mountain road – 5.2 miles at a time – with no guardrails and steep drop offs! That’s over 2,000 miles at a very high rate of speed. That is almost coast to coast on a narrow twisty road – at high speed! That’s a lot of FAST for sure. And some guys were very, very fast. Before we get to reviewing the individual times, check out these stats for the 2011 group as a whole:
Average time for the top 5 fastest cars in 2010 was 3:23 —— for 2011 the average was 3:21
Average time for the top 10 fastest cars in 2010 was 3:33 —– for 2011 the average was 3:26. That’s a 7 second drop!
Top time in 2010 was 3:19. In 2011 that was annihilated with a 3:14. That 5-second drop is an eternity up on the hill.
In fact, this year we had two guys with times deep in the teens – a 3:14 and a 3:15!
Let’s put that in perspective: Up until last year, in the entire 40 year history of the hill climb there had only been four people in the teens. Last year we added one, Mark Gillies, in a factory ACR Viper with a 3:19. This year we added two; Lou Gigliotti at 3:14 and Duck Fuson with a 3:15. So now there are seven. Insane fast times.
In 2010 we also inducted seven new 3:41 Club members bringing the total to 53. This year we had five returning 3:41 Club members, all with big improvements to their initiation times AND we added eight more members to the club in addition to the five. That’s 13 people [ almost 1/3 of the entries ] under 3:41 in 2011! That’s a fast group. And the 3:41 Club is adding members faster than the Winklevoss twins are adding friends to their Facebook page! We now have 61 members in the 3:41 Club!
Top time this year improved by 5 seconds! The 10th fastest time improved by 20 seconds! In 2010 the 10th fastest car was 3:53 – in 2011 the 10th fastest was 3:33. Wow!
THIS WAS ONE HELL OF A FAST GROUP!
Only one minor crunchlet and 4 minor breakdowns out of almost 400 runs, 2,000+ miles at high speed. Truly epic.
We proved that you can get a large group of drivers to be very focused and very careful and very safe and very very FAST….
Besides being very fast, this year was also quite the collection of memorable characters………
PARTICIPANTS:
[ #1 ] The winner this year was the same as last year; Lou Gigliotti in his nasty LG Motorsports ZR1 Corvette. And this year he ran 7.3 seconds faster! Lou also got our Speed By Spectre Top Speed award for fastest time recorded on the long straight with 142MPH. What was different this year? Well, even though Lou is a very experienced and successful professional road racer, he had the benefit of being here last year and knowing what else he needed to do to go faster. He understood the road better, he added more power, more splitter, more wing, and maybe a 3rd cojoné. I talked to him and he now knows all about dancing with the car on this road. He said he’s coming back next year – and if he does I know he’ll go faster. I hope he breaks my record as that will mean that I get to bring my car back out into the sunshine and drive it again……. so I can take the record back!
[ #2 ] Coming in a very close second place is also a returning 3:41 Club member [ from way back in 2001 ] and sort of local resident [ is 40 miles local? ] Duck “I love Jaegermeister” Fuson. Duck had the lightest car at 2,300 Lbs. [ yes, we weigh them, just like prizefighters ] and about the shortest wheelbase and for sure the biggest wing and maybe even the biggest pair.
I don’t know how long Duck has owned and been working on this car, but, it sure is getting dialed in. A Top Speed of 135MPH and an e.t. of 3 freakin’ 15. Only .776 seconds from Lou’s time. Does he have one second in that car? Does Hugh Heffner have time now that Crystal left him? Oh yeah – I have a feeling that Duck is just getting started in the development of that car. A little more power, a little more rear wing, a little more chin spoiler and his times will drop a lot! Watch for this car. I will be!
