The adventures of HEAVEN & HELL... AND HEAVEN & HELL AS WELL...!!!
June 08: A little clip and a small wheelie - launching at the Main Event - click to view clip
This was my run against Lee Huxley. Sadly he pulled a .01 reaction to my .07 and won on a double breakout. However Christine did a great job in taking photos in rapid succession and my failure to generate an animated gif from the photos made me compile a very small movie clip instead... Marvels of Photo Shop Image Ready that doesn't do what the manual says!!
May 08: The Main Event - we made it to the race! - click to read story
May 08: Uh oh..! The Springspeed Nationals from bad to worse - click to view story
March 08: Dreaming of a White ....Easter! - click to view story
February 08: Nearly ready!! - click to view story
December 07: It's here!! - click to view story
November 07: The beginning: story BELOW
THE BEGINNING
QUESTION: What could possibly be better than racing a car in Pro ET?
Sounds impossible to answer, doesn't it, but the answer is obvious when you think about it:
The only thing that's better than racing a car in Pro ET is of course RACING TWO CARS IN PRO ET!
So the Heaven & Hell Team have acquired a second Camaro, a 1984 vintage, to hopefully have ready in time for the 2008 Thunderball. The car was purchased from good buddy Bryan Broaddus, a US Superstock racer who we've known for many years and who was busy winning the World Finals at Pomona when we first met him.
The car's name will be Heaven & Hell As Well, and both drivers will have a go behind the wheel, still racing as a team (well, two teams) but finally being able to drive at all meetings and getting the same seat time as everyone else (we would like to thank Peter Donaldson for the input on the car's name).
The '84 will receive the 383 SBC and a TH350 and it should run within Pro ET times.
At time of writing the car has not yet been delivered to the shippers - another couple of days or so - and we are hoping we may receive it before Christmas (what a stocking filler!!!!) as every day will count in our race to have it ready for Easter 2008! Watch this space for progress in that direction.
December 2007: The car is now safely in the Heaven & Hell Garage.
Together with all the parts! And the second trailer!
Collected, unloaded and positioned next to her sister, Heaven & Hell As Well is coming to terms with the British weather. Bryan Broaddus (the seller) went well over and above the call of duty as he not only delivered the car to the shippers, but he also purchased all the parts from Jegs and Summit on our behalf using his racer discount, repacked all parts neatly and safely, and delivered the lot, saving us many hundreds of pounds.
We are delighted and have started to work out how to do it all.
Click on thumbnail to display larger picture
We have been working flat out on our project - all day at weekend and a couple of hours a night during the week. Most of the work seems to be making brackets! Perhaps that's why it's called bracket racing, you just race your collection of brackets held together by a race car...
Here's a few pics taken during the work, the most frustrating part was to make headers designed for a 1970 fit an 1984 Camaro (and they didn't bolt on the 1970 either, coming to think of it!)
Now let's see if an MDF motorplate is strong enough for a small block...
Er.. bolt on headers? Rick did not enjoy this job much...
Cut, grind, weld... Stock engine bays aren't easy to work in...!
And the other side!
Pic by Dave
Carla built this TH350 with super duper unobtainium ultralite direct and forward clutch drums and a low friction roller bearing output shaft housing, for good measure, all from TCI. Hope it works!!
The theory is good... the bits look the part... the proof of the pudding..... is in the quarter mile figures!
Trans in, crawl in the engine bay to sort out a few bits which were ground and cut .. The engine dangles just above Carla's head..
Whaat? Try not to forget the torque converter before you stick the motor back in, uh? OK Rick.. Another bad hair day....
And then......
DREAMING OF A WHITE EASTER...
Not an encouraging start to the season for Heaven & Hell, definitely more in the Hell flavour.
Our hearts were as heavy and dark as the clouds on the Met Office weather forecast for the Easter weekend, but we still hoped to get a few runs, maybe Friday would be OK, and very much looked forward to getting down the track side by side, like the good old days of the RWYB wars, when we were young… (well, younger anyway).
Alas, it wasn’t to be. The trouble started even before we unloaded the “Heaven & Hell As Well” Camaro from the trailer. I started her up, put her in reverse… no reverse gear was to be found.
OK, let’s push it off the trailer and see what the problem is once it’s on the ground… but no, it wouldn’t budge, the transmission appeared to be locked. So we dropped the prop shaft to check that it wasn’t a rear end problem, but no, as soon as the back wheels were unhooked from the trans it pushed back easily.
When you have built the trans
yourself and you have a problem you can probably find only one person to
blame, and that person was me. The expensive “unobtanium” parts were the
ones that worried me the most – I feared that if they were damaged the
repairs would be seriously costly, although all seemed to point to a
low-reverse assembly problem, and the ultra-light parts were basically the
forward and direct clutch drums. Of course the more you try and figure out
in your head what could have broken and wedged itself in the planetary
gears area, the more you think of all the things that you could have done
wrong… like left a snap ring off, or forgot or incorrectly positioned the
case-saver clip, or similar horrible thoughts.
