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OptimaJim

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  1. I'm not an OUSCI Race Director, so I would only be speculating like you guys as to why that car wasn't invited. That definitely looks like a very cool car, although it sounds a lot more like a race car with license plates, than a street car. I don't know if you've seen what's left of the interior, but I'd be interested in your take on it as it relates to how you define a street car. This is what the interior of Mark Stielow's 800+ horsepower Camaro looks like- http://ls1tech.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/IMG_00092.jpg Getting a golden ticket invitation is the hardest way to get into the OUSCI, because they only pick ten cars out of the 2000+ that are at SEMA. The rest of the field is comprised almost entirely (with a few exceptions, like John's car) of cars that ran in our qualifying events during the year. Maybe we'll see that Mustang at one of our events next year? Jim McIlvaine eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries, Inc. www.pinterest.com/optimabatteries
  2. SOTTY, I'd love to hear your top-10 and I'm glad you liked the Focus. While I love the Gulf livery, it's getting to be a bit like the General Lee, where people are putting it on everything. I was glad to see both the Focus and Porsche choose somewhat-unique schemes for their cars. I'm glad you guys are biased toward your cars, because bias equals passion in the car world and our brand and our event don't exist on indifference. I hope to see more SQs at our upcoming events (and not just for moral support for someone else). I think the guys with the really high dollar cars, like the Lamborghini, are probably the gutsiest of the bunch. As incredible as the Mach 40 is, you actually have to explain that car to make folks understand why it is so awesome. “Lamborghini” or “Porsche” has instant name recognition, so those are often the cars people point to as measuring sticks for their own success. Those guys have the biggest targets on their backs, because everyone will be quick to talk about how they were faster than a Lamborghini, but slow to mention that a four-door Mitsubishi was far quicker than both cars. Jim McIlvaine eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries, Inc www.pinterest.com/optimabatteries
  3. GNon345s is right about many of the other cars in our field. While it makes it easier to chalk up someone else's success to deep pockets, the fact is many of the cars in our field were built on tight budgets in home garages. We also have very high dollar builds as well, but our event isn't about bang for the buck, it's about finding the ultimate street car. We can't do that if we don't invite what would be considered “the ultimate” street cars, including new exotics that may be lightly-modified by comparison. We're still searching for a Ferrari owner who is willing to step up, but having high dollar builds in our event only reinforces the great job done by those who started with far less. John's car was awarded 72 points in the Design competition. Only the top-20 finishers receive overall event points, which means more than half of the cars in the field don't receive any overall points in that category. Frankly, getting points in the Design competition isn't hard in a field full of SEMA show cars- 20 did it. The hard hat trick to get is scoring any points in all three of the timed events- only 13 cars in the field did that and John's Conquest was one of them. I know not everyone reading this thread was at our event or SEMA and didn't get a chance to really look over the rest of the field, but I would still be interested in hearing the top-10 from anyone who was there. Even if John's car is at the top of your list, there is a good chance your next nine cars will be different than everyone else's. If enough folks give us their top-10, we're likely to get every car in the field on someone's list. That's what helps to make this such a cool event. The question is, now that John has blazed the trail and we are running a ten-event series next year (televising it on MavTV), will we see more SQs at our upcoming events? No invitations are needed for these events, just sign up, show up and you're in. Jim McIlvaine eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries www.pinterest.com/optimabatteries
  4. The schedule is fairly tight and SEMA didn't do us any favors by pushing the convention dates back by a week this year. Not only did we lose about 20 minutes worth of sunlight for television purposes, but due to the change in daylight savings time, we lost an additional hour, which put us at just over nine hours of daylight to film a TV show with more than 50 cars running three on-track events. It is too cost-prohibitive for everyone involved to run out of daylight and simply stay an extra day. We even told the alternates this year that they would be the last cars to run on the big track, in case we did run out of time. This was actually the earliest we've ever wrapped up the event in six years of running it. Last year at 2:30 in the afternoon, we still had 35 cars that needed to run the road course and we still needed enough daylight left to grab a group photo at the end. When we mentioned in the recap that this year's