[ #3 ] Third place with a time of 3:22 is another returning 3:41 Club member; Jeff Rosen, in an immaculate blue 2011 Porsche GT3 RS. Jeff must like 3′s because he joined the 3:41 Club in 2002 in a 1997 BMW M3 with a time of 3:39. He dropped his time by 17 seconds this year! I don’t suppose next year he’ll show up in a Mazda 3, do you? Zoom Zoom Zoom? Nah, probably not. The GT3 RS looked basically stock to me – I don’t know how long Jeff has owned it but it couldn’t be a long time since it’s a new car – so that means he’ll have a whole year to modify it for the 2012 event. I hope so, the car is beautiful to watch as it threads its way up the hill, and I have a feeling that Jeff is just getting started in his time reduction plan.
[ #4 ] Local hero [ and yet another returning 3:41 Club member ] Jeremy Kappus in a home built, home tuned Mitsubishi EVO IX RS came in 4th place this year with a time of 3:24 bettering his time from last year by over 1 second. His fast time also came on Saturday, not Sunday. This tells me that Jeremy has maxed out this car – which, let’s face it, costs less than single body panels on some of the other slower cars that Jeremy has beaten over the years – like Aston Martin’s, Ferrari’s, various Porsche’s, Vipers, Corvettes, Lotii, etc. Jeremy is my personal hero in this event – if I drove my car to the level he drives his I would be in the 2′s. This kid wrenches on it, tunes it, washes and waxes it…… and, oh yeah, he drives it every day BECAUSE IT’S HIS ONLY CAR! Daily driver? That just means you have something else for the weekend. Trailer? Are you kidding? What would he tow it with? This car is it! Probably gets good mileage too. Jeremy, you rock!
[ #5 ] It goes without saying that by far the most attention getting car we have ever had at the hill climb is also arguably the fastest “old” car as well, fifth place winner and new 3:41 Club member with a time of 3:29 – R.J. Gottlieb and his 1969 Camaro a.k.a. Big Red. The car is 42 years old. It is loud, it is unaerodynamic, it is fast [ 138MPH on the long straight thank you very much ], and it draws people in like nothing else. It is also by far the fastest Classic Muscle Car up the hill, ever.
Along with “civilian” drivers, we try to bring many journalists and editors to this event so that they can describe it to all those who don’t attend/participate. It’s a tough job. I know I can’t do it – I try, but the message doesn’t get through. People stare at me like I’m talking about a narrow, paved two lane twisty road with no guardrails and steep drop offs and you can go as fast as you want for 5.2 miles and there are no cops……. and………. and…… they think I’m crazy. So we bring in the pros.
Below are links to articles from last years events and some from this year. We’ll post more as they get published, check back here for updates.
JOURNALISTS:
Jeff Smith from Car Craft Magazine was our only returning participating journalist. This year he brought Car Craft photographer John McGann along to share the fun (and the car pushing duties). Jeff’s Chevelle [ I believe it is his High School car! ] decided to break but the story is not without nobility. Like any organ donor, the Chevelle lived on in the race through the transplanting of its ignition box to Dan Weishaar’s ’68 Road Runner. Jeff also made some fun runs in the Spectre Cadillac CTS-V which didn’t break and was probably faster – but, it’s a new car, so nothing special.
Another editor who brought a car of his own was Automundo scribe, Joaquin Barroeta. Joaquin and his wife showed up in a mild mannered Nissan 240sx and proceeded to fly up the hill faster than many of the high powered muscle machines…well, Joaquin flew up the hill. According him, Diana “doesn’t like driving fast”. She’s a trooper for coming along.
Chris Campbell, Tech Editor from Popular Hot Rodding, drove the Spectre Carbon Camaro. After a burnout and a warning from Brandy Morrow [ who competes in the car in the Goodguys Autocross Series with a First Place trophy to show for her efforts from the previous weekend and an event to go to the next weekend ] that she would personally push him off a cliff if he damaged her competition car, he steadily brought his times down to a VERY respectable 3:47. I believe Chris made more runs than any other media driver. Realize that the engine in this car is a very old and tired LS1 that got pulled out of a wrecked '98 Trans Am drag car with many passes under its belt and is in desperate need of an engine rebuild based on the amount and variety of smoke colors coming out of the tail pipes. Nice job, Chris!
