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The weather was perfect! Other than a slighthead/cross wind....the sun was out and all was good.
Made it through Tech with no drama....attended the driver's meeting...and then lined up to race. The meeting explained that "there's plenty of shutdown area"...BUT...you need to pay attention to the green cones at the end of the runway. After them is a dip in the lake! They mentioned that "IF" you had to go through them, to make sure to hit them dead center because they had dug a trench and placed a gravel filled runoff ramp to slow you down before going swimming. Note to self...stay dry!
Looking around...I was surrounded by supercharged/turbocharged/nitroused (and combinations of each) late model 'Vette's, Cadillac CTSV's, Vipers, Camaro's, Mustangs, Lamborghini's, Porsche's, McLaren's, Audi's. GTR's...etc., etc. You get the picture. There were some HEAVY HITTERS there with major sponsorship $$$$. This is where you'll see the cool cars strutting their stuff. The only other old rides I saw was a supercharged '71Chevelle and a '67 stepside Chevy pickup.
I decided to try it with the top up. I applied a liberal pile of Gorilla tape across the windshield header/top juncture. If I don't, air literally lifts the top frame and creates a 1"gap and you just wait for it to tear the whole top off like a sail. The 'ole top has seen better days due to all the drag strip runs and is due for replacement anyway, so a few extra strips were applied to the susceptible areas.
I had asked our Holley buddy Doug Flynn totake a look at my current "street" tune and see if I was missing anything big for a run like this. He tweaked it a little...mainly adding insome additional fail safes to protect things. The overall tune was 11.5 A/Fratio under boost. I set wastegates for 10 PSI and I used 50/50 BoostJuice instead of 30/70 W/S fluid in the water/meth kit. Timing was limited to 24* under boost.
On the first run, the guy beside me said "I don't drag race"...meaning he wanted to go from a "roll".OK...it's my first time doing this so what the heck? We started slowly trying to be in the 20-30 MPH range at the cones....which allowed me to shift into 2nd gear to prepare for nailing it. They had sprayed the track good and it took the throttle pretty well. Still spinning...but at least it was moving! I did a lot of "dancing and spinning" but by 4th gear it was doing pretty well. I clicked into 5th and planted my foot in it and grabbed the wheel with both hands and held on!! It pulled hard and I cleared the traps and then got hard on the brakes to reel that sucker in! I'm not sure if going fast or stopping from going fast was more exciting...but it took ALL of the stopping area. I took the turn off road still running 30-40 MPH and even got the front tires in the grass a little! I could definitely smell the brakes!!
But when I got to the timing tent, they handed me a slip reading 176.47 MPH!
I headed back to the pits and pulled a few plugs to see how they looked. As expected....they showed pretty rich, but the timing mark looked good. All looked fine under the hood, so I let the brakes cool down and then got back in line.
The next run I tried from a standing start...but it involved a little mental lapse. I forgot to switch on the 2nd fuel pump. Oops. Pulled well overall though still spinning a good bit and drifting around as I went through the gears...but then I heard it pop a couple of times in 3rd...and then again in 4th. So while steering, shifting gears and glancing at the gauges....it dawns on me I didn't hit the pump. So once I was in 5th I reached down and turned it on. Pulled clean after that...but MPH slowed down to173 and change.
Same excitement getting stopped in time...and I came to understand why a bunch of folks had chutes attached and were"hanging the laundry" after clearing the traps. And those guys have a lot less weight to stop...and a lot bigger brakes and a lot bigger tires....and they still had chutes!!
Stopped for lunch and watched a cool aerobatic airshow...then prepared for another run.
But before I got up to the line, a C-6 Corvette ended up off the track at about the 3/4 mark after making a few spins. He was OK....car beat up a little though. Also saw a car go out into the grass off to the other side after the traps. Hmnnnn........
