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Career best ET in Bristol FFW

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FFW Thunder Valley Nationals
FFW Thunder Valley Nationals

The Horsepower & Heels team entered the Fun Ford Weekend Thunder Valley Nationals with some hard work ahead of them.   After a stellar performance in Norwalk, OH with a runner-up finish and the history-making initiation of Erica Ortiz into the 6 second, 200 mph clubs, the team was ready & working hard to build upon their progress. This process began promptly after their return from Ohio, pulling the motor for refreshing just 2 weeks shy of Bristol. After tearing it down and discovering no excessive wear or damage, the team opted to switch the cast crank in favor of a steel version for reliability and peace of mind.

There was still much to do as they pulled in the gates of Thunder Valley. Kevin & Dan worked on getting the driveline back together, while Erica unloaded and unpacked. Having arrived mid-afternoon on Friday, the team would not make the first call qualifying session. Teammate John Gullett would grab the pole with a 6.57. Back in the pits, the team buttoned up the car and went to the line for the 2nd session. This night session would prove to be the best conditions for performance, as the cool air and track temperature would aid the car’s performance. But as Erica cranked the car in the staging lanes, she quickly discovered that the Bruno was low on fluid and forced to back it off.

Saturday morning, the team went over the car again. Dan & Kevin changed the tires to a larger Goodyear slicks, and they made the call for 3rd round qualifying. Erica staged up, but the car moved hard right out of the gate past the 60′ mark and she was forced to abort. A broken wheelie bar and the change in tire size had the chassis tune up slightly off, so Dan adjusted it for the final session. Having not made a clean attempt, Erica knew how important the final session would be to the Sunday ladder. She entered the burnout, but something went amiss, and the throttle hung wide open as she fought to keep the car straight and in control while reaching for the power kill. After safely killing the engine, Dan backed her off, tore off the hood, and removed the culprit- a vacuum line tangled in the throttle cable. Erica quickly refired, and jumped to the starting line. Rattled, she staged and took off, but when the tires finally set down over 200 ft out, the car got loose and she lifted. This failed attempt secured her spot at the bottom of the ladder, facing #2 qualifier Chuck Samuels in eliminations.

An early morning 1/8th mile test attempt showed strong improvement, with the car making a clean, straight pass and running stronger than her previous incremental best 1/8th mile attempt. Knowing that Samuels had the performance advantage (he qualified with a 6.62), Erica knew she would have to cut a good light to try and outrun him. She staged first, and left ahead of Samuels, with a near perfect 0.008 light but it just wasn’t enough, as her new personal best of 6.85 @ 207 mph couldn’t compete with his 6.57 @ 217.

Though her early exit in eliminations was not what they had hoped for, the team is proud of their continued progress.

“We know that we come in here under-powered compared to these other cars, but we continue to improve with each outing, and even if we aren’t winning races yet, we’re proud of the advancements we’ve made thus far.” Erica says.

Erica entered the event #2 in points for the Pro 5.0 championship points chase, with John Gullett a close 3rd and Chuck Samuels in the #4 position. Her early exit may have caused her to lose some ground on the points fight, but Erica is not far out of the running. The team is working on some marketing partnerships that would enable them to finish out the remaining 2 events in the FFW season- Topeka, KS & the Dallas, TX world finals.

The Horsepower & Heels team will be back out next weekend, July 12th with the Automatic Pro Mods quick 8 event at Silver Dollar Raceway in Reynolds, GA.

 

See photos from the 2006 Fun Ford Weekend Thunder Valley Nationals.    Watch the video of Round 1 eliminations against Chuck Samuels.

 

 

Fun Ford Weekend Thunder Valley Nationals

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Bristol, TN–

After a weekend full of problems, Erica Ortiz had a tough qualifying session in the Horsepower & Heels Thunderbird, finishing #5 and at the bottom of the ladder. Though an early exit in the first round against Chuck Samuels, Erica posts a new career best running a 6.85 @ 207mph.

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Photo Credits:  James Pickett-Modified Mustangs; Eric Hamilton

Helping and Learning

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Today, I went to Mr. Moody’s shop to help him work on the motor. This was probably moreso for my benefit than his aid, but I wanted to learn and wanted to be able to contribute, so Mr. Moody humored me. What I learned, is that people vastly underestimate the potential of factory ford parts… as evidence of my recent performances.

We have had no problems with the motor after approximately 70+passes, save for the small lifter incident on the first test outing in February of this year. That’s 70+ passes on a stock block, cast crank, and under 24 psi of hairdryer pressure. I don’t know what I was expecting to find as I dropped the oil pan (literally, all over the floor… sorry, Mr. Moody!), but I was pleasantly surprised to find…. NOTHING. Nope, nada, zilch. The rod bearings were good as new, the cylinders all showed way rich conditions, and everything was intact and looked as though it had just been put together. (Save for the outside, which was covered in gunk from that pesky leaking valve cover)

So, Mr. Moody will be replacing the cast crank with a better unit, and buttoning it back up for the Bristol FFW race coming August 4th-6th. Mr. Moody assures me I can now up the power, and expects that we will be able to hit in the 50’s with the stock block before the end of the season. He’s not often wrong… after all, he guessed the cast crank performance to a T. In Bristol, we will attempt to combat the thinner mountain air by turning up the boost a little in our typical sneak-up-to-it style.

Maybe I’ll be fortunate enough to hang onto my #2 rank in the points… (John Gullett has plenty to say about that I’m sure… don’t worry Johnny, I”ll save you a parking spot next to me!) But for now, I’ll just focus on getting down the track consistently and working hard with what we have!

We DID it!