As we still had one car in the game, we decided that Rick should stay at the track, assisted by crew man Dave Buckland, and get a shot at qualifying, whilst I would go home with Jemma Harrison to finish building a spare transmission and fetch it back to the Pod.
The drive home started with an unscheduled test of a fire extinguisher in the back of the truck as it lost its pin and decided to put out an imaginary fire as I hit the brakes coming out of the Pod (an expensive CO2 one, of course, so now we know it worked fine!)
When we got to the garage we found that contrary to our records the spare transmission already had a good pump in it, so all I needed to check was the end play. This was good so we loaded up and started the journey back. However the traffic on Good Friday was not very forgiving, and by the time we got back, although Rick and Dave had by then removed the sick transmission from the Camaro there was no chance of fitting the spare and having a go at qualifying the same day, but with Saturday still to go and one scheduled run on Sunday we still had good hopes of getting to qualify.
However everyone knows that the Weather Gods begged to differ. They were going to have plenty of fun with the white fluffy stuff instead, so our first competition outing in the new car ended with a DNQ, while I got more and more depressed looking at the elegant, highly structured, beautifully unique crystals falling out of the sky.
The
only people who I imagined would be even more heart broken than us must
have been the Santa Pod crew. They did everything human and superhuman to
get us to be able to race, and no matter how much they tried, the evil
fate laughed and sprinkled some more of the fluffy flakes on the track
every time they finished drying it.
They must know how much all racers were aware of this, and how grateful we all are for their brave efforts, let me say a big thank you to all of them.
At this point there was nothing left for us to do but take the car home and strip the trans, this would ensure we could keep warmer and pass the time a bit more constructively than we would staring at the sky at Santa Pod. So we did, and I tore into the transmission as soon as I could, expecting and fearing to find that I was the cause of the failure. Much to my relief we found that the reason for the lock up was a broken retaining ring – the one that secures the sun gear to the sun shell – and that fragments of it had lodged themselves in the planetary gears. In other words, nothing to do with me, which was some consolation. There wasn’t any damage to any other parts, which was also quite lucky.
Perhaps some other racer could help/shed some light on this query: why don’t we ever get new retaining and snap rings with any rebuild kit - ever? Are any available to buy anywhere? We do have spare ones, but they all come from stock transmissions that must have done at least 100,000 miles or more before we acquire them and gut them to modify them. We can find most parts not included in rebuild kits relatively easily, including bushings, but not snap rings. If any Eurodragster reader knows where to get a supply of these, please let us know.
The weekend wasn’t going to get any better for team Heaven & Hell – as the ’70 had severe tyre shake off the line in the first round and violently bounced to the right. Rick tried to save it but the run was doomed, and an 11.08 on a 9.79 dial-in handed victory to Steve Anderson in the black Dodge.
Despite the set back, not all was bad over Easter, we got our log book, passed scrutineering and had confirmation of a good crew extremely willing to help and do any work needed. The good will of all other racers was of course heart warming even in the freezing conditions.
We
will of course persist, we’ll just have to try harder! We are determined
to get down that track side by side and we’ll repair the “unobtanium”
trans and try again at Shakey.
Well done to Lee Huxley for his well deserved win and to Paul Baynton for showing that his No. 1 was “no fluke”.
Special thanks to Dave Buckland, Jemma Harrison, Colin and Grace Roaf and Darren West of Power Race Graphics, together with the Santa Pod crew, the ineffable bunch of Eurodragster.com, the whole Pro ET class and the class sponsors, who supported us again this year (and what stylish T-shirts were produced, all showing the scheme sponsors! Shame we didn’t get a chance to show them off – perhaps class fur coats would have been more suitable for the White Easter!):
HAUSER RACE CARS, BLACKBEAR HARLEY DAVIDSON, W.A.S.P. ALLEYJAX, INKWELL PRINTING, TOXICO CLOTHING, A1 MOTOR STORES, PENN AUTOS, REAL STEEL and MOTORSHACK.
Uh oh... The Springspeed Nationals - from bad to worse - photos courtesy of Ivan Sansom and Rose Hughes
A bit of a hellish season so far for the Heaven & Hell Team.
After rebuilding the transmission that let us down at Easter, using a spare sun shell and sun gear complete with snap ring, we were hopeful that no more trans blues would be experienced, but took with us the spare one just in case.
