Milan Dragway - 1964 Ford Falcon - Mike Kopmanis, Driver/Owner

May 28, 2008

This is a quickie page put together to more easily distribute the video and pictures I've caught while helping Mike out with his car.

NOTE: Videos on here are MPEG-4 (h.264) compressed video, a high-quality, loss-less compressed format that requires you to have the Apple QuickTime plug-in for your browser. Its pretty common, but if you don't have it, you can download it from Apple's Quicktime Download Page.

May 28, 2008 Run #1: 10:25 (fastest to date) See the pictures above

July 9, 2008 Run #1: 10:46... video not successfully captured

MVI_2570.MP4 (1.2 MB) (Run #2: 10.76 seconds)
If you play this one at slower speed, or single-frame (pause/play in quick succession), you can see the launch. NOTE: its very jiggly because it was zoomed so much.

MVI_2571.MP4 (916 KB) (Run #3: 12+ seconds)
This video is largely useless, except that the audio track reveals the engine roughness if you listen real hard.

July 16, 2008 Run #1: 10:26... No video. Rejetting carb to richen high, low and idle works!

Run #2: 10:27... Video on Digital-8. Consistency in most of the specs. A Nitrous car hit the wall and skidded along just as we were headed out, so we towed it into position and waited for the track to be cleared and cleaned. Driver was unhurt, but it made a mess.

Run #3: No run #3. Just as we were about to head to the staging lanes, we heard silence...a biker had spilled it early in his run. When the sirens were heard, we figured that'd be time to pack it in. Before leaving, another guy blew (something) and coasted off--in flames. Quickly extinguished, though.

Oddities: What we thought last week was a fluke returned: loose starter wire...but its now part of the prep routine. While pulling the car out of the trailer, we found that the car was not in Park, and Mike found that a bolt had sheared off a cotterpin in the shifter assembly. Goofy stuff can still go wrong!

And here's a photo from Mike The Photo Guy of our favorite Falcon on the launch...

See all of Mike's album at: http://motorcitynationals.com/v-web/gallery/album345
Mike The Photo Guy (thephotoguy@earthlink.net) 734-502-4425

Updated: July 18, 2008 -JJK

May 28, 2008	Run #1: 10:25 (fastest to date) See the pictures above
July 9, 2008	Run #1: 10:46... video not successfully captured MVI_2570.MP4 (1.2 MB) (Run #2: 10.76 seconds) If you play this one at slower speed, or single-frame (pause/play in quick succession), you can see the launch. NOTE: its very jiggly because it was zoomed so much. MVI_2571.MP4 (916 KB) (Run #3: 12+ seconds) This video is largely useless, except that the audio track reveals the engine roughness if you listen real hard.
July 16, 2008	Run #1: 10:26... No video. Rejetting carb to richen high, low and idle works! Run #2: 10:27... Video on Digital-8. Consistency in most of the specs. A Nitrous car hit the wall and skidded along just as we were headed out, so we towed it into position and waited for the track to be cleared and cleaned. Driver was unhurt, but it made a mess. Run #3: No run #3. Just as we were about to head to the staging lanes, we heard silence...a biker had spilled it early in his run. When the sirens were heard, we figured that'd be time to pack it in. Before leaving, another guy blew (something) and coasted off--in flames. Quickly extinguished, though. Oddities: What we thought last week was a fluke returned: loose starter wire...but its now part of the prep routine. While pulling the car out of the trailer, we found that the car was not in Park, and Mike found that a bolt had sheared off a cotterpin in the shifter assembly. Goofy stuff can still go wrong! And here's a photo from Mike The Photo Guy of our favorite Falcon on the launch... See all of Mike's album at: http://motorcitynationals.com/v-web/gallery/album345 Mike The Photo Guy (thephotoguy@earthlink.net) 734-502-4425