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2011 Holley LS Fest Same Day Coverage

[1]It’s Eliminations Day at scenic Beech Bend Raceway, and we’re getting ready to kick things off for the final day of the 2011 Holley LS Fest. Yesterday we had a full schedule of qualifying, autocross, the Engine Swap Challenge, and a lot more, so be sure to page down and check out what you missed if you’re just joining us. We will be bringing you updates throughout the day today as well as complete results once things wrap up, so keep us bookmarked. We would be remiss if we forgot to give special thanks to our event coverage sponsor SCT Performance. Check out their fine line of tuners at www.sctflash.com [2].

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As of 10:30 AM, it's still a little moist here at the track, but on the absolute scale of how much water this place can get, this doesn't even move the needle...

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"The Honey Badger" - Effin' Classy is right!

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Have we mentioned how much we love Forgelines? That's not rain - that's drool.

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Dave Kixmiller's 222 MPH salt flats Sonoma [7] is in the house, on display at the ERL trailer.

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Here's a car with some real patina - compare and contrast this with a certain 5th gen Camaro you may have recently seen... [9]

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There's a turbo LS under the hood of this "Camaro" rock crawler...

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No hood at all in this particular case!

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Whoops! Opening the hood in the lanes is a no-no in True Street...

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You wouldn't expect that the biggest oildown of the day on Saturday would come from a totally stock-appearing pickup...

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...but it did. Wrist pins and chunks of block were turned into shrapnel.

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This guy might have been a little concerned about his paint.

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This 1970 GTO is amazingly clean, and we are trying to figure out how to steal it...

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Believe it or not, this was NOT the most dramatic wheelstand on Saturday...

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...this was, but we only caught the aftermath. Only one lane per customer, please!

Round One Eliminations Results:

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FINAL RESULTS

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That will do it for us from Beech Bend Raceway in Bowling Green, Kentucky, and the 2011 Holley LS Fest. It was a fantastic event with a lot of good racing and a ton of great things to see and do. If you missed it this year, be sure to make plans early for 2012!


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Day Two of the 2011 Holley LS Fest is upon us, and we’re just about to head to the track to watch all the drag race qualifying, autocrossing, drifting, and speed stop challenging. Speaking of which, perhaps you might enjoy a few photos from the Baer Brakes SSC yesterday – competitors left the starting line at the green light, then ran down to the 1/8 mile mark where they had to come to a complete stop inside a box delineated with traffic cones. Quickest time start to finish wins, with a 4 second penalty for not coming to a stop within the box. As you can see, some were more successful than others…

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Over the course of the 1/8 mile track, most of the cars were hitting speeds in the 80 MPH plus range - Spectre Performance had a radar gun deployed to judge who would win the top speed award.

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While weight transfer helps a drag launch, it's not so great in the other direction...

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Though it's true that the box is longest diagonally, sliding in sideways is still not the recommended method of stopping. Still, no foul here, so no 4-second penalty.

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A few of the stops were pretty dramatic - I hope this guy sends us the GoPro video so I can see if my expression matches his...

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And then there was this... thing... It came to a stop dripping coolant, pulled down the track, and then with a loud "pop," tossed its cookies all over the dragstrip and ended the SSC for the day.

Time to head for Beech Bend – keep checking back throughout the day for more photos and updates! As always, special thanks to our event coverage sponsor SCT Performance. Check out their fine line of tuners at www.sctflash.com [39].

Round 2 Qualifying Standings

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Car Craft Engine Swap Challenge

Last year, the Engine Swap Challenge took a mere 31 minutes, 57 seconds. After the rules got tightened up this year, the smart money was on a time somewhere in the 45 minute range. Apparently, nobody told the guys at the School of Automotive Machinists that, because they managed to take the title this year and nearly eclipse the old record with a winning time of 38:32, despite problems when they first fired the engine.

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GM Performance Parts provided the LS crate engines while Holley High Ram intake manifolds and EFI systems sat ready for installation.

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Before the new LS can go in, the old SBC must come out... Both cars drove in under their own power to help thwart any shennanegans.

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Holley staff kept an eagle eye on things to make sure dangerous shortcuts weren't being taken, but even so, there can be little surprises like one of the lift chains coming loose.

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When the cherry picker isn't quite tall enough, a little persuasion does the trick.

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The Big Orange Hammer was employed to convince the Camaro to accept the new engine...

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The SAM team is almost there!

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Meanwhile on the other side of the tent, things are not going as well...

