Latest News

2008

• July 12, 2008  Everything continues on track for Bonneville's Speedweek event which begins August 18, 2008.  Fine tuning work on the Streamliner continues to keep Doug busy as he finalizes cockpit changes and engine work on the Nissan 3L which is going to the Dyno any day now.   The VETTE Magzine article came out and has been well received by those who were able to find it. 

  Please check out the new pages - Corvette Posters 4 Sale and

 VETTE Magazine tab re article about the Corvette - August issue

• May 5 2008  Al and Doug, with Don West helping, picked up the Streamliner in Long Beach and have actually found room to squeeze it into Doug's shop.  He has already started work on it, along with the Nissan motor so everything appears to be on track for a successful Bonneville Speedweek.  

• April 22, 2008  Gail & Al arrived back in the U.S. in early April and Doug is working on the Nissan motor in anticipation of the arrival of the shipping container with the Streamliner expected on April 30th.  After the liner is prepped some low speed test runs may happen at El Mirage in June.  Check back to see how it goes.

          Also note that our indispensible Crew Member - Wayne Villard - graduated from             

          the California Highway Patrol and has been assisgned to the Santa Barbara area. 

          So everyone better watch out and SLOW down....Is that an OxyMoron for a 

          Land SPEED team?  Congratulations Wayne!!!

• February 12, 2008 As one can imagine everyone is very disappointed and frustrated by the cancellation/postponement as the event won't happen while we are scheduled to be in AU.  We have started the arrangements for getting the Streamliner out of the Museum and getting a container arranged to ship everything back to the U.S. so we can run at Bonneville in August.  As they say - That's Racing!

• February 10, 2008 From the Webmaster -THE DLRA SPEED TRIALS HAVE BEEN POSTPONED! 
  After an inspection of Lake Gairdner by representatives of the DLRA and Rangers from the South Australian Department of Environment and Heritage, on Friday 7th February 2008 and again on Saturday 8th February 2008. It has been decided to indefinitely postpone the 2008 DLRA Speed Week.
  
  This decision has not been taken lightly, and in consideration of the wasted travels made by many competitors last year it was deemed appropriate to make a decision at this time. It is understood that there are some international vehicles in transit now and their departure was guided by the best information available at that time.
  
  Using GPS an inspection of the track surface was undertaken at each mile mark, the salt was soft enough for a large screwdriver to be pushed in by hand. Where vehicles had driven over the salt, the depression left by the tyres immediately filled with water. On the Friday a DEH 4WD got bogged at the northern end of the course, fortunately they had a satellite phone and were able to contact DLRA members who brought out the necessary equipment to effect a difficult recovery.
  It should be noted at the inspection at the lake in December 2007 by DLRA members, even though there was surface water, it took up to 5 blows of a mallet to drive a sharpened spike on 25mm into the salt.
  
  Several teams are still planning on going out to the Lake around the 3rd March 2008, another inspection of the lake and track surface will take place at that time. It is not anticipated that the surface will be suitable at this time, so further inspections are planned for later in the year.
  
  The issue of cancellation or postponement was discussed by approx 70 members at a meeting in Melbourne on 10/02/2008. There was overwhelming support to conduct a meeting later in the year if conditions were favorable. There are a number of other considerations to be taken into account for another date including the Newtons giving their approval, fire and safety crews availability, surveyors being able to mark the track at short notice and many, many other details.
  Keep the shiny side up!
  
• February 8, 2008 Gail & Al are in South Australia and have finally picked up the crate after it cleared Customs and Quarantine today.  No damage, everything seems fine and they are now just awaiting Doug's arrival on the 20th.  The weather is unseasonably cool and comfortable but the hope is that the lake is still dry.

• January 20, 2008 The shipping crate, with two Chevy race motors we are planning to use in the Streamliner, is on its' way to Australia and should arrive within a few days of Gail and Al's arrival on February 3rd.  Everything is in place for a successful and fun meet as the weather seems to be holding and the lake continues to improve daily as the race date approaches.

2007

• December 17, 2007  The motors are off the dyno and are ready to be loaded into the crate to go to Australia for the March 3rd - 7th DLRA meet.  The 305 cid motor should make the Streamliner go approx. 275 PMH.  (Doug is hopeful that the Liner will go over 300 MPH with the 405 cid motor.) 

300 MPH is a real goal but everything has to be just right go to that fast.  It is hard for some people to understand how much more power it takes to go that extra 25 MPH from 275 to 300 - required horsepower increases by the cube of the speed.

 

Gail and Al will be in AU in early February to take delivery of the motors and Doug will arrive a few weeks later.   Mike Davidson, DLRA founding member and past president has graciously offered his services, and well-equipped shop in Victor Harbor, to help install the 305 cid motor and prep the car to make sure everything is ready to go.  Check out this site often and the  www.dlra.org.au website to see how things are going.

• September 10 2007  We have decided not to go to USFRA's World of Speed at this time.  Doug is going to Dyno the motor again and we'll consider a run at El Mirage on October 21st.

• August 20th 2007  The team has returned from Bonneville, safe and thankful the event even happened.  The end of the access road was under water and the 3 courses previously dragged by the SCTA-BNI team were too soggy to use - but they persevered and managed to drag two new courses and the meet started on time on Saturday Auugust 11th.  The lines weren't as long as '06 because many people decided not to attend after they heard the courses might not be long or good enough for the high-speed cars - the courses turned out to be very good with the NISH Crew getting top speed of the meet at 380 MPH!

          We arrived Saturday, set up our pit and got through inspection.  From Sunday to           

          Wednesday we managed 4 1/2 runs.  Gail ran 202, 191, 201 MPH on a 209 MPH record.   

          On the 14th, after hitting  a hole in the salt left by a prior incident the crew             

          repaired the damage to the exhaust system and the chunk torn off the left side of the

          car and Gail made a final run on the 15th.  The heat caused the effective elevation to

          rise and the lack of oxygen available to the motor prevented the power needed to     

          break the record, so after a 189 MPH final run we packed it up and headed home.

          Doug and Al are evaluating the engine, heads and weather and are considering a

          return in September for the USFRA World of Speed the 12th through the 15th.

• June 1st 2007  Doug picked up the 305 cid motor in Los Angeles that we had shipped back from Australia.  We'll be changing it over to run Electric Fuel Injection on the Corvette because of the low hood clearance.  We will dyno the motor the last week of June to make sure it has enough horsepower to go after the D/GT record of 210 mph in August at Bonneville.

          Gail and Al are back from Australia to prepare to run the Vette in August. 

• April 2007  The Streamliner is now on display at the National Motor Museum in Birdwood, South Australia where it will remain until early 2008 when the team returns to race at Lake Gairdner in March 2008.

• March 3, 2007  The Dry Lakes Racers Australia (DLRA) cancel the annual meet at Lake Gairdner due to poor salt conditions from unseasonal rain in late January and early February.  A great disappointment for everyone.  The decision was made to leave the Streamliner in Australia and return in March '08.  The engines will be shipped back to the U.S. to run at Bonneville in the Corvette.