Eagle's Lair
Members Roster

January 5, 2008

Ladies and Gentlemen:

The first Saturday of the New Year had Bill Eckberg, Tim Finley, Mike Thoe, Omar Chramosta and Keith Zanghi turning the wrenches for what hopes to be the year we challenge the 763 mph world land speed record later this year.

You can read all about the trials and tribulations of going to Black Rock, but unless you have been there, you don’t realize what a harsh environment that place is.  It is nothing like Bonneville, El Mirage or Muroc.  This year we were honored to have land speed legend Craig Breedlove and Rosco McGlashan stop by the North American Eagle Command Center and tell us about their experiences. 

We also learned a lot about Black Rock from the ThrustSSC members who stopped by to celebrate the 10 year reunion of setting the land speed record in ‘97: John Coppinger, Steve Georgii, Barbie McSean, John Lovatt, Rob Hemper, Bill Sherlock, Linda Frank, Leigh Remfry, Pete Ross, Glynne Bowsher, Carol Pearce, Robert Atkinson, John Ackroyd, and our old friend Jeremy Davey who has visited us many times on his trips to Seattle.

By the way, John Ackroyd has a new book out called Jet Blast and The Hand of Fate.  Many of the Eagle’s team has bought the book that covers the land speed teams John has worked on.  It is full of photos and an excellent read.

Work this weekend centered on getting everything ready to remove the front steering box.  After running in the desert, we want to remove the assembly and do an inspection and perform preventative maintenance.

With Bill recovering from recent surgery, he stood on the sidelines and supervised the rest as they proceeded to remove hydraulic hoses, front wheel and a couple of access panels.

To no one’s surprise we filled a wheelbarrow full of Black Rock playa that had found its way into the bowels of the car.  Ok, maybe a little of an exaggeration, but as you can see from the photos it looks like Keith and Tim were backing cakes all day.  The panels were caked full of the fine silt like dirt.  In the next few weeks we will modify our steering assembly to mitigate this unwanted nuisance of dirt collection.

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