Last chance for 2003

["Christopher Hawes" <chris@xxxx>]

Hello all,

In Houston, May 2003 an opportunity was given kindly by DMC Houston to run a
number of their DeLorean's on the Houston Raceway Dragstrip. Some of the
American owners also allowed us to drive their cars too. The most memorable
DeLorean for me had a Camaro 'muffler' added which gave a very distinctive
exhaust note to this fine April 1981 model. This same owner had driven for
over 20 hours from Kansas for the overall Houston DeLorean event which
included the warehouse tour amongst other activities. (annoying Did You
Know!!! They have enough doors in stock to complete another 400 DeLorean's).

Out of us Brits the fastest times were set in the DMC Houston 'works
special' which had a stage upgrade up to 200bhp. The car was quick and I
set the fastest quarter mile time of 16.409 seconds and a top speed of
84.61mph. I felt pretty pleased with myself until in the last closing
minutes Martin 'lead foot' Gutkowski beat my time I think by around a 1/10
of a second.

This now leads me on to the now booked DeLorean Owners Club UK event at the
SantaPod raceway http://www.santapod.com and http://www.rwyb.com in
Wellingborough, Northamptonshire.

On Sunday 2nd November the weekend before the Classic Car Show at the NEC I
have booked an area for the DeLorean Owners Club. Currently there is a
patch large enough to hold up to 10 cars. This is obviously including
friends of the club who have Lamborghini Diablo's or rare Nissan Skyline's
(you know who you are). This will provide a great day out for all as those
who want to show their cars off and not use the drag strip are more than
welcome. It will also raise the profile of the DeLorean DMC-12 and also
boost club awareness. I am sure a group of DeLorean's will attract a lot of
positive attention and all eyes will be on those entering the drag strip...

For those who want to take their car onto the track you will need:-

1. A full UK driving licence or Racing licence
2. Seat belt is mandatory for your own safety
3. Helmets required for bikes and open top cars and vehicles doing 100 mph
or more at the finish line (no DeLorean will top 90mph in the 1/4 mile
unless it has had an engine transplant).
4. Current MOT certificate

The venue normally opens at 8.00am with track runs starting at 10.00am-5pm.
Normal admission £10 plus one-off signing on fee of £15 for unlimited runs.
Directions to Santa Pod are on the website. I would suggest that we meet in
the morning from 10am and then those who want to take their cars from the
grassed/gravel area onto the track around 1pm. This ensures that those who
are travelling some distance to this (near centrally located in the UK)
event will arrive in time to spectate and participate in the actual drag
strip part of the day.

The Gauntlet has been laid..... for those who want to take their cars on to
the drag strip and find out how quick their cars really are. It is up to
the owner, whether to risk taking their car onto the drag strip without
additional insurance as most standard policies do not cover this. A drag
strip event such as this is low risk compared to a racing circuit as it
allows you to take your car to its limit (acceleration wise) in a safe and
controlled environment. A drag strip by its very nature means no turns or
contact points between competing cars which makes it safer than a racing
circuit. It allows you to compete with yourself so that in reality it is
your own time you are trying to improve upon.

I have had my car up to 115mph at 4000rpm in 5th in a safe controlled
environment (ran out of room to keep on accelerating) which made me think to
how far around the 170mph speedo I can go with the additional 2500rpm left
before I hit the red line. This will not be achievable at Santa Pod as the
drag strip is only 1/4 mile long. However next year based on the interest
for this event a track day could be arranged to find this out.

Please email the list or myself privately if you are interested in going.
If there are enough cars booked within the next week I may be able to get a
club discount.

Looking forward now to being at Santa Pod in Wellingborough on Sunday 2nd
November.

Chris Hawes
vin5255
p.s. Any car can go onto the drag strip. In Houston we also had a go with
our rental Chryslers and Ford Explorers. One enthusiast took his series III
Jaguar E-Type and achieved a 1/4 mile time of around 92mph.