Matt D’Andria from Motorator drove our Green Camaro, a for-real Z28 running with the original engine block. Matt found it especially funny that I told him that while he was replaceable, real Z28s are not. It appears that he took good care of the car and made a lot of runs. He commented to me afterwards that he felt that as a driver he didn’t do the car justice, and next year would be back in something more suitable to his skills, like a Prius. Hey, that’s a wide open class, Matt. You could win it!
Evan Smith from Muscle Mustangs drove our Spectre Shelby Mustang GT500. Evan is one of the most competitive of the journalists, being a racer and holding numerous drag racing titles but what really impressed me the most was that he knew when to stop. He could feel the red mist descending, and the car starting to move under him in ways he didn’t like. He was also driving a car shod with tires with a tread wear rating of 390! I didn’t even know tread wear ratings went that high. That’s like a semi-decent credit score, not a tread wear rating. That has to be a lifetime tire if there ever was one. Evan got the slippery snake down to a 3:45 time – and with tires being one of THE critical elements on the hill [ other than big power and wings! ] I can only figure that Evan could get that car down into the 3:30′s with tires made from rubber instead of plastic.
Kevin Wesley from Mopar Action Magazine brought the only OEM provided car. In a stock 392 Challenger with an automatic and manufacturer plates, Kevin got the fastest time of any of the other journalists, and later took one fun run in our Bad Cad, getting the fastest time of anyone driving that as well.
Kevin’s time in the Cad was 3:39.0 and in the Challenger, 3:39.9. Wow. Keep in mind, these are borrowed cars, although I suspect that Dodge has better insurance than we do, plus, our car is leased. Oops, probably shouldn’t mention that. Anyway, either the Dodge is really good or Kevin is.
Kevin flew out from Michigan with his two sons, Parker and Wyatt and they roadtripped up from LA to Virginia City. Parker and Wyatt were unimpressed with our little race, but they did like the shooting gallery on Main Street. Same with my kids. When I used to bring them to the hill climb all they did was look for bottles, line them up and throw rocks at them…….. Kids! Why don’t you look at what we adults do! Ah, well, never mind……
Aaron Robinson from Car and Driver was only able to join us for Saturday – practice run day. He rode up on a Triumph motorcycle which he purchased a day before the event. Aaron drove our CTS-V which he enjoyed immensely. I say that because Aaron, in a few minutes, was able to figure out the satellite radio, blasted his favorite station on XM, had the A/C going along with the seat coolers [ ! ], was able to figure out the launch control, traction control and a host of other things that I had no idea the car had or could do. Aaron even showed me the “on” knob for the radio. I gotta tell you, it’s a lot easier having a guy like Aaron show you everything than having to go through the owner’s manual. How does he know all that stuff by just looking at all the buttons and knobs? Aaron got the car to run steady 3:42′s, again, with A/C, satellite radio, etc. etc. and looked very comfortable tooling around at that speed [ 84 MPH average ].
I met Jake Lingeman from AutoWeek on the Hot Rod Magazine PowerTour a week before 341, in Detroit. When I first met Jake, I was struck by how young he looked. I didn’t know AutoWeek hired 16 year olds! OK, maybe he’s not 16, he just looks that way compared to my tired old ass. I do believe Jake is by far the youngest of our participating editors/journalists and he impressed me as a very brave and enthusiastic young man to take this event on. If I was him I would go back to Detroit and tell all of the other [ probably much older and maybe wiser ] editors on the AutoWeek staff to “grow a pair” and show up next year!
All in all, it was a great event. I truly do not think it is possible to describe this in words, but we’ll leave that up to our aforementioned media – you have to experience this for yourself.
Next year – The Third Annual SPEED BY SPECTRE 341 CHALLENGE will take place on June 15 – 17, 2012. Mark your calendars.