Detroit Speed Road Rally was less demanding, we were being kind. This was the first year the final stop of the Road Rally wasn't in Pahrump. In past years, this created quite a logistical nightmare for a lot of folks and I've even found myself driving haulers with empty trailers up to Pahrump for competitors that didn't have any friends to help. Competitors who know in advance that they are in the OUSCI also probably have a distinct advantage over those who get picked at SEMA. Hotel rooms in Pahrump are always in short supply, so ending the Road Rally in Las Vegas allowed some folks to stay in their original hotels one night longer. I believe the last check-in cutoff was 7:30PM at Shelby and most folks made it well before then. Even if they checked in and left at 7:30, they could easily get to a hotel room in Pahrump by 9PM and Spring Mountain isn't that far down the road. As a resident of Nevada, I can understand why you'd want us to stretch the event out by an extra day- that would be a minimum of 100 extra nights of hotel rooms for your state. Many of our competitors were loading their cars onto commercial haulers immediately after the event and those drivers are all on the clock, as is our camera crew, Goldberg and Amanda Salas. As much as I love Nevada, between Pubcon, the NHRA, Front Sight and SEMA, I was already three weeks into my trip by the time we ran the OUSCI, with two days and nights of driving still ahead of me. SEMA alone is enough Vegas for most of those folks to handle in one trip and they're ready to head home as soon as our event wraps up. I know there is a perception that a lot of our competitors have deep pockets and that is certainly true for some of them. However, the vast majority have regular 9-5 jobs, some within the industry and some outside of it. Randy Johnson, who built the green second gen Camaro, works for a utility company in Wisconsin and only builds those cars in his home garage on the side. For guys like him (and there are a lot of them), just getting out to SEMA eats up a lot of vacation time. Extending that by an extra night puts even more pressure on the guys with limited resources, especially when they need to be back at work on Monday. Except for the cars we pick at SEMA, everyone else in the field has few excuses for not getting enough rest and race prep, as they know anywhere from several weeks to several months in advance that they are headed to the OUSCI. We also make a point of trying to invite vehicles that seem to be sorted out already, to minimize the chances of cars breaking down during the event. I'd still be interested in hearing your biased top-10. I promise I won't question any of your selections Jim McIlvaine eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries www.pinterest.com/optimabatteries
  5. John, Thank you so much for competing in our event. I know it is a big commitment in a lot of different ways to come out to Las Vegas and Pahrump and we really appreciate your effort. I hope your involvement will encourage other Starquest owners to get in on the action in 2014. I know some folks are disappointed with some of the outcomes of the event, but I would be curious to know (especially for those who were at the event or saw the cars at SEMA) what their top-10 favorite cars were from our field? Final results do take a while to post, as a lot of activity happens in this event in a short amount of time and we spend the next week or so sorting out what exactly went down. All drivers were either owners of their respective vehicles or builders of record- no pros. One driver who participated in the event (John Condren) had prior professional racing experience, so he ran as exhibition-only and his results were not included in the final totals. Three other vehicles did not attempt to compete in the Detroit Speed Road Rally (which claimed two other competitors) and as a result, they were moved to exhibition status as well, which is reflected in the final results. The Supra mentioned earlier was selected from the SEMA Show and didn't know he was going to compete in the event until we announced his name on Thursday, so kudos to him for stepping up on very short notice (the vast majority of SEMA participants decline our invitations to compete). I believe it is a 1,000+ horsepower car set up for drag racing and I actually photographed them swapping out for a smaller turbo on Friday morning at the SEMA show (he had driveshaft, not clutch issues). While just about every vehicle there came in on a trailer, I know John Kundrat drove his garage-built '64 Corvette to and from Nevada from his home in Ohio and Richard Caleel drove his Cadillac back to California afterwards. There may be a few more that drove in and out, but most trailered, many of them headed to the Goodguys autocross event in Arizona this weekend. Our fields tend to feature the full spectrum of the automotive aftermarket, from budget builds to the very best of the best and everything in between. The OUSCI show will air on MavTV early next year and will be the first in a regular series that will air on that network, following our 2014 search for America's Ultimate Street Car. Anyone interested in participating in those events can find more information at the Ultimate Street Car Association website. Jim McIlvaine eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries www.pinterest.com/optimabatteries
