tweeter81

Guys,

Here is a short writeup about the hill climb challenge that I will be participating in June. I hope the get some exposure for the car in some big national magazines (Automobile, etc.) and hopefully get some cool video of me tearing down Nevada Hwy. 341!!!

All About: The Speed By Spectre 341 Challenge
Risk vs. Reward. That’s what it comes down to. If you race at Daytona, or The Indy 500, or Le Mans, or your local race track for that matter, you are racing to collect prize money and trophies and points. Maybe a pretty girl will kiss you and you’ll get to stand on a podium and get your picture taken. It’s lovely, really.
But at The Speed By Spectre 341 Challenge, if you win, you might get a .25¢ ribbon; provided one of the organizers remembers to bring them. Otherwise, all you’ll end up with are stories and memories – and an ego that’s either bigger than it was before the race…or a lot smaller. This is one race that you absolutely must calculate your risk correctly.
The Spectre 341 Challenge is the automotive equivalent of a high wire act with no net. And the wire is very high… and it’s windy…
RISK:
This competition is not on a racetrack. There are no prissy run off areas, gravel traps, or tire walls; no sissy hay bales or an ambulance that’s seconds away. There are no berms, catch fences or smooth concrete barriers. None. And you don’t get practice laps either.
The “track” is a real two-lane mountain road that is crowned in some places, sloped in others, with yellow stripes down the middle. There is loose gravel on the shoulders, sometimes on the roadway but only after a blind corner, and lots and lots of thick steel snow marker poles that are best left alone. Should you lose control of your car, there’s a 50/50 shot of contacting rock formations or thin air.
Because there are few guardrails, the drop offs on some of the turns are steep. How steep? Well, if you go off on turn 7 for example you’ll probably have enough time in the air to make out your last will and testament before you hit something for the first time.
There’s your risk.
What was that reward again?
REWARD:
Well, as the old saying goes, if you have to ask, you don’t understand. You can stop reading now. Go polish your helmet.
There are literally thousands of very fast and skilled drivers out there, professional and amateur. But only a fraction of them are real racers. And if you are a real racer, accept this as a friendly warning: You won’t be able to do this just once. You’ll be back. And it won’t be for the ribbon.
Conquering 341 – that’s the reward!


I just wanted to post this up to let you guys know that I will be attending the aforementioned event this June and will be representing the 1st Gen CTS-V community and the V Subsection of the LS1TECH.com forum (unofficially of course).

I also wanted to put the word out that I would like to get some SPONSORS on board with this. I would be willing to display stickers or vinyls or possibly install certain parts to test them out on this grueling hilll climb.

I think this is going to be an awesome event and I am also hoping that my car will be very competitive as well. Obviously this event is not really a contest, everybody just runs as hard as they feel comfortable, but on the other hand, I am very competitive so I will for sure be trying to run the course under that magical 3:41 mark. For some perspective, that means that you have to average 85 MPH over the entire course (see attached pic --> in reality it is just a 5.2 mile section of Nevada Hwy. 341 between Reno and Virginia City).

Any feedback would be appreciated. Have any of you guys ever done a hill climb (sanctioned) on public roads? Do you have any advice for a first timer?

P.S. As soon as I get my used R888s mounted on my brand new TD wheels, I'll take some pix of how my V looks when it's setup for the track, as opposed to the street setup.

adanieljohnson1

iTrader: (1)

That's baddass bro! I would love to see this! Can you make sure to get an incar vid of your run?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ybah...e_gdata_player
I added a vid to help hype this up for you! I'm gunnin for you...

Persian-V

Right on man!! Just be careful please I believe it was last year a fellow forum member on another forum that died from a hill climb challenge can't remember if it was this one though!

Good luck and may the V gods be with you!

jcollege

iTrader: (2)

Yea a guy died in that last year in his hugely tuned out 996 turbo. Best of luck man, be safe and can not wait to see the pics and video!

tweeter81

Yeah, it's dangerous, but you only live once right! This event is as safe or as dangerous as you want to make it for yourself. If you push your car past its limits, that is when you have problems. I don't plan on pushing the car to that point, but also, we all know that a nicely tuned (for handling/braking) V can hang really well.

I will try to get the best vids that I can.

tweeter81

Thanks, sir. Yeah, I haven't been this excited about anything for a long time. These events never last (you know...since someone died in 2002 and in 2010) for long, so I figured I need to experience this while I can.

itsslow98

iTrader: (18)

That looks like a blast, this type of event and a standing mile event are both something id liek to do before i die. lol

adanieljohnson1

iTrader: (1)

X2,000,000,000

I can't wait to get my car setup for the Texas mile...

Ekshail

Now that looks like shear terror... I WANT IN!!!!
I'll have to start planning for next year. EDIT: Doesn't happen that often.

Be safe and don't even think about that beating that time.

tweeter81

That video is bananas! If you search for some of the other videos, there was a journalist who borrowed a new Porsche Turbo Carrera (I think that was the model) with 500 HP and PDK double clutch paddle shift tranny and he actually ran a 3:33.xx and his video doesn't look that scary. Also, a guy in an EVO IX with roughly 450 BHP ran a 3:31.xx or something.

The kicker is that the best cars to have on this challenge are AWD and forced-induction because the Hwy. is at about 6000 ft above sea level. I am kinda bringing a knife to a gun fight here, but I am hoping that the V will surprise a few people (if I drive it right, that is).

ColeGraham

iTrader: (8)

you should have a truck motor to go hill climbing

V-seriesTech

iTrader: (5)

Glad to see you have coilovers for your venture. Looks like a blast. Have fun man, be safe.

tweeter81

Yeah, they help a lot, and so do the swaybars.

I am hoping my secret weapon will be the 275/35zr18 R888s that I'll be running on all 4 corners though. They should allow me to stick through the corners awesomely well.

raven154

iTrader: (14)

Man the F40 is a sticky bitch. I would have way to much fun in one of those. Good luck to you tweeter.

tweeter81

Guys,

I'll have a full write-up of the event and lots of pix and even a couple of videos up in the next few weeks.

It was a pretty crazy event (and more than a little scary), but it was totally worth it.

adanieljohnson1

iTrader: (1)

So how did it turn out? I can't wait for some in-car vids!

06blackonblackctsv

iTrader: (1)

x2

AAIIIC

iTrader: (19)

Unofficial results.

tweeter81

Them's the results. As you can see, my car was in the bottom third as far as fast times go. I ran a 3:55.54 which was a full 14 seconds off the goal time.

I would venture to say that I had one of the lowest powered cars there. I'll explain what some of the cars (that I theoretically should have been close to) were running when I do the full write-up.

The bottom line was that 95% of the cars were way modded and most of them had 25-50% more power than stock.

bamacaddy

iTrader: (1)

I can't tell you how many times I've looked for the "like" button. This statement deserves a "LOVE" button!