It was a fantastic day testing today. We stayed close in to town and used our course which has sweeping turns.
The Mk VII:
Over the past two days I tore the wheels down, trued them axially and radially, cleaned the bearings, re-balanced the wheels, re-aligned the car, put the spoke covers back on, did a nut and bolt check of the car, finished some aero work, and applied the graphics. First run on the course today had me over 53 mph. Success!!! I did 5 or 6 total passes with the Mk VII and backed that first 53 up with 2 or 3 more, including a 53.4 mph high mark. The other runs were strong as well, with a low of 51.8 and the others in the 52's. Very happy with that, and I think it's statistically valid to say it's marginally faster than the Mk V. It remains to be seen if I can out run it if it's drafting me.
The other good news is that the car was super stable for me on all the passes. It handled extremely well and caused me no drama. It is probably the smoothest and quietest sled we have run. What a car!
Mk VII at speed:
The Mk VII left, Mk I right:
In other news, we are subbing in the Mk I (the original winner) for the Mk II so we pulled that out of retirement and shook it down too. Feedback from Sean and Jeff was that the car is amazing- smooth and handled well but just couldn't quite log the speed numbers that the Mk VII's full bodywork yields. All in all, it should be reasonably competitive.
Jeff prepping the Mk I:
And to close the day, we had to run up to a truck parked at the top of the course. Having not been in the Mk I since who knows when, I had Bill haul me up for a nostalgia run. What a great car! Some minor aero challenge with the open top and taller profile, but it went where it was supposed to and did what I asked of it without tricks or fuss. What a ride!
Still have some follow up to do but pretty well prepared at this point. The heavy lifting is done, time to buckle in and enjoy the ride!
More updates to come.
Chris