Going drag racing today!

Patman · Apr 3, 2004

Yesterday our tracks opened up here for the first time of the season, so this morning I'm heading out to the closest one!

They are getting light snow out that way right now though, but it's only supposed to be a trace, then it is going to clear up. But it will be very cold and windy today, high of only 32F with 40mph wind gusts! Traction will be poor, but my nearly stock 95 Firebird Formula shouldn't have a problem with traction. I'll be showing up with a full tank of gas just in case though.

I expect to run about 13.55 to 13.59 at 101 today. My previous best is 13.68 at 100.4. My car is bone stock except for an SLP exhaust. It's an automatic with 3.23 rear axle ratio and I'm running Goodyear F1 GS D3 tires. I can launch off idle and immediately go full throttle with these tires.

I'll post here later in the day to report how it went! I love it when our tracks finally open after the long winter!

Thomas Pyrek · Apr 3, 2004

sweet. First local autocross event of the year is today for me. Last week was the school which I was asked to teach, so I got to drive my student's "Formula Hertz" rental car Neon.

sbc350gearhead · Apr 3, 2004

Good Luck!!!

I can't wait to make it to the track this year.

tec97 · Apr 3, 2004

Heh - I went to the local 1/8th w/ my neighbor last PM - it was pretty neat - it's been close to 20 years since I've been to an 1/8th tho... He has a race car (a beautiful 76 Camaro Berlinetta) that has run a best of 7.04 in the 1/8th at just under a buck. He expects to get into the high 6s w/ a bit more tuning, and that's without using the trans-brake...

(BTW he runs straight 50 weight Pennzoil in the racecar)

Patman · Apr 4, 2004

It was a wasted trip today. I made the 70 mile journey there only to find the track officials packing up and going home. They got a very light dusting of snow, although the track looked completely dry to me. I guess they figured since not many people were going to come out anyways (there were no race cars there at all) there was no point hanging around. The weather was super cold, only about 30F with a 40mph crosswind too.

Next weekend I can't race so now I have to wait two more weeks.

I hope it isn't too warm, I like having the opportunity to race in freezing cold temps early in the season, and get the extra boost in power.

Thomas Pyrek · Apr 4, 2004

Eh, I had an OK day. Still getting used to asphault instead of ice.

One guy did manage to break a plastic telephone box that was gaurded by two steel poles. Totalled his car in an absolute perfect mannar that he was able to get the car off course in less than 4 minutes and drive it home! Go team!

sprintman · Apr 4, 2004

Patman your living in the wrong country. Check www.wsid.com.au and click The Track. Just completed and designed after looking at every major drag race facility worldwide. U.S racers here for test days reckon best facility available anywhere. Sorry no ice though.

Shannow · Apr 4, 2004

Sprintman,
but it is about 100km from Bleakheath, so the fog could roll down.

sprintman · Apr 5, 2004

Yeah never thought of that. Top facility but!

Patman · Apr 8, 2004

Since last weekend was a bust, I decided to go again this weekend!

I'm running on Saturday afternoon, the forecast looks nice for racing: sunny with a high of only 45F, and the barometer should be high (a nice high pressure system is now moving into the area) Hopefully humidity will be low also.

I'm still confident it'll run 13.5s if the traction doesn't suck.

Patman · Apr 10, 2004

I am not happy! I made the 70 mile journey yet again, only to find out when I arrived that there would be no timeslips, their system was down!

They tried to fix it, but gave up by 2pm (I got there at 1pm and the timers had been down for an hour at that point) My friend, who is a computer expert, even offered his services to help them fix their computers, but they turned him down! They'd rather send everyone home with rainchecks then let him fix what could've been a simple problem.

Weather was excellent too, and traction was also very good. I easily would've run a new best, especially since there was a light wind which allowed my engine to fully cool off within an hour (and my car runs best when the super hot intake manifold is allowed to cool right off, but usually without any wind it takes 2 hours or more to cool!)

So now I'll have to wait 2 weeks before going again. Hopefully the weather is even better, but typically it will be warmer here by the end of April.

Yesterday at 2pm (when I would've made my first pass) it was only 44F, with 48% humidity and 30.0" of pressure. Still room for improvement there though, maybe next time out it'll be 50-55F, 30% humidity and with 30.5" of barometric pressure.

sbc350gearhead · Apr 10, 2004

Why don't you try a bag of ice on your intake between runs?

quick_16 · Apr 10, 2004

quote:

Originally posted by sbc350gearhead:
Why don't you try a bag of ice on your intake between runs?

Please

use a towel to catch the condensation when you do this ice thing. The water will find places on the car to hide and than deposit on the starting line when you leave. The result could be bad for you, but for sure will be worse for the car behind you. Our track will toss out a racer caught doing that.

Here's my local track. Tks Paul S
http://www.morosomotorsportspark.com/dsweeklyres.html#ET

sbc350gearhead · Apr 10, 2004

My local track really doesn't have rules on it........as long as the water isn't excessive. I guess that they think it isn't any worse than guy running DOT tires in the water box.

Patman · Apr 10, 2004

I don't like the idea of ice on my intake because of the optispark unit. If it gets wet it often dies, and is a $500 part ($800 without my club discount) plus at least $500 to put it in.

Besides, I find that with the open hood pointed towards the wind, it's a very effective way to cool it down already. The winds need to be over 10mph though, otherwise it just takes forever to cool, especially when it's hot out. In the summer I did try putting ice on the intake just once and left it there for an hour. Even still the intake was warm! (I made sure to put a towel down so it didn't leak everywhere) I guess I'm also just too lazy to use ice as well (and cheap!)

Patman · Apr 21, 2004

I'm hoping the third time's a charm, as I'm heading to the strip this Saturday! The weather forecast looks good, no chance of rain, sunny skies and a high in the mid 50s.

Motorbike · Apr 21, 2004

You know if you put some Ford brand air in you tire's the trap speed will go up don't you

Patman · Apr 22, 2004

quote:

Originally posted by Motorbike:
You know if you put some Ford brand air in you tire's the trap speed will go up don't you

I almost had Ford brake fluid in my car! The friend of mine that did my brakes wanted me to go get some Ford DOT 3 fluid for the job, but I didn't have time to get to a Ford dealer so I just got some STP brake fluid from Walmart. Whew, that was a close one!

XS650 · Apr 22, 2004

quote:

Originally posted by Motorbike:
You know if you put some Ford brand air in you tire's the trap speed will go up don't you

You have ET and trap speed confused

Patman · Apr 22, 2004

The forecast for Saturday just keeps getting better! Now it's forecasting to be just slightly under 50F, with about a 15mph north wind (which will help cool down my intake fast between runs!) and there is a high pressure area moving in so the barometer should hopefully be around 30.4 or 30.5 (it's at 30.1 today and still rising, so hopefully in the next 30 hours or so it will get to 30.5) Humidity is forecasted to be fairly good too. New best ET, here I come!

Going drag racing today!

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