Driver Barret Camper (and mechanic Jamie Chambers) fly to Wendover Utah to drive nine time land speed record winner Mark Ortiz's Karmann Ghia.
RetroRacing gets around. Over the years, beginning with taking Autocross championships in SCCA against Lotus 7's and such, to winning 3rd in class in the 2000-mile Carrera Panamericana road race in Mexico (first try), to super speedway training at Talladega Alabama, and serious wheel-to-wheel road competition with Historic Sportscar Racing at Sebring, Road Atlanta, Daytona, VIR, Savannah, and of course, bumper cars with the 24 Hours of LeMons.
Mexico. 1965 Ghia. Classic A class. 1.6 litre engine, under 2-litre class. 356's, BMW 1600's, Volvo P1800's.
Talladega. 170mph+ on the tri-oval.
At RetroRacing, we'd helped out a couple of successful land speed record Ghia teams with parts and tech advice, and had Bonneville on our to-do list. We met Mark on ShopTalkForums and helped him with a dual 40mm Kadron setup that netted him one of his early records.
Britt Grannis' Ghia. He broke 150mph setting his record, the first normally aspirated air-cooled VW to break into the 150 MPH club. We helped Britt with parts. RetroRacing co-driver Johan Samanta logged a mere 146 mph.
This brings us back to Mark Ortiz, and Ortiz Family Racing. This is a racer to be respected for his skills and intelligence. His Bonneville record speaks for itself
2016 G/CFALT 106.643
2016 G/CGALT 113.131
2017 G/CBGALT 134.131
2017 G/CBGALT 146.715
2017 G/CBFALT 158.242
2018 H/CBGC 94.334
2018 H/CPRO 93.383
2018 H/CBFALT 101.282
2018 H/CBGALT 120.591
Being absolutely new at Bonneville, Mark taught us about the classifications. It's not just about how fast you can go, it's about how fast you can go under the restrictions of fuel, car, engine size and allowed modifications. A record for 93mph can be just as hard to set as one for 146 mph.
06Aug19; Tue. Mark Ortiz gets the 1915 engine fully plumbed and running into his 1968 Ghia. The one problem is the 009 distributor and Pertronix Ignitor II ignition module. It ran fine in Birmingham, but is badly missing at Mark's. The Pertronix ignition module doesn't like Mark's high-output Ford coil. He replaces the 009 with a CB Performance 2000 Magnaspark II system and then reports "It runs good!" Oil pressure is right, no leaks.
Jamie (aka Jamrod) built this under 2-litre (1915cc) record engine. 11:1 compression, dual Weber 48 IDF's, Engle W140 cam on 1:1 rockers, and a 3-gallon dry sump. The idea is Barret will set a specific niche record for just 127 mph, but that Mark will later be going after for something in a higher range.
08Aug19; Thr. 0630 hrs depart. Barret & Jamie fly Delta to Salt Lake City and get grounded from light plane travel for stormy weather. They stay overnight before flying on to Wendover UT. The storm is a sign of bad luck to come.
09Aug19; Fri. Barret & Jamie make it to Wendover, rent a sedan at S&R, get checked into the Bonneville Inn, call Mark Ortiz, who is still en route, and largely sit out the day in Wendover as there is rain.
Barret practices bailout, to pass tech.
10Aug19; Sat. Bonneville Speed Week begins. Almost. Barret and Ortiz' 1968 Ghia go through tech. Barret has to prove to tech how fast he can bail out of the car, and passes, but Mark uses a seat with high side and hip bolsters and that slows Barret down somewhat, especially on disconnect of the Hans device.
The Bonneville crowd descends from the classic hot rodders. Everything is the same but different. We come from sports car racing. Bonneville still calls its new driver "rookies," like Indianapolis. Kill switches are on the tail of the car, not FIA front cowl standard. You see the very old and the very new here, no irony, Flathead Fords and multiengined streamliners as long as a bus, put together with shade tree imagination. We sports car guys call a trip to the races "going to the track." Bonneville has no track. Out there, it's "on the salt."
The salt is considered too rough and damp to race on. So everybody waits. Jamie has a comment. "Except for racing, there's nothing to do out here besides throw rocks at tin cans and you have to bring your own tin cans."
An unexpected side effect of the wet salt is Barret's driving shoe soles react to it and fall off. He has to repair them with Goop adhesive.
Another Ghia in contention, paddocked beside Mark's car.
11Spt19; Sun. The salt is still too wet to race, so Barret & Jamie rest in the Bonneville Inn. However Jamie does gamble a bit at a local casino, going in with $10 and winning $50, then losing back to $20 before he quits.
On the salt, you park on your own tarp. No oil on the ground. The sun is brutal. Barret has a pair of genuine Porsche Design sun glasses and they really paid for themselves this trip.
Back at Bonneville, the 1915 has broken another swivel-foot rocker (3-4 side this time) like on just before shipment, and the team discovers a bent idle mixture screw on one Weber. They find a vendor on site with Weber parts and replace the mixture screw, then buy a set of four stock VW adjusting screws from CarQuest to replace half of the swivel feet. The plan is to run one cylinder bank on stock adjusters and the other on swivel feet.
Mark Ortiz in what is a very sensible hat for Bonneville. He holds Barret's Hans-device neck brace, a requirement for Bonneville, as well as SFI level 5 suits with one layer of underwear. SFI-5A suits are close to FIA 8856-2000 homologated suits.
12Aug19; Mon. Barret is given notice he will make his rookie run, then his timed run, tomorrow. The event is now days late in starting.
13Aug19; Tue. Lots of cars -- big long streamliners included -- are spinning on the damp salt. The team gets four more stock adjusters installed, after another of the remaining four swivel feet adjusters fail. Finally, Barret gets his rookie run. The salt is rough, like uneven layers of broken pavement. No drag racing here. The Ghia fishtails. The stock adjusting studs hold. At over 100 mph, it feels like ice, not salt.
But Barret qualifies. And he is no more out of the car before the event is halted because of poor track conditions as a result of the recent storm.
14Aug19; Wed. People are packing up and going home. Some of the streamliners stay behind and wait, hoping the long course might be safe in a day or so, but for us short course competitors, this just wasn't our year.
We want to thank Mark Ortiz. He has a great car, and a great racing family, and we're proud he runs RetroRacing stickers.
FJC