Rick was on the startline to observe my first run at Shakey in the Heaven & Hell As Well 84 Camaro, then running back to Heaven & Hell for his own qualifier. The first pass netted the car’s best ET so far, a 10.46 which was unfortunately a break out on the 10.50 dial in, with Jemma lining me up on the burnout and carefully observing the run afterwards.
The car’s
suspension
needs a few changes and the runs did at least tell us as much, new springs
and shocks are certainly on the cards as she sits too high, does not
transfer the weight very well and we were softly spinning off the line and
at each gear shift despite having a lot of rubber for a change, with the
14.5” slicks almost but not quite making it.
Heaven & Hell had her own problems with traction and spun during each of the 3 qualifiers, not even managing a 9 second run.
The Sunday brought a watery end to our hopes for improvement, and the adjustments to the four link in Heaven & Hell As Well and the grip juice application to the Heaven & Hell Mickey Thompsons had to wait for the first elimination run on Monday to prove their worth.
Rick is racing Paul Baynton in the Numero Uno blue Capri, I’ve got to battle John Atkinson in the 8 second blue Cortina – great, we could have done with an easy one after the changes, (not that there are many of those in Pro ET!) but no luck there.
I lined up and felt fairly confident that I could give John a fair and good race, but must have staged too deep and for the first time in my life did not know I red lit, which proved to be fatal in this particular run.
I normally see the red bulb light up, it takes up the whole of my visual awareness, it shines brighter than the sun, explodes like a Super Nova, as I cry “Oh how unfortunate!” as I leave the line.
Not this time. I ran the race as if I hadn’t already lost. Big mistake. Huge.
So I take off and the car is a
bit straighter off the line, good, I shift into second and I feel it spin
slightly but it stays very straight, shift into third and then sit at 7800
RPM with the limiter on, while I think we must change the gearing as soon
as possible
– then look in my wing mirror – yes, a wing mirror, would you believe –
and see John bang in the middle of the frame, coming up fast. The finish
line is right there, I have to take a chance and try and lose 3 or 4
hundredths just in case, will John pass me before the line with his much
higher mile an hour? I literally have thousandths to make a decision, I
think yes, I’ll tap the brakes, and I do and spin.
I spin to the left in what seems to be slow motion, feel the rear right hit the Armco, keep spinning and have the vague feeling of hope that I won't hit with the front, but I do, front right end, keep spinning once more and hit again with the front, finally stopping at 45º to the centre line facing the wrong way.
A sequence photographed by Ivan Sansom and Rose Hughes can be seen by clicking here
I’m sitting there switching all the switches off and can see the rescue team appear in no time at all – they want to know if I’m OK, I think I’ll joke and say I’m OK as I only hit with my head then think they may take me seriously and keep repeating I’m fine.
The only thing I want to know is how bad the car is hurt, this is my first thought, so as they drag me into the ambulance I try to resist and bend to check underneath to see if any fluids have found their way out, but all looks dry and the body damage not too terrible, so I relax and think my second thought, Rick and the crew are back at the start line and they don’t know I’m OK.
I plead that they send the message that I’m unhurt, I'm hoping Rick will get on and race, then the really nice paramedics kidnap me and insist in doing their job properly and check me over accurately, rather than taking my word for it.
They take me to the Med Centre and measure my blood pressure then ask what it is normally.. Er, I don’t recall having it checked.. er.. ever? They ask all the other questions and do all the other checks then decide I seem alright and let me out. Jemma is outside the Centre looking all worried about me, a big hug is needed here, and all seems better already.
I want to know if Rick has run yet,
he’s running now, we run to the fence and see him go by in Heaven & Hell,
the grip juice worked brilliantly, he pulls a 1.35 sixty foot and he knows
he’s on a breakout if he doesn’t slow down, he’s on and off the power but
crosses the line a whisker behind Paul, (apparently about 8 inches behind)
a great race, but a defeat.
So all that’s left to do is a group hug for the Heaven & Hell Team back in the pits, the sticky brown stuff happens at times but the important thing is to fix it and come back to do battle again.
We are in the process of repairing the 84 and are at present very hopeful that we will still be at the Main Event in two cars.
Heart felt thanks to the Shakey rescue team for their swift and reassuring action, to the paramedics for being wonderful and putting up with my silly sense of humour, to Jemma Harrison and Dave Buckland, my brilliant crew, for their dedication and support, Peter Lane for springing into action and coming over to our house yesterday to assess the damage and offer help and advice, to the whole Pro ET class and drag racing community that never lets you down and whose concern and offers of help and advice were heart warming, to the Eurodragster Team and last but not least to John (I don’t know his surname!) who sent me a video of the whole run which we are examining very closely for further clues as to why I spun.
Also apologies to John Atkinson for not giving him a proper race, will try and do better next time!
A lot of work – no, really, we mean this time, a lot of work.