This time I made sure both pumps were running and hit it again from a standing start. I was having to walk it pretty good here as the runway seemed to be getting slipperier. Everyone was trailing clouds of dust all day...but it seemed to pick up in the evening. I definitely had my hands full and was spinning/drifting to the centerline in 4th gear. Instead of short shifting like I had been doing previously...I went back to my old method of keeping in it until it straightened out. I glanced at the tach and it was showing about 7300 RPM...so I clicked into 5th and lined it up for a shot through the timing cones. They had mentioned how upset they'd be if any of us nailed their timers! I got another couple of single pops in high gear...but the time slip read 177 MPH! Brakes acted the same way...no worse for wear...so nothing new there.
While sitting in the pits, preparing for another run, a Lambo took a bad ride after clearing the traps at a little over 200 MPH. I think the driver was OK...but the car was toast on both ends.Then I heard about another one that I hadn't seen.
Here's where old age/sense kicked in. I determined that in its current tune and setup....176-177 MPH was about what it had in it.Unless I kicked up the boost, or did something for better traction...I wasn't likely to go much faster. I figured if very talented drivers in"supercars" were having trouble stopping/controlling their stuff...the odds of something not going so well for me were much higher. I packed my junk and headed home!
Overall it was a great day. The car actually handled very well. I could have let go of the wheel and it would have stayed straight. No shimmies or vibrations at all. The engine did fine...no oil pukes and it even survived my fuel pump mistake. I noticed the Milodon drag race oil pan never allowed the oil pressure to fluctuate even when I was hard on the brakes. The 'ole soft top made it through the day with enough tape, but I got a lot of comments about how "pregnant" it looked at speed!
The event was well organized, everyone was very friendly and I got tons of thumbs ups, comments (some questioning my sanity-butmost commenting on the perceived size of my juevos!), people stopping by to check out the car and take pics. I don't think anyone expected "The Old Vette" to put on a show!
I did see a few nuked engines...which happens when folks have them turned up enough to run nearly as fast in the 1/2 mile as they do at the full mile events.
If you ever get a chance to try one of these events, I highly recommend it...it's a blast!!
If you haven't seen the previous threads about the preparation...ck these:
Congratulations! I'm glad you had a good time. I think it was very wise to quit when you did. Now you know what you need to work on if you go out again.
I didn't notice any ill handling at all. Lack of traction was moving things around more than aero. Each time I put my foot in it, it would lift and sorta stay there. The new coilovers and shock control kept things down a lot better than the old drag setup.
Didn't mention it. They eyeballed tires but didn't discuss them.
V's are a whole lot better than I had on it up till now!! Speed ratings are based on sustained speeds like the Autobahn. Not just a quick blast for a few seconds. Certainly would be better I suppose with higher ratings. I decided on the larger tire to better deal with the weight than a smaller tire with a higher speed rating.
You dont see speed ratings on racing tires but we know they do pretty well. Like drag radials etc which is what the fast folks were using on most cases or out and out slicks.
You should see the weird shapes my old BFG street radials would bend into during chassis dyno testing.
Another interesting tidbit from yesterday. Obviously you wait in line some and there's the cranking and shutting down as you move up the line. The engine temp would be up in the 170-180 range when I got to the line which was more than I wanted. Typically at the drag strip I aim for the hot oil/cool coolant plan. I figured after going WOT for that long I'd be looking at some heat issues.
I dont run a t-stat. It's got stock pulleys, fixed stainless steel fan, stock shroud and radiator. Anyway, at the end of the runs the crazy thing had the engine temp down in the 140-150 range on the return road!! Never an issue all day.
I'm sure having the hood propped open in the rear removed a lot of heat but i suppose if you get enough air across that stock radiator, it really can cool things!!
Enjoyed reading about your day Jim. 170+mph is moving...I chuckled a little visualizing the convertible top ballooning up with air at that speed. I can imagine the brakes probably had a busy day slowing down from 170+. Great to hear the car finished the day unscathed and everyone was ok.
11-13-2016, 01:11 AM
UPDATE: When does a 'Vette go airborne?
