Heavens Landing Fall 2016 1/2 mile speed trials N Georgia Montains

Last Spring I was selected from the standby list to run my 1986 Mondial 3.2 coupe. It was one of the grandest days of my life! Perfect sunny weather and about two hundred entrants. I made five runs and empirically demonstrated the fastest speed (115mph) was achieved shifting at 6,000 rpms. It was the third slowest speed of the day but everyone LOVED the Mondial. A lambo ran about 210mph.

I registered late for this Fall event and did not even make standby. I heard all slots were taken in the first fifteen minutes! However, Heavens Landing gated airport community is less then an hours drive so me and a couple of buddies paid the gate fee of $20 each and staked out our folding chairs on the hill that runs parrallel overlooking the runway.

This is quite an informal get together and the participants simply line up nose to tail along the same hill we spectators inhabitted. And thus all the machinery is right there on the spot. And as was the case last Spring a Lambo easily broke 200mph. The seemingly ubiquitous Nissan GTRs often ran in the 190s. Cadillac CTS-Vs were like flies in Summer while Vettes and SS Camaros flocked about. Plenty of European iron as well. Prepped Porches, AMG Mercs, BMWs of many sorts some of which I had never seen nor heard of before. The only Ferrari was a hybrid but I think ran in the 190s.

I drove us over to Heavens Landing in my recently acquired 2014 CTS Vsport twin turbo 3.6. It is one hell of a mountain goat runner but with only 420hp and a rather lard butt I suspect it would likely run no more then about 135mph in this event. Next Spring I will try to get my 1988 Lincoln Mark VII on the roster. With heads and 7psi blower we figure it at about 400hp.

In any event, we had a fine day.

 

And once upon a time I was amateur photographer! The event location is a photographers dream. All the machinery is touchable, close, and just siting there waiting the next run. The big power cars often do smokey burn outs to warm up. And since this is an informal event they do it from the start line, not back in a staging area. Last Spring a Lambo got a hundred yards down the track spouting smoke fire and thunder. I thought it actually blew up. Then it did over 200mph.

Of course last Spring I was preoccupied since I was in the participant lane. This year I just showed up as a spectator, grabbed a couple of burgers and fries and mostly just sat there. Its just not the same thing when you are not approaching the starting tree. And since it is an actual airport, on both occasions someone repeatedly buzzed the track at lunch time. Pretty much at eye level since the spectator area overlooks the runway.

In the future I will do better and bring a camera!