TRP 6/18/08

[Fred32v]

Conditions were very nice for June, high 50's, slight tail wind. Basement Paul brought his '79 TransAm out to TRP for its' maiden voyage.
The 'bird was running 13.20's, over 102. Very good for the first time out. Tiresmoke was smoking again, 12.30's over 109.
The STS-V had a best run of 13.45 over 105.
All three of us lost in the first round of Animal. Basement Paul and Tiresmoke bought in to the "!st Round Loser's Bracket".
Eventually Tiresmoke and Basement eliminated others so they were paired up. Basement prevailed with a better light and
continued on to get the Class trophy and a $25 Summit Gift certificate.

Burnout Smoke Still lingering..............................Wisper of smoke....................................Trophy and $$$$$$


Always a good time at TRP!

[Basement Paul]

Actually, Tiresmoker treed me a little in the semifinals of the loser's race, but his car had some technical difficulties, so I won with a 13.29 on a 13.23 dial on the brakes.

Funny thing though...apparently my gas gauge isn't too accurate as even though it was showing just barely below 1/4 tank, I made it about .5 mile from home when it sputtered a few times and quit. So my wife came to the rescue by getting my gas can, going to the convenience store (driving by me on the way), getting gas, and rescuing me at 10pm at night. That was nice of her, and she didn't really even complain about it!

I didn't look, but I wonder who won the hot dog...

-BP

[markss327]

Awesome !!!
Glad to see the new 'bird didn't have any 'at track' issues. Way to go BP. Hope that pesky belt issue has been resolved.
What are your 60 footers?
Tiresmoker, damn those technical difficulties. But 12.30s is killer!
And the STS-V guy, has the best of both worlds....

The Nova goes in tonight for X pipe, new Dynomax 'super turbos', and 2.5in, over the axle.

Are we all in for June 25th?

[Fred32v]

Basement Paul's 13.55 guess was nearest the 13.20's. My nearer to 100 than 106 was correct.

[TireSmoker]

All the ET guess are on page 4 of the '79 T/A's project thread.

I had an interesting night. Just after getting through the square in Chardon, my car started spitting quite a bit of smoke out the exhaust. It sounded fine, it felt fine, but plenty of smoke, somewhat intermittent, mostly from the passenger side. I pulled over and checked the oil and it looked OK. I had started to turn around to head home, but a quick call to Paul convinced to me continue out there. I decided that there'd be a good brain-trust out there to help me determine the problem. By the time I got to the track, it wasn't smoking anymore. I took a chance and decided to run it. First pass was a 12.40 @ 109, so it was right where it should've been. I kept running the car.

Went out in the first round with my first redlight of the season -- and what a waste, as I ran 12.348 on a 12.34 dial.

It ran pretty well, although I started getting some stumbling in the middle of my runs, something it hasn't done before. It was at its worst during my loser's bracket semifinal against Paul-- it wouldn't shift to third and and I had to pedal it real quick, resulting in a 12.6x @ 107. My .088 light wasn't enough against his .095 (I think) as I ran almost .3 off my dial (12.34)

Mike Rowell also brought his '05 Ducati Monster 800 out, his first time racing it, and I believe his first trip to TRP in 15-20 years. He managed a best of 12.79 @ 104 and had a blast running down the track. He too lost in the first round, trying to chase down a dirt bike dialed 5+ seconds slower.

The weather was near perfect, there were hardly any cars, and we were all packing up to head home before the sun was down (everybody, not just us 1st round losers!)

-Dave

[Fred32v]

Driver not paying attention, w/shifter in D, not sD, and no traction, 3/4 tank of gas,
I was dutifully rewarded with my worst run of the night, 2.21 60 ft,
13.85 @ 99.42 mph. How is it possible to be disappointed,
when in years past I would have been really excited with those numbers?
Overall, it was a super fun night,
then I turned on the XM for a little BlueGrass and enjoyed the ride home.

[Basement Paul]

I learned a few things from the outing. I still need to do something about the belt. It rolled over one time, so I rolled it back, and really tightened it up, and no problems after that, although I did see a little more rubber debris. I'm hoping an idler pulley in the system will fix the long pull from the crank to the alternator.

I learned that opening up the exhaust did absolutely nothing but make the car louder, and quite frankly, it didn't sound as good as it does when the exhaust is closed.

I learned that I can't do a good burnout. The tires grip just enough to override the front brakes. The solution to this is line lock, which will be one of the next upgrades. I think the lack of heat in the tires made it hard to really get aggressive off the line. All my best 60ft times came with me pushing relatively slowly into the gas initially then mashing it after the car gets moving and even then it would spin a little. It never would spin uncontrollably though.

Here's my best timeslip:

60ft - 1.879
330ft - 5.471
594ft - 7.920
1/8 - 8.468 @ 82.15mph
1000ft - 11.049
1/4 - 13.234 @ 102.63mph

Everything on this slip was my best. I think a little glue (there wasn't much last night as there weren't too many cars) and a good burnout, and that 60ft will drop to about a 1.80, this should get me into the teens.

I'd say I'm quite satisfied with the performance of the car. Short of a couple minor issues, I'm calling this project a success as this is my fastest car ever by more than .7 sec and 4 mph.

I think a higher stall converter (this one's good for about 1600-1700) and a good set of tires will put the TA well into the 12's, but I'm hoping to be able to tweak into the 12's before the year is over...

-BP

[markss327]

I put a line-lock in the Nova, and never regretted it. Button is on the shifter. It makes doing burnouts - safe, so to speak. Definitely, more controllable.

Mash the brakes
Hit the button
Ratchet in low
Release brakes
Mash the gas - maintain 5000rpm
Ratchet into second - maintain 5000rpm
Release the button
Roll out about 10 feet
Lift
Stage car

Yea, we all know how to do this, but it was fun putting it in print.

[Basement Paul]

I thought there were a few videos taken that night, does anybody have any?

-BP

[TireSmoker]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcdSfzcuGGc

I've got more, maybe 3-4 more with your car, just havent posted them yet.

-Dave

The stats on that run;
STS_V 2.09 60', 13.45. 105
T/A 2.03 60' 13.47, 101.8
ultimately T/A previaled for the day with that 13.23 pass.

-Fred32v

[Fred32v]

Sunday at TRP 08/03/08 Ford vs GM. There were a few tiresmokers there. Only Kevin was very fast,
TheRookie was second fastest with his newly acquired '89 Formula, with a few runs in the low 14.50's
well into the 90's. My '05 1500 vs BP's Thunderbird, the Ford prevailed. On our heads up run,
I ran a worst of the day 16.61 at 85.00, while the T-bird ran a steady 16.50, 84.45.
The Thunderbird ran a best 16.33, but in eliminations an on-the-brakes brakeout run at 16.38
on a 16.49 dial sent him home. The 05 1500 had its' best pass in eliminations
with a 16.31 at 86.46 but a -.01 light ended my day.



The little Blue car went 10.71, unfortunately I missed the speed.
I've posted the video on youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xckuPc5fZ3o&feature=user

ALWAYS a great time at TRP, especially when nothings broken at the end of the day!

[wxo]

Way to go, Rookie!! The ol' gal looks real good with tiresmoke trailing out the back. She's runnin' as good as ever.

[TheRookie]

There was a whole lotta 'getting used to the car' going on that day. It's ok to launch in 2, but D is no good. Definitely need to heat the tires up a bit. Just need to load it a little or too much spin. Those sort of things. Here's my best time slip of the day. I did have a few 60' in the 2.05 range.