  6. Hi TexasQuest, Many battery chargers have a minimum voltage threshold. This threshold can often be as high as 10.5 volts. If batteries are discharged below 10.5 volts, these chargers will not recognize or charge a battery. Using another fully-charged battery, wired in parallel, will allow these chargers to recognize and charge your deeply-discharged battery. Generally speaking, for float charging, we recommend 1 amp max, 13.2-13.8 volts. Traditional "float" chargers provide a constant voltage with tapering amperage to the battery, even when it is fully-charged. These are OK, but not preferred. For regular charging, we recommend 10 amps max, 13.8-15 volts. Fully-automatic "multi-stage or multi-step" chargers, which monitor the battery and charge it as necessary, are the preferred option. Multi-stage maintainers will charge at varying voltages and varying amperage (rarely exceeding 2 amps) and some of these multi-step chargers are also capable of being regular battery chargers (7 amps or more). If anyone has any other questions about our batteries, I'll do my best to answer them. Jim McIlvaine eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries, Inc. www.facebook.com/optimabatteries
  7. Optimas are no more dangerous than any other lead-acid battery and likely much safer than a flooded lead-acid battery. As I mentioned before, the chances of a battery venting are not great, but not something that should be ignored either. If your YellowTop were to get overcharged, as in the scenario I previously mentioned, the circular ports on either side of the label are designed to vent gas. These batteries are typically installed in the engine compartment, where venting gas does not present the same safety concerns as it would in an enclosed space, like a passenger compartment or trunk. Jim McIlvaine eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries, Inc. www.facebook.com/optimabatteries
  8. Hi Strongtyer, All lead-acid batteries can vent gas, so both of your batteries should be vented to the outside. The Group 34/78 Optima you have does not have provisions for connecting a vent tube, so your safest option might be a vented battery box. I don’t know the specifics on your wiring, but batteries wired in parallel should always be the same age, size & type. I hope that information helps! Jim McIlvaine eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries, Inc. www.facebook.com/optimabatteries
  9. Hello, I noticed your conversation regarding our batteries and wanted to offer some assistance. First and foremost, if your battery has been relocated inside of the vehicle, it needs to be properly-vented to the outside. Under normal operating conditions, an AGM battery will not vent gas. Since alternators or chargers can fail, the safest and correct mounting method for trunks and passenger compartments is to make sure that any possible gas venting will escape to the outside of the vehicle. All vehicles with original equipment battery locations in trunks or passenger compartments will have a vent provision that should be used. Optima group 27, 51, 78, 34C, and 31 batteries all have ports for connecting a vent hose. Although people do it anyway, we would never recommend installing an unvented battery in any enclosed space, because there’s a legitimate, albeit unlikely, safety risk involved. For example, IF there is a voltage regulator failure, and IF the battery is severely overcharged, and IF this goes unnoticed, and IF the battery vents because the internal pressure exceeds the release pressure of the vents, the gasses are both flammable and toxic. This may sound like a lot of “ifs,” but attorneys and engineers get paid to plan for every worst-case scenario. StrongTyer, considering your car audio modifications, a YellowTop is really a more appropriate battery, due to its ability to be deep-cycled repeatedly. The key to long battery life is maintaining 12.4 volts or more, whenever possible. When batteries are discharged below that level, sulfation begins to occur, which diminishes performance and lifespan. If a vehicle only sees occasional use, a battery tender or maintainer is a great investment, which will help extend the life of any battery, regardless of brand. Burton is also correct about dissimilar batteries needing to be isolated from each other, if they are not the same age, size and type. The quality of our batteries has always been excellent and continues to improve. The batteries we are making today are the best we have ever made and many of the “bad” batteries returned to us now are just deeply-discharged. These batteries work fine, when properly recharged. Under normal conditions, an Optima can be treated and charged just like any other lead-acid battery. Unfortunately, many chargers will not recognize or charge any battery that has been discharged below 10.5 volts. Deeply-discharged Optimas can be recharged with these chargers, by using the parallel charging technique described in this video- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIoaL3DWWEg If you have any other battery-related questions, I’ll do my best to answer them. Jim McIlvaine eCare Manager, OPTIMA Batteries, Inc. www.facebook.com/optimabatteries
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