Corvette_Ed

Just got back from the track. Didn't have any spectacular times, but I ran better than I thought I would. The highlight of the night was when I beat my personal best R/T, which was previously a .089. First time I beat it was with a .034, and second time I nailed it with a .010. I had a lot of fun, met some great Corvette owners, and got to share the night with my daughter too. I think there were more Corvettes out there tonight than any other kind of car.

sstonebreaker

Yeah, there were only maybe 30 cars total, and there were at least 10 corvettes. 7 or 8 while you guys were there, then after you guys wimped out, around 10:30 2 or 3 more showed up - a C5 Z06 that I had a pretty good race against, a gray C7 Z06 that was giving the GTRs a run for their money, and a C4 ZR1 that the guy had swapped in an auto tranny for drag racing.

Density altitude SUCKED at over 3500 feet, and that was after the sun went down. The track guy said the track temps were over 120 at 8 o'clock. Which, combined with the other conditions (515 feet altitude, 29.3 barometer, and 25% humidity) the density altitude at the beginning of the night was 6007 feet. The DA never dropped below 3200 the whole time I was there.

Also, the humidity was WAY higher than 25%. I don't know where the weather station was that was collecting data for the track, but the track itself is out in the middle of cornfields and the humidity was at least 75%. Around 11 pm dew started settling on the track and the little gray turbo S2000 that was so fast went sideways and missed the gray Z06 by a hair. Amazingly, he managed to pull it out before he hit the wall. The track guys went down to see if he left anything on the track. They didn't find anything on the track but I bet that guy had to clean out the inside of his car!

Anyway, great meeting you, Ed. Hopefully we can make some more runs when it gets a little cooler.

Corvette_Ed

I saw the C4 just before I made my last pass; it looked like an amazing car. I bet that guy in the S2000 was cleaning more than his car.

Shaolin Crane

Sure, just keep an eye on fluid temps and you're good. I use to run my cars at Willow in the dame temps all day. If it gets warm just let it cool off.

Corvette_Ed

I was keeping a close watch on the oil and coolant temps. I was able to make three back-to-back (literally) passes before I had to shut it down for a while to let it cool down. There was literally no wait between passes last night. As soon as I made my way back to the line there was nobody in front of me. Two of my runs I had to run by myself because everyone else had either already made a run, or they were parked and letting their own cars cool down.

Shaolin Crane

What were the temps? My GS is is a mechanical marvel compared to my old foxes in terms of factory parts. 20min road course session in high 80s stays consistent around 200-210* with the ac on, which means even if pushing at a peak of 300* it can run some significant times.

Depending how I pushed my iron block foxes 300* would happen right around 20 min

Corvette_Ed

It was 100 degrees at 8 PM, with a track temp of 120. It only took three runs to have my coolant temps at 225.

Shaolin Crane

Oil temps? 225 is nothin for these cars for the coolant

buckmeister2

The "track" temp does not figure into DA. Air temp does. If it was 120 air temp...wow!

buckmeister2

Ed, with the temp and humidity, nobody expects great times. Please post what you ran...I did, even though it was not great.

Jim

Corvette_Ed

My best runs of the night ran between 13.025 and 13.162.

buckmeister2

Hey, man, that's great under those conditions. Congratultions!

Corvette_Ed

Thank you !!

I knew the heat and humidity were going to be a huge factor so I said from the start that I'd be happy with low 13's. I pretty much nailed that, and was very happy with the few wins I managed. I had a lot of fun, and met some new friends, which are the most important things!!

sstonebreaker

Yes, I mean the air temp on the starting line. We were all pulling 2.1 to 2.3 60 ft times, due to the ECM's pulling so much timing. I am happy to report that the $80 I spent on race gas was worth it. I went from 108 mph with no race gas to 112 mph with race gas. Unfortunately traction was an issue for all of us - these motors just make too much torque for street tires, and I'm running Bridgestone Potenza RE-11's, which are considered "streetable competition" by tire rack, as they only have a 200 wear rating.

My best run of the night was a 13.0 at 112 mph, but that included a 2.3 60 ft time. I figure I could have cut at least half a second off my ET with drag radials. Maybe more, but I'm still not too familiar with launching a manual trans car. Had the car been an automatic with drag radials, I'm confident the car would be capable of a 1.6 60 ft even in those conditions. I've run mid 12's at 106 before in my impala, so I know the power's there for low 12's, even in those miserable conditions. I'm planning on going back in either November or February and we'll see what the car's capable of in decent air.

Corvette_Ed

I just checked the track schedule, and the last street night for the year is next month on the 17th. After that no more are scheduled until next year. The previous track owners would keep things going well into November, but it seems the new owners aren't into the street nights as much.

sstonebreaker

Not surprising. With only 30 or 40 cars showing up, they aren't making much money. I'll try again in February.

z06clif

thats why you should always bring clean underwear...lol

Clif