Thompson, Sep 21st

[TireSmoker]

I'm planning to head out to Thompson on Wed the 21st. My friend Jim will be there with his stock '67 SS396/4sp, and *fingers crossed* I'm hoping to have my Chevelle there along with the Corvette. Sure would be neat to see them running down the track together. Tony might be there with his Chevelle too.

BP, Fred32v, GMJohnny, VeeDub.. who's in?

[Fred32v]

Why sure!

[Basement Paul]

I should have the Caddy ready to race by then. I'm in.

-BP

[VeeDub]

I'll go.

[TireSmoker]

I put in floating-holiday request for the 21st and was told I'll probably be in training (to learn Microsoft Exchange), so I probably won't get there as early as I want.

-Dave

[AKROVER]

I'm in. Don't know if I will race anything, but I will be there.

[TireSmoker]

Radar map not looking good. I knew I shouldn't have washed the Corvette today.

-Dave

[Fred32v]

TRP Cancelled due to weather. I said it before, I'll say it again, "I hate rain", it stopped a fun night.

[TireSmoker]

TRP Cancelled due to weather. I said it before, I'll say it again, "I hate rain", it stopped a fun night.

It sure did stop a fun night. Rain was about 4-5 hours too early.

-Dave

[Fred32v]

Rained on the 21st, but Sunday the 25th was T-N-T and no rain, it was humid 77 degrees, a headwind, and not much traction.



Thanks to Smoke for taking the video of GMJohn & I. The Vette is faster but the V still has a better time slip, just not today.
The video was my best pass of the day, not GMJohn's. He did improve his numbers to 12.50's @ 110 somthing.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qztECdV7u0[/youtube]

TRP is always fun, sometimes not as much as others. A couple of passes and we were gone.

[Basement Paul]

I ran the Caddy for the first time since the rearend swap and am happy to report that I made four passes and drove it home. I have a new problem with wheel hop, but it doesn't occur during my burnout, it shows up at about 30 ft up the track. It's bad enough to where I have to lift off the gas pretty hard to get it to stop.

I still have a set of traction bars I bought for my trans AM, I'm going to look into seeing if I can get put something together to keep the axle planted under launch. If that doesn't work out, I'll probably look into ladder bars.

My best pass of the day was a 14.05 at close to 99 mph. My best ever was a 13.70 at 100. My best 60 ft was 2.19, which is well off the 2.0s that I would get before. But the car does feel stronger down track, so I'm confident that if I can pin the rear down, I'll get at least a couple tenths out of all my work once the temp cools down.

Here's a few shots I had time to take:













-BP

[TireSmoker]

That last pic is sooo badass. GMJohnny and I were talking when that guy made one of those launches. Drive to the track, pull wheelies, run mid 10s. Sooooo awesome.

This was my first time out at the track this year, in a car. And it was also the first time ever in the Corvette, my first time with a V8/stick/rear-drive setup. Also my first time I got kicked off the track for a leak. Lots of firsts! The guy told me I was leaking oil pretty bad after my first burnout and made me pull out without making a pass. Fortunately, it just turned out to be a loose hose clamp at the heater core, letting water drip. Easily fixed.

I only made two passes. But I got a respectable first-effort of 14.65 @ 93 MPH and followed up with a 14.67. My exhaust pipes are only 2 or 2 1/4", the carb jetting is out of the box, and the ignition is stock '63 Corvette. Nothing tuned or optimized, so the motor doesn't have great top-end pull. But it's got good bottom and mid-range. I'm satisfied with the number.

For next year, I have a jet kit for the carb and and advance kit for the distributor already. I won't race this thing regularly, but I'll take it out a couple more times to try dialing it in.

After I came home from the track, I put a set of new rotors on my dad's car for him, and then watched the Browns beat the Dolphins on Dad's DVR. A great Sunday all the way around!

-Dave

[TireSmoker]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOv-pNb-z2U[/youtube]

[Basement Paul]

That's a cool video. Your car makes SWEET induction noise!

You do a pretty good job launching and shifting with no tach. Did you notice there was rubber on both of your quarters?

-BP

[TireSmoker]

There's rubber on both sides, but definitely more on the right than the left.

Yeah, the induction noise is pretty sweet. I'd love to race it more, but its probably not a good idea.

-Dave