Dirty pics

[Graf Orlok]

I took my baby to the Alvord Desert in eastern Oregon this weekend. It's a dry lake bed similar to Bonneville but a little closer to me. In the 70's, a lady piloted her rocket car there to 500+ MPH. I wanted to see what my MS3 would do. I couldn't get past 130 in it's current bone stock configuration.

It was fun but I've been detailing all day long trying to clean up all the dust and I'm still not done. Was it worth it? Definitely. Will I do it again? Probably not.

Enjoy the pics.

Drive straight to the middle of nowhere then turn left.

Good to go

Looking at my dust after turning 180

Dirty little rear...

...But the face is clean

Good morning

130 MPH tracks

Adrenalized!

 

[NCZ13]

holy crap, that looks like fun =)

 

[phillyb]

that's a good looking back end

 

[bykeryder4life]

that pic of the dirty rear of the car is sweet, looks so mean with the dust. I am surprised you couldnt hit the full 155mph. I have gotten my car up to top speed many times and fairly fast too. Maybe the dirt instead of asphalt made too much drag and held you up?

 

[silverspeed03]

Still got the temp tags on too. NICE!!!

 

[mckraut]

Very nice pics, looks like a good time!

 

[CWPspeed3]

That looks like a lot of fun, looks sweet regardless of being dirty. You couldnt get passed 130 stock? probably just due to conditions, I had mine at 140 stock before I had to back off due to space restrictions.

 

[mdavis]

I'd strangle a homeless man to have a place near by to go do that. Thats really surprising it wouldn't do more than 130. I mean if you come close to redline in fifth (i know the turbo cuts out at about 5500) then you are shifting at ~120. 6th only had 10 more in it? I had mine up to 148 when evacuating new orleans for gustav

 

[Loose]

Sweet Dude...that looks like it was a bunch of fun!

 

[FrequentFlyer]

Guys, the elevation there is 4,000 above sea level, which is probably a good reason why he could only do 130. That's probably a good 30-35hp loss at that altitude.

 

[mdavis]

Guys, the elevation there is 4,000 above sea level, which is probably a good reason why he could only do 130. That's probably a good 30-35hp loss at that altitude.

+1...he needs to move

 

[Hank3]

VERY cool! Thanks for sharing the pics

 

[robin2660]

Guys, the elevation there is 4,000 above sea level, which is probably a good reason why he could only do 130. That's probably a good 30-35hp loss at that altitude.

Plus, look at that surface. There's more loss there than on tarmac for sure. If it were sand it'd be even slower ....

 

[msp 2212]

haha that looks fun and the car is still "clean" lol

 

[Graf Orlok]

I'd strangle a homeless man to have a place near by to go do that. Thats really surprising it wouldn't do more than 130. I mean if you come close to redline in fifth (i know the turbo cuts out at about 5500) then you are shifting at ~120. 6th only had 10 more in it? I had mine up to 148 when evacuating new orleans for gustav

I think I was at 105 or 110 going into 6th and that was probably just shy of 5500 RPM. Of course I was hoping for 150 and was expecting at least 140 so I was also kind of surprised about only getting 130.

I really do think the surface had a lot to do with it. I mean it's solid but you can feel the resistance. It doesn't feel like tarmac at all nor does it even really feel like dirt. Hard to explain. The stuff has the consistency of talc (hence the mess in every crevice).

I guess I'll just have to try again on asphalt for comparison.


@mdavis - now that's how to evacuate (yes). Seriously though, I hope everything's ok for yourself and everyone else down there.

 

[dkswim]

looks like fun

 

[mdavis]

@mdavis - now that's how to evacuate (yes). Seriously though, I hope everything's ok for yourself and everyone else down there.

I left friday morning before the rush at 5am. What took some people 5-8 hours took me ~19min (getting out of the city). When I got to Mississippi I let loose, I'd say there was about an hour where my speedo never dropped below 115. You could practically watch the gas gauge drop.

Things weren't so bad in NOLA, I feel for Galveston though.

 

[skylar2ups]

Great pictures... makes me want a speed real bad.

 

[oldnotdead]

Very cool place, nice pictures. My wife and I plan to stop at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge next week on our way to Yachats. I believe it's very near the Alvord desert. Not sure I'm ready for a top speed test. I hate what altitude does to your power, we're at 4600' here in Utah and very thankful that the MS3 has enough power to be fun even at that altitude.

 

[gtlaw]

those pics are incredible

I'm really surprised at that MPH. I do 140 all the time with ease. that surface must add alot of resistance.