total timing reading accurate with no load?

MopaR&D said
Yup that's correct. I don't have much incentive to mess with the timing, I actually just put in a hotter thermostat (it was running only around 170 now it's around 195-200) and reduced the advance from its previous 24/44, actually has noticeably more power now everywhere and still feels just as strong at WOT in the higher revs (where I expected it to lose power). I think my hunch of the low compression/cylinder pressures with aluminum heads liking more heat in the chamber was correct.

@Mattax I have experienced the "full heat" soak you mention driving up through the mountains where you're fairly hard on the throttle for minutes at a time (maintaining 65 mph up a 6% grade takes quite a bit of HP). I have a high-flow Milodon water pump, high-flow 195* EMP-Stewart thermostat and ECP aluminum radiator which I hope will be able to reject all that extra heat quickly enough doing road course shenanigans.

A little secret - I want to say Tuner had Dick Ott's engines running around 28* for road racing at Laguna and Portland. I was quite surprise when Dick mentioned that, and pretty sure Mike Ritz (Team Starfish) said something similar - engine also built by Ott. You're at different elevation and obviously different engine - I don't know what secret sauce went into theirs but apparently they did not need or want a lot of spark lead in the conditions they were running. Probably built to be very efficient in the rpm range needed for vintage racing.

My understanding is the coolant temps should not climb too much on the road course. The speeds help get rid of the heat. The oil temperature is more often the issue. As long as it stabilizes at some point then probably can get away without a cooler by choosing an appropriate grade oil to account for the higher temperature. That's been my plan since track events are secondary. My one road course event with the '67 didn't really get the oil too hot. But that was dip your toes type event. Even there I was ready. I brought heavier grade oils andran with the accusump empty. That would let me put in close two additrional quarts of heavier weight oil if needed.