monahan_z said:A while back on this forum I mentioned that I was going to attend the Nevada Silver State Classic Racing event as a “gatekeeper”. Sounded like nobody else was going so I said I will report back. Here goes.
I traveled from San Francisco to Ely NV stopping overnight outside Reno NV. I traveled in my Diablo 6.0L. First let me say what a pleasure it was to drive that car across the long straight roads on Nevada. I left Reno at Sunrise ~7AM. I had most of the roads to myself. I traveled along Route 50 from Fallon to Austin to Eureka to Ely. While it is a two lane highway, traffic is minimal. You can see for miles ahead. The road was in great shape all the way. I am told one could travel at 130+ easily in 6.0 Diablo there, with 100 being most comfortable. (Of course I drove at the speed limit of 70MPH!!!!). The scenery also was outstanding. I thought NV was flat desert, but there are 5 major hills the road climbs up to 6-7000 ft. BTW do people find their check engine light kicks in at high altitudes when you accelerate? I suppose not enough O2.
Anyway the Race itself. For those that do not know about the race take a look at
http://www.silverstateclassic.com In summery it is a race where a section of Nevada highway 318 (from Lund to Haiko) is closed off for a morning and drivers can run their cars at various speeds, the highest being unlimited (160+MPH). To make sure nobody wanders on to the highway during the race various volunteer “gatekeepers” block various roads and gates to the road. Being a gatekeeper is the only way to see the race. Since I was interested in participating in the future I volunteered this time as a gatekeeper.
I hate to throw cold water on an event like this, but I have to say volunteering as a gate keeper at the NSSC was about as exciting as watching grass grow. You have to attend a meeting at 2PM the day before in Ely. Get up at 3AM. Travel to the start point (1hour) then depending on your gate (mine 1 hour further south) get there at sunrise. We were issued hand held radios, but mine rarely worked. The gates were supposed to be marked, they were not. You sit there until 9AM when the first car starts out up in Lund. About 30 mins later it shoots by. They were supposed to go at 5 minute intervals. Some did, most did not. A number did not make it as far as my spot (engine failure mostly). And the real kicker, almost all the cars were souped up Mustangs, Corvettes or Vipers. The only Italian car was one Modena 360. Don’t get me wrong these are fine cars (I have a C5 vett myself), but I was expecting better!
The view was miserable for me, you had no idea of what was going on – they should have decent handhelds with somebody running commentaries. It was not even clear when the race was over. I left only when I saw trucks traveling north ate 2PM. The last race car I saw was at 12:30PM! Then to round out matters, there was a very strong wind all day. As I headed back to Lind it started to snow! Lambo tiers in snow are not good let me tell you. Even the so called VT did not seem to help.
Anyway I high tailed it out of there and made it back to Fallon 7PM. Again a great drive made up for the boring race, though I was tired after getting up at 3AM.
The next morning I headed over the mountains to California. Heavy snow at the pass. I think I lost 1 lb of sweat!
Net, net. A great drive to and from the event. The event itself was disappointing. I hear there are other events like this now at other places on the west coast. Anybody have details?
This is a participant even! I can see why you were bored!
I've run it many times and from behind the wheel it is VERY exciting.