This is what it takes to bounce back every time, what it takes to attend all meetings in a season, at least for the Heaven & Hell team.
And so we managed to get to the Main Event in two cars, including the “Heaven & Hell As Well” 84 Camaro which spun at the Springspeed Nationals at Shakespeare County Raceway.
Even though everyone seemed to think that the worn rear brake rotors must have locked up and caused the spin I kept thinking about a couple of anomalies and wondering if the transmission was OK. In the end I took it apart and found the sun gear snap ring had broken again, so I reckon lifting and tapping the brakes at the top end may have caused the fragments to lodge themselves in the planetary carrier, leading to a momentary lock up in the transmission. Am I glad I checked it! Although the bits were chewed up and embedded in the carrier, other fragments could have floated to the gears with the same result later on, possibly causing another disastrous failure, which I don’t really want to contemplate.
Unluckily the impact at Shakey caused more damage than at first thought, and the frame needed to be straightened as well as wings and bonnet needing repairs and painting.
It seemed impossible to carry out the repairs in the very limited time available, but as always fellow racers came to the rescue.
We would like to extend a huge thank you to the following people, without whose help we would not have made it to the Main Event:
Gary Springford of Drag Race Engineering for his very valuable help and for putting us in touch with Roger and Chris of Trickett’s Autos in Romford – (phone 01708-347 288)
Roger went well over and above the call of duty working over the weekend to enable us to collect the car on Thursday and producing an excellent job, especially in view of the stringent deadline. We would not hesitate to recommend Trickett Autos to anyone with a street or race car who needs a good, professional job at reasonable rates. Thank you Roger!
Ian Marshall of Webster Race Engineering for swiftly locating and shipping the new front runners and calling to make sure they were received in time, and Betty Lamb of Lamb components for shipping the brake rotors from the US so promptly.
Peter Lane who over the years has always been ready to come to the rescue providing help and advice and certainly did not fail us this time either, initially coming over to assess the damage and help take the front of the car apart and then spending 7 hours with us on Thursday to replace the brake rotors and help us put the car together again.
We finished loading up at midnight and left for the track, getting to bed at about 3:30am. After very little sleep we rolled into the pits early Friday morning. I missed the first qualifier while Peter Lane helped by Mike Lacey did the front end alignment.
In the second session I was supposed to make a check out pass, taking it easy with a soft launch and making sure all was well, but all felt so good in the burnout that I must have forgotten, as I ended up making the quickest pass at the time, running a 10.38 on a lazy 10.85 dial in, oops.
What a relief to feel the car run straight and strong, I was just so happy to be at the Pod racing and managing to qualify in the 32 car field, and even better to see all the people who were happy we made it!
Despite a problem
with a deflating slick the car kept getting better and finally netted a
10.14, albeit with a tail wind, which was one hundredth quicker than the
engine had gone in the Heaven & Hell ‘70 Camaro, excellent results
already.
Unfortunately
the 10.14 was on a 10.27 dial-in which resulted in a first round loss to
Lee Huxley, my .07 reaction not cutting it against his .01, with a double
break out going in Lee’s favour.
Rick did a bit better by qualifying at no. 8 with 16 thousandths off his dial in and pulled gorgeous wheelies as soon as he went back to the trusty Phoenix radial tyres, old but still very sticky, and we had our first side by side wheelie, which felt brilliant.
Alas both of the Heaven & Hell cars were to succumb in the first round, as Simon Rowland’s quicker reaction decided the race in favour of the Formula Tanker dragster.
Well at least we had a race, whilst most other classes didn’t, the weather was once more really cruel to drag racing, let’s hope it gets better for the next rounds!
One thing that did get really better was the electricity supply.
11th Hour Events did a great job over the weekend, especially as we did have problems with out supply. Our crewman Dave asked them to sort it out and they swiftly came firstly to apologise and explain that it may take a little while to fix as they needed a spare, then they fixed it quicker than we expected and came round again to check if all was well, acting with speed, courtesy and efficiency.
Top marks to that kind of service – things may go wrong, what’s important is how they responded to our call and how they dealt with the problem. Great company if I go by that experience.
ELP stated that the racers were unreasonable and rude, perhaps some of us may have been, but the impression I got and the general consensus was of an unprofessional, unhelpful and inefficient response to any complaint. So thumbs up to 11th Hour Events, what a difference!
Thanks also to Jemma Harrison who is learning more every day (and who is prepared to work hard for the team as long as I don’t crash again - she says she’ll quit if I do that to her) to Dave Buckland for his calm and assured dedication and to Chris Buckland (Dave’s wife) who is now a fully integrated member of Team Heaven & Hell and who looked after us and our visitors too, tirelessly producing excellent food and drinks as if by magic.
Roll on the Summer Nationals, we’ll be back!