Speed Limits? We Don't Need No Stinkin' Speed Limits!

[itsaz]

Once a year, in a desolate part of West Texas, they close a 65 mile stretch of highway and give the State Troopers the day off. The road becomes a "run whatcha brung" playground for speed junkies. US 285, between Ft. Stockton and Sanderson, measures 65 miles and while it's far from flat and straight, it is a typically well maintained Texas highway out in the middle of nowhere.

The event is known as the Big Bend Open Road Race and contestants come in from as far as Georgia, California and Canada. The object is to pick a speed that you want to average between the two towns, down and back.
The car coming closest to the target speed wins that class. Speed classes start at 85 and go up to 160MPH. Remember, we're talking average speed, not peak speed. There are speed limits (sorta) because each class is assigned a max speed to prevent running over the poor Mustang in front of you. For example, max speed permitted in the 160 MPH class is 180.

For the really serious, there's the unlimited division where it's the lowest elapsed time for the entire 118 miles. The record is 41 minutes, 1.411 sec. That's 172.584 MPH for the mathmatically challenged. Here's a clip of a "flyby".

BBORR 209 mph pass - YouTube

BBORR 209 mph pass - YouTube

This year's race is April 27th and registration opened Jan 2nd. Entries are limited to 160 cars and by the time you read this the field will probably be filled. My entry was among the earliest submitted, but I'm still waiting to hear if we've been accepted.

I've been trying to get mdickie to join us, but he's always got some half-fast excuse. Of course, there are no tobacco fields out there so he'd probably have to got through rookie training.

[YumaZ06]

Entering the Caddy or the Z06?

[MSiska]

Tom, they are corn fields. And Tom, the caddy with the pink clappers would be just a beautiful site on that lonely stretch of Texas highway!

[itsaz]

Originally Posted by YumaZ06

Entering the Caddy or the Z06?

The Z. It would cost a fortune for all the safety equipment needed to qualify the Caddy for 130+.

Originally Posted by MSiska

Tom, they are corn fields. And Tom, the caddy with the pink clappers would be just a beautiful site on that lonely stretch of Texas highway!

PINK? They're YELLOW, dammit! Not red like somebody's thong.

[mdickie]

Yeah, Yeah, Yeah...

It is a bucket list event for sure.

Mark

[KJN VET]

I wonder how my truck would do ....

[itsaz]

Originally Posted by KJN VET

I wonder how my truck would do ....

Which one?

[vant]

I gotta do this. Maybe next year.

[itsaz]

If you are serious, contact me and start planning NOW! It'll take you a year to get and install the equipment, not to mention developing a plan on how to be competitive. In order to take home a trophy, you will have to be within 1/2 second of your target time no matter what class you choose.

You'll have to go through rookie school and qualifying to say nothing about practice. You will be limited to a max speed class of 125 your first year. You'll need a navigator. Plan on spending Wed thru Sun in Ft Stockton. I'll help you with everything you need except gas and money.

[racingvette]

The Corvette does not need a lot of money invested to do a ORR in target speeds below 140 MPH
It is more as to the safety gear the people inside of the car have to wear.
Where it is easier having someone else as a navigator you can do this by yourself.

BB ORR is one of the toughest as there is as many turns as miles and being it is round trip you have to average in both runs to finish race as to the target speed you selected

Even with a target speed of 130 MPH you could do about 150 MPH on straights and not exceed the tech speed allowed for that target speed group.
Many of the turns are blind and have off camber deceasing radius, can get airborne in a few spots.

Once you have done a ORR you really understand what the Corvette design is all about and will forget about parking lot races or drivers school events.

For history, this BB ORR along with others before his death was hosted by CARS which was 2 time Indy 500 winner Roger Ward.

Example of how Corvettes did at the BB ORR 12 years ago :

Driver	Year	Model	     Radar1	   Radar2	  Radar3  Radar4

Corzonk	1987	Corvette	156	172	181	154
Rovner	1994	Corvette	153	166	169	156
Herbel	1997	Corvette	154	151	163	147
Talavera	1994	Corvette	155	158	162	120
Chall	        1990	Corvette	147	162	161	144
Meinert	1999	Corvette	149	152	157	152
Richmond	1994	Corvette	150	126	157	155
Ruggles	1998	Corvette	146	154	156	155
Richey	1995	Corvette	133	100	155	149
Wilkinson	1999	Corvette	151	156	154	149
Culver	1991	Corvette	154	162	154	153
Kickels	1990	Corvette	143	146	151	150
Zaleski	1990	Corvette	140	135	150	135
Crall	        1995	Corvette	145	155	148	150
Thompson	1992	Corvette	152	141	148	160
Schumher	1993	Corvette	133	138	146	132
Hutcheson	1994	Corvette	136	135	145	133
Potter	1997	Corvette	140	117	144	135
Kress	        1989	Corvette	140	148	136	139
Matsus	1990	Corvette	147	134	136	135
Job	        1992	Corvette	133	129	134	135
Reid	        1992	Corvette	126	121	129	133
Tiemann	1971	Corvette	127	128	128	133
Meyer	1992	Corvette	126	136	127	128
Pittenger	1999	Corvette	114	89	114	110
Bair	        1990	Corvette	114	113	114	112
Talavera	1999	Corvette	111	105	113	113
Davis	        1994	Corvette	112	113	113	112
Marz	        1981	Corvette	105	110	108	112
Tyree	        1995	Corvette	115	101	108	110
Schuster	1999	Corvette	101	100	107	110
Henderson	1982	Corvette	114	95	105	110
Dobbins	1992	Corvette	101	92	103	110

[chevyss]

That is a great place to run your car all out. Lived in Texas and know exactly where that's at. Never made the event but sounds like fun.

[itsaz]

Well, we made it to Ft Stockton without too many problems. Got stopped 5 miles from the hotel for no front plate on the car. Trooper was cool about it, though. He was more interested in what class we were running and how long we've been coming to the race. Gave me a warning and we were on our way in 5 minutes.

We decided to take some backroads to Sanderson for the registration process. Not any more desolate places on earth. Sorry for the crappy cellphone video.



This morning, it's back to Sanderson for tech inspection and practice runs at the posted speed limit. It's 65 miles each way so we'll be busy all day. 2 welcome parties tonight.

[YumaZ06]

Sounds like a fun day Tom...stay safe!

[itsaz]

Driver's Meeting Mayhem:



Nobody ever has any questions until the meeting is over.

It's now 4:20 AM on raceday and we need to be on the pre-grid in an hour[yawn]. Weather is gonna be great. 54 degrees now and the forecast is for partly cloudy with a high of 80. The motors are gonna love it. We have 6 cars in the unlimited division. The most in a long, long time,

[itsaz]

It's over. They start the fastest cars first. We started 60th. Pics later.

We finished 118 miles in 54 min, 26.925 sec. according to our clocks. For the mathematical challenged, that's 130.031MPH average. Now we have to wait for the official time, but I think we're gonna be competitive. Busted the speed trap at 162.8.

The hard luck award goes to the guy with the '55 Chevy running in the 130 MPH class. He blew his engine yesterday during practice, drove to Odessa and bought a crate motor and finished the install @ 4AM. He caught fire 20 miles into the race and had to withdraw. No injuries and they got the fire out in time to save the car.