**Sad News ; Wally Parks made his final pass------

Just in from Louise Ann Noeth,aka, "Landspeed Louise"


My dear friend Dick Wells sent me the following earlier this evening:

“I'm sorry to report that Wally Parks passed away this evening. Wally had been struggling with a cracked hip bone and during hospitalization developed heart problems and came down with pneumonia. He passed peacefully shortly past 7 p.m. this evening. No plans have as yet been announced for a memorial service, but information will likely be carried on nhra.com and in National Dragster.”


We have lost a giant motorsports statesman, the likes of which will not be seen anytime soon again. Pioneers with visionary conviction are hard to come by.

I did notice how frail Wally was at the Winternationals and made it a point to sit and talk with him much longer than normal. From his response to my conversation I could tell he enjoyed the talk immensely – and it all about dry lakes racing. It was a bit surreal because we were chatting away trading historical notes and details halting only momentarily as the pro cars blasted off the line in the semi-finals. We had the best seats in the house for the drags but spoke of nothing but Bonneville and the dry lakes. I knew where the guy’s heart was.


Speedy Regards,

"LandSpeed" Louise Ann Noeth
Member: Board of Directors/Motor Press Guild, American Auto Racing Writers & Broadcasters, Society of Automotive Historians, Western Automotive Journalists

Lone Star rises above the competitors in sheetmetal fabricating

Lonestar Industries' shipper Matt Krieger delivered to Kevin and I the water/ballast tank and the seat pieces (seat shown) which are all ready for final fit and weld together. Thanks to Rob Krieger for the nice job of fabricating them. Rob is the owner of Lonestar and because the staff were all occupied with paying work, he personally did the fabricating. Rob is no stranger to building racy things and many of you know him for his custom motorcycle builds long before the TV's OCC were in business. Mr Krieger also has a passion for his new toys, a Moto Guzzi (Breva V 1100) and the 007 James Bond car, a BMW Z-8.

Rob says, "You only live once!"

Now once the overdrive and differential are complete and installed we will be able to add the fuel and oil tanks. Then we can fasten in and button up all the ready pieces that Werner has stored at his place. Install the race engine and turbo and race transmission. Then head off to the resting program on an airstrip and chassis dyno. It will be exciting time when that happens.

Aussie Fan in Vancouver visits 'HAWK

New South Wales resident, Michael Moore came from Australia to Canada to see the Goldenhawk streamliner making him the winner of the long distance fan award. He contacted Kevin Knox of Diversions , his friend and fellow model railroader, and they are shown here deep in discussions of salt flats locomotion. Michael Moore is in the Justice and Corrections field in his homeland. However, he and his wife would consider a move to North America a nice change of scenery. "Thanks for dropping by, Mic!"

Congratulations Tina and Kevin

The wonderful, ever smiling bride "Tina".

The Blushing groom!

Mr.& Mrs.Kevin and Tina Knox

After 22+ years of living together, the about to be grand parents decided to "make it legal" Sept 8 2008. It was a great celebration enjoyed by family and friends on their patio. The cake tells it all. BEST WISHES from the team.



However, Mr.Tool Tech has his own way of cutting cake. (just kidding around)

KEVIN KNOX KOMPLETES KANOPY

Here is the canopy , fully braced, self locating and smoothly operating replete with the cut outs for clearing the instrument panel. The instrument panel will be laser cut out and finished by DIVERSIONS (www.kevinknox.com) . Great job and slightly less costly than the $9,000.00 paid by some racer we know. Thanks to the sponsors, Barry Clarke's, PLASTEC and DIVERSIONS without these people the car would not have a body at all.

Puffer vs Blower

Compare the stock turbo size to the race turbo, you can see why the engine will output 5 time the horsepower. Both are from HOLESET TURBO CHARGERS.

Werner is fabricating and mounting components

Werner is holding the differential oil pump to which he attached a 12 volt special motor and remote filter to supply oil to the pinion bearings. He is also checking out the borrowed turbo from PEAK DIESEL PERFORNANCE (Piers Harry's new company). It should do the job!

Rear Frame & Axle completed

The last of the big welding has been completed by the crew and Aggressive Tube Bending as you can see from the very Robust rear axle mount. A little coating and the rear wheels tires and brakes can go back on. You can see the COOL-IT air conditioner condenser mounted in the tail by Werner.

New tail feathers by MURPHY AIRCRAFT

When the composite tail of the Goldenhawk was completed by Kevin Knox of Diversions it was exactly as the plans (drawn by me) called for, however, once completed it was decided that a more rigid material and a more aerodynamic design would be an improvement.

So we contacted Darryl Murphy of MURPHY AIRCRAFT manufacturing in Chilliwack, BC. Darryl, listened to our plans for the next vertical stabilizer and with kind sensitivity to my feelings, suggested we meet to discuss a much better design. So yesterday, Kevin , trusty laptop in hand and and I, riding in the old Mercedes, top down , wind in my thinning hair, visited Murphy's plant in Chilliwack.

Darryl gave us a tour of his revamped facility and a peek at one of the world's largest state of the art, laser cutting machines and stepped in to build a new vertical stabilizer that will more resemble the Sabre F-86 and be engineered strong and safe like all his aircraft components.

You can see his line up of super airplanes by going to http://www.goldenhawk.ca/ click on the team and then on Murphy Aircraft Manufacturing or just click this link to see the great video presentation. http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1127733508/bclid1125865333/bctid1125998103

Makes me want to build a plane next!

"G' Hawk" fans enjoying Bonneville 07

Guess who we met at the salt? Yes, Neil Finegold and his buddies from Switzerland! You saw him on previous posts, the white Camaro with the tall chick in the white short shorts! JBM sales rep and the photographer of the previous Bonneville post is pictured here with Werner Sprenger (G'hawk Crew Chief) and yours truly.

Watch for more photos, yet to come from CH.

BONNEVILLE SPEEDWEEK Revisited

Bonneville Speedweek revisited!
The sign at lands end is always a welcome site to those of use with Salt Fever, however, the preceeding rains left a small lake where we entered the Mecca that is the world's fastest place.
Notice if you will, the water standing back of the sign. The hot rod coming in and the line of cars picking their way out. I understand the course was pretty good considering it had to be developed in a short time.

HATS OFF TO THE VOLUNTEERS WHO MAKE IT ALL HAPPEN AT SPEEDWEEKS!

Cole Sorensen and Daryle check the progress

Cole is the son of our talented sponsor, the guy who does the artist renderings of the car and is reported to be developing a design for our team swag. Cole liked the car but Dad loved the feel of sitting in the cockpit. Put a helmet on him tighten the straps and watch him fly down the salt.

Late breaking news!

You can click on article to read or go to website for complete article including Landspeed Louise's comment'shttp://driving.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/driving/features/article2277715.ece