Jeff Dobbins tunes in ADRL

A shout-out goes out to our friend Jeff Dobbins. The driver turned tuner, helped 2010 world champion John Montecalvo win the Memphis Drags III last weekend and secure a new track record in the process.

Some of you may remember him from my earlier car, a Pontiac GTO, which he drove in its last outing in Curacao. Always a good driver and very quick on the tree, he moved on to crew-chiefing after not securing a ride in the ADRL XPS category.

Winner's circle photo (Jeff 3rd from left)

Until Memphis Drags III, Montecalvo had not found his groove. But Jeff made the necessary adjustments and with Sonny Racing Engines providing plenty of horsepower,  Montecalvo beat Todd Hoerner with a 4.089 with a .001 reaction time, and then made a event-best 4.056 at 178 mph to beat points leader Cary Goforth in the semis. He won the final when Pete Berner went red.

Great job Jeff, keep it up! We will be following the XPS category via the web (live-stream).

Thanks for reading.

Source: ADRL.

All Wheel-stand & Drama Competition

If your up for some fun and excitement this Sunday, August 5th, head out to the Curacao Int'l Speedway at Ronde Klip, around six in the afternoon.

The above-mentioned event will revolve around a wheel-stand competition for motorcycles, quads, scooters and bicycles. The fever area will be used as well, with a couple of well-known cars putting on a show for the spectators. Also, the drag racing's import class guys will be on hand with eight cars, including Cosa Nostra Racing's white Toyota Supra (pictured here).

Both the bar and kitchen will be open.

Admittance:
Adults Fls. 25,00
Children Fls. 15,00

PISS'D OFF PETE will be making use of the track during this event for testing purposes. Please, take this a personal invitation and join us for an afternoon/night of fun. We won't be in a race setting, hence, the mood will be such that you can take a good look at the car, ask questions and take lots of pictures as well. The admittance fee is applicable to our guests.

Thanks for reading.

Photo credit: Cosa Nostra Racing

Curacao Drag Fest - Day 2

working on the clutch 

As the festivities around the celebration of the Queen's day (which is a national holiday) came to a close, some of these folk found their way to the drag strip, as this was the second day of racing. It's funny. The stands are full of fans in orange, some of whom spend the entire day in Punda or Otrobanda celebrating amongst friends and with beer in hand. Many came by our pits and hung out.

The second day of racing seemed to go bit slower than we're accustomed to. But the guys doing the drifting put on a hell of a show, while the track's crew tended to the many oil downs, including ours.

Our first and only pass of the night didn't turn out like we wanted. When I went on the throttle-stop the engine suffered a small oil leak, which in turn was blown all over the engine and eventually onto the track. The car didn't seem to want to make up its mind where it wanted to go (hey, I am just the passenger at this point) so after pushing Pete into third gear and still having excessive wheel spin, I clicked it early.

Below the video of our run on day 2, still had a decent 60ft of 1.02 seconds.



Personally I dislike very much oil downs, so I spent the rest of the night underneath the car wiping off any oil that remained. Unfortunately, some other cars ran into the same problem and there were some long delays. The track guys worked feverishly to clean these up, so they deserve two thumbs up!

For those of you who haven't been to the track lately, mostly, the races are held at night under the lights.

Curacao Drag Fest - Day 1

Henry Ford said it best, "Before everything else, getting ready is the secret to success".  And so it was.

Looking back on the first day at the track, I must say it went pretty well. Of course, there were the small mistakes which were in essence avoidable, such as the driver (me) not taping up the shift light and then, as he went down the track, being startled each time the shift light came on. You should have been there to understand.

At first I was just trying to get the feel back, after all, I hadn't driven a mountain motor pro stock in almost two years. The first attempt at a pass ended prematurely when I had to lift due to the car getting out of the grove and moving hard to the center. Still, we had 60 ft of 1.02 seconds, which confirmed that we were running the correct clutch set up for the track conditions. Running a skeleton crew of three (driver included) meant that our turn around time was longer than usual, however, still quite effective.

The second attempt at a pass ended early as well, as the car moved to the center again. Even though my intention was to just go through third gear, I felt the car move a lot and not wanting to tempt fate I backed off earlier than expected. To my amazement, we still covered the 1/4 mile in 6.94 seconds.

The video below shows this run, which starts at the one minute mark.



Only two passes were allocated to us on this day and I must admit that I was very happy to dive into the six second zone so quickly.

Pictures courtesy of Roy Rojer, Priscilla Lotman.