Harold Seagle of Sea Eagle Racing ran the Time Warner/Road Runner Porsche 911SC Rally car in the East Coast Timing Association (ECTA) land speed races in Maxton, North Carolina on May 19 and 20. The East Coast Timing Association is the east coast version of the sanctioning body that runs the Bonneville salt flats land speed races in Utah each year. Both sanctioning bodies are national organizations, with the Bonneville group providing a convenient venue for the west coast racers while ECTA is more convenient to the east coast. While the Bonneville land speed races run a much greater distance, the east coast group runs only 1 mile from a standing start.
In preparation for the race, Seagle lowered the race car 4 inches on the suspension, removed the sway bar (since the car didn't have to turn at speed), removed the mirrors, taped up the grill (that provides cooling for the oil cooler, since they would only run a mile at a time), changed the gear box oil to a light weight synthetic, and checked the engine to make sure it was properly tuned for the event.
In the first pass down the raceway, Seagle ran in a class for which the car qualified that had an existing class record of 117 mph (remembering that the car is only a 6 cylinder, non-turbo, of less that 3 liters capacity). Although racing modifications are permitted in the racing classes, the Porsche engine is un-modified (so the car can qualify for the Targa Newfoundland Rally to be run in September). Even though the Porsche engine is un-modified, Sea Eagle Racing’s speed on the first run was 128.38 mph --- which broke the existing class land speed record.
The next class up for which the car could qualify had an existing record of 126.7 mph, so, with the success of the first run, the team decided to try for that record as well. Trying to improve the odds, Seagle took off the windshield wipers, taped over the brake cooling ducts (as he says they were there to go --- not stop), taped over the seams on the Targa top and increased the tire pressure to 44 psi (to reduce rolling resistance).
With everything on the car working well, and with a favorable wind, Seagle finally made a pass at 132.69 mph. He made 3 passes, trying different shift points and different sections of the track and all three runs were within seven tenths of a mile per hour of each other. Considering such consistency, Seagle was satisfied that they had squeezed everything from the car that it had. With that, the team had secured 2 class land speed records, putting the Time Warner/Road Runner Porsche Rally car in the land speed racing record books.
Seagle hastened to say that the success was due to the great support and encouragement from his friends and “family” at Time Warner Cable/Road Runner High Speed Online and further due to the wonderful preparation of the car by many very talented people. For more information on Sea Eagle Racing and its sponsors, go to www.SeaEagleRacing.com. For information on East Coast Timing Association, land speed racing, go to www.ecta-lsr.com.