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Well, one big goal can be checked off my list for my rookie season…

6.88 @ 205I have now gained entry into the 6 second club & the 200 mph club this past weekend in Norwalk, OH for the FFW event there, acheiving both feats on my runner-up pass in the finals. I can’t be prouder of my crew and everyone who helped me acheive this milestone.

All of this was done with a stock filled 460 block and a cast crank. Mr. Moody is swapping the crank so we don’t have to be as scared to run with it. I’m still working on gathering the rotating assembly for the aluminum block motor we are working on for next year. Maybe someone will step up to help out soon, if not… its nose to the grindstone!

Ortiz joins 6 second, 200 mph clubs

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Norwalk, OH– Erica Ortiz & crew had one big goal for their journey to the 16th Annual Buckeye State Fun Ford Weekend Nationals in Norwalk, OH this past weekend: to get the Horsepower & Heels Thunderbird into the 6 second zone. With Norwalk marking the 3rd event in her rookie PRO 5.0 season, Erica was feeling comfortable behind the wheel and ready to step up. …

Fun Ford Weekend Buckeye State Nationals

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Norwalk, OH–

A weekend of firsts for Horsepower & Heels driver Erica Ortiz, as she becomes the first woman in Fun Ford Weekend history in the 6’s, the first female over 200 mph, and the first female to runner-up in Pro 5.0 when she blasts a 6.88 @ 205 against David Schorr in the final of this race.

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Photo Credit:  Greg Andrea, Mike D.

Ortiz qualifies #3 in Richmond FFW

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Petersburg, VA– After making the long, rainy trek to the Richmond, VA area for the 8th Annual Fun Ford Weekend Old Dominion Nationals, the forecast wasn’t looking good. Rain had canceled Friday’s qualifying session, and computers showed 60% chance of rain for the weekend. A tired Horsepower & Heels crew fought the conditions all the way up, arriving in the wee hours on Saturday morning. They headed to the track at daylight to unload and prepare. …

FFW Richmond

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FFW Richmond would mark my 2nd event in Pro 5.0 this season. We arrived in Richmond in the wee hours of Saturday morning after driving through pouring rain across 3 states. The forecast didn’t look good, with rain predicted at 50-60% chance for the rest of the weekend. Still, we showed up to the track when the gates opened to unload and get ready to rumble.

Because I wasn’t arriving until Saturday morning, I had only two qualifying shots remaining. My first qualifying pass resulted in a 7.56 @ 183 mph. The car made a slight move at the 1/8th mile, but I was able to salvage the run and drive it through the finish. Many of the other PRO cars were having difficulties with that piece of the track.

2nd round, the car experienced problems cranking in the burnout box. The negative g’s of the parachute deploying from the round before had sloshed the fuel to the front of the cell, and caused the mechanical fuel pump to loose prime. Since we towed the car to the lanes, we were not aware of this until I tried starting the car in the burnout box. Dan & Josh Kuhn raced to get the hood off and manually added fuel to the throttle body to force the pump to regain prime. They buttoned me back up, but since I was now running out of order, the run would not count towards qualifying. Still, I staged and ran a 7.33 @ 185 mph.

That paired me going into eliminations with David Schorr. David is a regular of FFW Pro 5.0, and although he wasn’t able to make a clean hit in qualifying, we knew the car was capable of mid 6’s on race day. That point was further evident with the Schorr’s Sunday test pass, where he ran deep into the 6’s prior to the start of 1st round.I knew that I didn’t have enough muscle (horsepower… my engine has a stock 460 4 bolt block and cast steel crank), so my shot was to stay consistent and cut a good light to stay ahead. That would backfire, as I ended up pushing through the beams Sunday to a redlight 7.30 @ 186 performance.

Now that we are home, we’re hard at work preparing for the FFW Norwalk event July 7th-9th. The converter needed desperately to be sent back to Neal Chance Racing Converters to be tightened up, as it was only dropping 300 RPM on the gear shifts. Marty Chance predicts that the car will be squarely in the 6’s with just the changes made to the converter. Wish me luck as I shoot to be the first female in the 6’s in FFW Pro 5.0!

Runner-up finish in Phenix City Quick 8

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Phenix City, AL–Erica’s local track, Phenix Motorsports Park, has a pretty strong Sunday program in place during the summer, which regularly includes Pro Mods & other variation Quick 8 programs. Feeling more confident after recent test sessions, the Horsepower & Heels team decided to enter the Sunday Quick 8.  …

Testing

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I know, do I even race anymore?

So, now that we are somewhat settled into the new abode in Alabama, we all headed to the racetrack yesterday for some testing. Dan & Josh made some repairs to my car Saturday from the Atlanta outing, discovering why the darn thing wouldn’t go down the track– the wheelie bars were bending. Dan reenforced the bars adding thicker metal over the exsisting bars to strengthen them and eliminate the flexing problem. First pass, Dan asked me to take it to the 330′ so he can watch it. The launch was smooth, Dan made some minor adjustments to the wheelie bars, but noticed that the tranny was still leaking significantly. So, we remove the trans tunnel sheet metal, and find that the wraps placed around the tranny in Atlanta to stop the leaking were soaked and oil was still coming out. Apparently, the old-school Lencos are notorious about leaking from the seals since day 1. So, we clean and place fresh rags to catch the oil, and head back out. Dan added power, and the launch was clean and straight– the 60′ improving from 1.20’s to a 1.13. A few more adjustments, and we decide to run it through the 1/8th mile. Even with a slight opps on my part (he said to run it through, dummy!), the car ran a 4.8 in the 1/8th. Definitely glad to have solved the handling problem from Atlanta.