Alfa Odyssey at Bonneville - Day #7 and the Record

[DBesic@domain.elided]

    The moment we have been waiting for...

    Before Bonnie left impound to make the record attempt, the crew put her 
up on jackstands and ran her, in gear, until her temp got up to around 180 
degrees.  The theory behind this was to heat up the engine, transmission and 
gear lube so as to thin out the viscosity of the oil and decrease resistance. 
 We were willing to try ANYTHING at this point...

    During Mike Besic's record attempt, he was only able to get 8 lbs of 
boost but still managed to post a speed of 144+ mph.  The average of the 
qualifying run and the record run was 146.346 mph.. enough for a new 
Bonneville Record!!!  Bonnie was immediately sent to impound for the 
mandatory tear-down so that the SCTA officials could verify bore and stroke 
and certify the record.  Bonnie's victory was short-lived, however....

    The factory-backed MR2 posted a blistering 164 mph during its record run 
and demolished the old record and Bonnie's new record.  SCTA could find 
nothing illegal about the Toyota's engine and the newest H/BMS record was 
certified and logged in the record books.  Somebody please shoot me.....  

    Just for grins, Craig Bielat took Bonnie out one more time and posted the 
Alfa's fastest time of the week at 149.___mph.

    Since this was our "virgin" year, much of what we learned, we learned at 
the track.  Mike Besic, builder/driver, and Dick Kreines, owner, and their 
loyal crew, have drawn up a long list of changes and modifications to make 
Bonnie sleeker, stronger and faster.  Like we Chicagoans like to say about 
our Cubs: "There's always next year!"

    Only 51 more weeks to go......   count me in.


Darren Besic

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