Preparing a Solara for the Bonneville Salt Flats

[sealy]

I don't want much out of life - just a little speed is all. I briefly raced motorcycles in my youth, but a foot peg through my ankle ended that. Now older, wiser, and near retirement, I want more speed, but on 4 wheels, thank you.
The Solara is a good candidate for the salt flats. It has a long wheelbase for its' size, has a nice streamline shape, and an engine that is understressed. I have had it up to 120 mph, and the car was rock stable. The class it would fit in is Coupe, naturally aspirated, street legal, engine limit of 191 cu. in. (3 litres). No add-on spoilers, no air dams or belly pans are permitted. The record is somewhere around 146 mph. (average over 2 runs), and is held by an Eagle Talon for Criminy sake!! I figure with a few tweaks, I can get that record. I contacted a drag-racing legend by the name of Buck Kinney who kindly agreed to research it and make some suggestions. If anybody can massage an engine, it is Mr. Kinney, who holds or has held, 10 world records, and is still racing at age 73.
Taking into account power/weight ratio, it looks like it will take anywhere from 255-270 bhp to achieve 150 mph. Mr. Kinney has already suggested some cams, and a tuned exhaust for starters. He noted that the Solara has a pretty good header system already. It will be interesting to see what he comes up with.

[Sebas007]

^^^

Really interesting !!!

[ClassySolaraGuy]

^ Very, Keep us posted & If possible pics too!

[PXLpainter]

Yeah - actually, let us know how you are able to over-ride the speed limiter too!

Best of luck - and welcome to SG!

[hskrsolara]

^^yeah thats what I was thinking, I guess his first mod will be a stand alone engine management unit...

[SPF 0]

I would think that would be among the easier modifications. I could be wrong, of course.

[SpikedMantis]

I think Apexi makes something to override the limiter.

[**PoshPepper**]

Very interesting... keep us posted, and good luck.

[PhreakdOut]

Good choice. Were you thinking Gen 1 or Gen2? The Gen2 SE sport has factory airdams and a pretty slick shape. Although the fog lights might should be removed and made into something more functional and less restrictive on aerodynamics.

I was always interested in Bonneville Salt cars. In the early '90s, I worked for Maremont Exhaust products (aka Gabriel Ride Control) in Carol Stream, IL. It was the R&D center for both exhaust and ride control. One of the techs, Ron Hall had a '63 Avanti that he'd prep'd for Bonneville.

Pictured Here:


The car now resides at the Studebaker National Museum in South Bend, IN. (If I remember correctly, my signature should be under the hood or the trunk. I can't remember which place I signed.)


Story Here:
http://www.aoai.org/bonville.htm

He'd finally broken 200mph with his Avanti. Ron had taught me a few things about his setup and in turn I'd try to help out in the shop on open Fridays. (Open Fridays are when the company would open up the 10 bays of lifts and allow us to use them for our personal cars. Awesome. I was bending my own exhaust for a 71 Chevelle.)

Anyway, I have no idea of the rules allowed for Ron's class. He mentioned that airdams were NOT permitted. Same with bellypans and other aerodynamics. However, modified exhaust was permitted. Hehehe!
So what he did was to route the headers to run forward of the block instead of rearward. The headers came down and dumped IN FRONT of the front wheels. To make an airdam, we used rectangular shaped tubing (around the size of a 2x4) and made a functional balance tube between the headers. The balance tube was shaped and looked like an airdam, but technically it was exhaust. Very clever.

To address the issue of bellypans, Ron fabricated two very long and flat mufflers to sit inside the frame rails. It was a work of art. No exhaust was running through it but somehow he convinced tech inspection to pass the car per the rules.

Ron died of cancer in 1996. He worked around the clock on that car from the time I met him till September 92 when he broke 200mph. (Even while fighting cancer) Many times his wife would find him sleeping under the car in the middle of the night. Talk about nerve racking.

Ron was bitten by the Bonneville speed bug. It can get addictive. The groups out there are awesome. You need a wrench and six are handed to you.

Good luck with your quest. Keep us posted if you go through with it.

[Akfahad]

this is interesting.....I'm also wondering about the limiter, that was my first thought.

[sealy]

Mr. Kinney will be changing a timing belt for me, so that will be a perfect time to do the cams, and install a cold air intake system. The final drive ratio he comes up with be interesting. Regarding the rev limiter. I've yet to talk to Mr. Kinney about that. His entire career has been focused on Detroit muscle cars, but I am sure he is researching every nuance of the 3 litre engine as I write. We were discussing the rear spoiler, and the fact that we could not increase it's area. I suggested changing the angle of the stock spoiler, as it seemed the simplest solution. He agreed, thinking that the spoiler could be relatively effective at speed if angled properly.
Check out the Buck Kinney Special on the Barrett Jackson site. It recently sold for about $140000. It deserved a much higher price.

[Eye8Pussies]

PhreakdOut -> he really only has the gen1 option, since the gen2 v6 is a 3.3L instead of a 3.0L



and damn...go out there and have fun!

[jrzymuscle23]

this is really cool- i want to see pics and hear follow ups to this all! good luck with this!!

[mzfe5speed]

that sounds really cool! good luck with everything, and make us solaraguys proud!

[sealy]

If I correctly perceive the rules as laid down by the Bonneville braintrust, the car must be equipped with a 6 point rollcage. I mentioned to Mr. Kinney that I would prefer not to gut the interior, and he thought it would be possible to retain most of it. How he would accomplish this I don't know, but I will leave it in his capable hands. Once the other modifications are done, we will look seriously at the roll cage. I would also like the exterior of the car to look as much like a stock Solara as possible, which shouldn't be a problem other than the tires and wheels. Checking out the Banks Racing Sidewinder Dakota, which holds the record for pickup trucks at 217 mph, I notice that the truck did not use "Bonneville style" wheels. Rather, specially machined wheelcovers were used with extra long bolts to hold them on over the stock wheels. Pardon the digression, but you must hear about this truck. This incredible machine has a turbocharged 5.9 litre 6 cyl. diesel that puts out 735 horspower with 1500 ft/lb of torque, and is street legal! He even towed his own supply trailer to Bonneville, unhooked it, and set the record that day. To top it all off the truck gets 21 mpg on the highway!! I want one.
The record run is on YouTube.