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With the vacuum leak that was causing a 5000 RPM idle sorted out, the SAM students throw every tool they can grab into the tote to take along on the 5-mile road cruise for last minute repairs.

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Victory! The SAM students win, but not without a lot of leaking fluids and a very messy windshield...

Final Qualifying and Ladders

Well we got it all done just in time – literally minutes after the last cars ran down the track this afternoon, a brief but intense downpour soaked the track.

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True Street

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5th Gen Camaro Challenge

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Shut Your Face

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LSX All Motor

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LSX Drag Radial

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LSX Real Street

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That’s gonna do it for today – the rain is coming down in buckets, so we’re calling it a day and hoping for a dry sunrise tomorrow. Check back in for Sunday eliminations!


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It’s time again for the one and only Holley LS Fest at Beech Bend Raceway in Bowling Green, Kentucky, the home of the Corvette and host to the quickest LS-powered vehicles on earth this weekend. For an idea of everything that’s on the schedule, check out our event preview [67]. We’ll be updating throughout the event, so bookmark this page and keep checking back for news, photos, and results!

Special thanks to our event coverage sponsor SCT Performance. Check out their fine line of tuners at www.sctflash.com [39].

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Friday Pit Notes

It’s overcast and cool today, but no precipitation so far (knock on wood), and everyone’s taking advantage of the chance to make some hits on the dragstrip and turn laps on the autocross course. Round one of drag qualifying goes down this evening, but in the meantime here’s a few shots from the test-and-tune:

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The track is hooking, and as a result, we've already seen a few casualties. John Reese's C5 lost its rearend right on the hit, shortly after this photo was taken. We're hoping to see him back in action this weekend, but doing a diff swap on a Corvette is no walk in the park...

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Of course, it helps to be on the right tires - this LS3 240SX on low profile street rubber clearly lays out the scenic route to the stripe...

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A glimpse under the hood of the IPS Motorsports C6 is like a trip to the museum of modern art.

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Of course with that high rise manifold, not all of it fits under the hood any more. The first hit was a loafing 8.52 - we are confident that we'll see a much quicker pass in Q1 this afternoon.

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Even the "forgotten LS," the front-wheel-drive LS4, is represented here today. The plates on the Monte read "LOL FWD"

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In addition to their infamous black 5th Gen Camaro, Lingenfelter Performance Engineering is debuting their new white drag car this weekend.

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The turbo setup on Lingenfelter's new car is a plumber's dream with all that mandrel-bent stainless. This is the cross-plane engine - we're told that Graham is on the way with the flat-plane LS, but they're not sure if they will be swapping it in or not for this weekend.

Autocross

It’s not all about straight line performance this weekend – there are also grip and drift contests on the agenda. The tight infield-and-oval course here at Beech Bend offers some challenges for both disciplines:

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The Optima Camaro navigates the big bump on the autocross course, transitioning from the oval banking to the infield. Fun Fact: Thanks to a restraining order, this is as close as I am allowed to get to this particular car, so its clutch is safe this weekend...

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This Ultima GTR looks like a hell of a lot of fun to drive around the cones.

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Ford V8 swaps into Miatas have been around for years, but if you're going to go to the trouble of doing the conversion, why not put a real engine in like we have here? In the restaurant business, that wing would be classified as a "4-top"

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RideTech honcho Bret Voelkel takes the "47 Hour" Camaro around the course. This car makes fast look easy, thanks in large part to the suspension.

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We love the look of Spectre's Carbon Camaro - it's one second gen that gives us a bad case of the do-wants

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Corvettes are meant to be driven, not sealed away in a bubble like some toy car. A modern LS swap just makes classics like this C2 more enjoyable.

More to come…

Stay tuned for the Q1 recap this evening. In the meantime, we’ll leave you with one final thought – if it rains, we know just who to blame…

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Friday Qualifying Results

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Tim Earle, in the near lane, leads BMR 5th Gen Camaro Challenge qualifying with a 13.072 pass on a 13-flat index.

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Brian Black is at the top of the GMHTP/NOS "Shut Your Face Race" 1/8th mile 275 drag radial class qualifying after the first round

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Joe Huneycutt's 8.698 at 155.47 has him at the top of the SAM LSX All Motor field for the time being

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Mark Koehler (in the near lane) is currently the man to beat in Callies Drag Radial

[91]That’s it for tonight! Be sure to check out the gallery page below, and come back tomorrow for more updates, photos, and results…