Dead Man's curve

[Dennis O.]

Re: Dead Man's curve

Sounds reasonable. Back in the late '50's, I remember someone posting a 14.34 et with the set up you ran. An acquaintance of mine won SS/B (I think it was) at the NHRA nationals in 1961 with the same setup. I think he got it into the 13's when he decided to go racing for real and took the 270 out of his Bel Aire hardtop and put it into a 150 post.
Looks like the guy in the Healy was practicing some discretion when he avoided me and the L79.

[Michael J.]

Re: Dead Man's curve

I would agree. Back in the seventies I made many late night aggressive runs over that stretch of Sunset in both the SWC and Cosworth Vega. That turn has a maximum pucker factor rating. It is blind, over a rise, and somewhat off camber...really easy for a neutrally set up car to snap into oversteer. I can't imagine what it would be like in an early 911, which has big time trailing throttle oversteer.

Duke

Right Duke, that is a dangerous stretch. I think most places have a "Dead Man's Curve" somewhere people talk about with a tricky bank. When I lived in Ventura, it was along Highway 126 to Castaic, just outside Piru along Piru Creek. There a sharp 90 was reverse banked pretty steeply, and if the mist was in the valley, pretty wet too. And people would routinely drive way too fast, and if you didn't know the road, and it was dark, lots of crashes happened.

[Duke W.]

Re: Dead Man's curve

Can someone answer the question:

How would the Corvette do in a race with a XKE?

Back in the mid sixties when I was a ME undergrad at the U. of Washington I took my red 340 HP SWC to the Saturday night races at Puyallup a few times. There were usually at least a couple of hundred cars and after a couple of runs we were broken into eliminator classes based on ET.

One night a red XK-E showed up, and I was dying to face off against him, but there was no way to arrange it. I recall it was a new one with the 4.2L engine that was in the '65-up models. Earlier E-types had a 3.8. IIRC the increase in displacement was strictly due to increasing the stroke. I don't think the top end power rating was increased, but the 4.2 had more torque. European E-types were geared for about 150, but the US versions had a shorter axle ratio, which limited top speed to about 130, but gave better acceleration.

We got our chance as we met up on "The Viaduct" that routes US 99 along Seattle's waterfront. The speed limit was 45 MPH and we slowed to about 40 as we lined up. I went to first gear (CR trans, 3.08 axle), which was about 3500 revs. I can't remember who got on it first, but he immediately fell back with the distance growing. I probably never even shifted to second gear. It wasn't even close. A 300 HP Corvette might have been a match, but to a SHP/FI 327 the E-type was dog meat.

As you can imagine the CR trans and 3.08 axle did not help my launches (but I caught the E-Type in the ideal situation for me - from 40 MPH in first gear), and any attempt at a drag racing type launch would either cause a bog or light up the 6.70-15 Michelin X radials. What I had to do to get a decent ET was just drive the car out of the hole like on a surface street, then floor the throttle once the clutch was fully engaged. I shifted to second about half way down and went through the lights in second gear at 6500.

You didn't get 60 foot times back then, but I bet mine were close to three seconds, which is bog slow. The hard Michelins and 3.08 axle were the worst possible setup for drag racing, which is why I preferred hot lapping Kent and only drag raced a few times just to see what the SWC would do.

Everything was stock except for open exhaust cutouts and the distributor, which was set up with the much more aggressive '64-'65 SHP/FI spark advance map. On race nights I would bump the initial from 14 to 18 (probably 16 true) and fill the tank about half full with Chevron Custom Supreme (white pump) 102 RON super premium.

My best ET was 14.42 at 102 MPH . I still have the time card.

A 4.11 axle would have put me in the high 13s at about the same trap speed.

Then there was the time in the wee hours of the morning following the night of my ROTC commissioning ceremony in June of '68 that I traversed the I-5 ship canal bridge, northbound on the express lanes, at 150 MPH, but that's another story...

Duke

[Perry M.]

Re: Dead Man's curve

Wow Duke. You are really bringing back some memories. I remember the hood of my '55 chevy blowing off at 100 plus MPH on the viaduct. Luckily it didn't hit anybody. Did you know Gene McKinney of Perfection Corvettes or a guy by the name of Clause who ran a '67 L88 mostly around the U district and raced in the Unniversity Mall parking lot? I had a white '57 Bel Aire with a modified 340 HP and 4 speed with 4:56 gears that was a known terror on the streets. I worked at the Shell station on 45th, down the street from the U. I worked till 2:00 am on Saturday nights and all the racers came in for fuel. Good Times. I am lucky to have survived those times.

[Duke W.]

Re: Dead Man's curve

No, those names don't sound familiar, but I left Seattle in June of '68. I was never aware of any L-88s around Seattle other than the one I helped disassemble that was owned by a ME classmate of mine that is now generally known as the "12-mile L-88."

I used to cruise 45th in high school and throughout college, and we'd always spend some time at the Burgermaster down the hill on 45th street. I had a buddy with a '61 Lincoln Continental four-door convertible - the one with the suicide rear doors - white with a red interior. It may have been a better chick magnet than my red SWC.

During the last two years at the U, I lived in a three bedroom house on 8th Ave NE, a couple of blocks south of 45th and the Sandpiper tavern. We usually had a party going at the house after the tavern closed at 2 AM on weekends, so while you were out racing, I was safe at home drinking.

There was a small Ford dealer at that intersection of 8th and 45th, and I remember seeing a 427 Cobra there for the first time.

One of my roommates hung around Seattle after we graduated and opened up a bar a few blocks west on 45th called The Easy Street Tavern, but I think it only lasted about a year.

Duke

[Perry M.]

Re: Dead Man's curve

I graduated from high school in '67 and spent the next year cruising the Burg and Dicks, racing at the Unniversity Village parking lot and Golden Gardens. I know about the Ford dealership. They used to bring their cars to the station and buy a dollars worth of gas all day long. I probably saw the same 427 Cobra you did. They also had a GT 40 and I remember they were selling it for the unbelievable price of $2400. It was a used up race car in '67/68. There was also Unniversity Chevrolet and Goodfellows Chrysler Plymouth in the same area. Those were the days. We better stop reminiscing on this post or we will have to start a new thread.

[George J.]

Re: Dead Man's curve

Can someone answer the question:

How would the Corvette do in a race with a XKE?

Bruce,
One of the collections of period articles, Brooklands Gold Portfolio, I believe, has an article which compares a 365hp with an XKE. It might be worth picking up. I can't make a copy of mine without ruining it.

George

[Mike F.]

Re: Dead Man's curve

The 60's were awesome! I graduated in 69 (kindergarten that is) and loved to cruise. I was a hell raiser back then.