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So 32v and I decided to make a trip to 42 today for a little grudge racing betweeen the Saturn and Silverado. After a little confrontation we had with these too vehicles after I got my exhaust done, there has been some question as to who's quicker. Knowing the truck's best was around 16.30, it was definitely questionable that the little 1.9l could hang with the all aluminum 5.3.

Round 1:
Silverado - 16.32 @ 85.54
Saturn - 16.20 @ 86.37

Launching the Saturn proved relatively difficulty, but not the end of the world. My 60' on pass one - 2.57 to the truck's 2.47. With similarly slow reaction times, round one went to the Saturn.

Round 2:
Silverado - 16.34 @ 85.05
Saturn - 16.18 @ 86.20

I treed the Silverado by a little over a tenth, had identical 60' times (2.53), and was able to get through all my shift for another narrow victory.

Round 3:
Silverado - 16.20 @ 87.51
Saturn - 15.91 @ 86.50

The Silverado treed me by about .15 so I'm in the hole from the beginning. 32v tried manually shifting at a higher RPM, which kept him in 2nd thru the traps, and had his best 60' time of 2.44. He also folded in his mirrors for less drag, giving him his best ever ET with the big red truck. Fortunately for me, I also had my best 60' at 2.42, and was able to crack into the 15's with the big red beast realing me in at the end of the track for our closest race of the day with a difference of only .149 sec at the line.

Round 4:
Silverado - 16.46 @ 86.74
Saturn - 16.15 @ 86.20

We had nearly identical reaction times and very similarly slow 60' times, and the truck was ALL OVER ME until 32v hit the rev limiter shifting from 1-2 giving me a break.

The weather was very nice. About 55 degrees with some sun. Not perfect for great numbers, but still respectable, and we had a great time racing our slow cars. I think if 32v were about 12 gal of fuel lighter (he had a LOT of extra gas), and dropped his spare and tool bag, he'd have been scraping the 15's too.

We definitely had a bunch of fun on a nice day, and the drive there and back was pretty nice too.

-BP

What a great way to celebrate Basement's 38th birthday (almost Oct. 28th).
Since this was totally spur of the moment, the Silverado's 26.5 gallon gas tank was full when I left home.
All the runs were close and that third pass was the truck's best ever, so the Saturn picked a good time
to run in the 15's. Because of time constains, BP and I had to leave. Mostmint was in the 14 teens at 100mph
and stayed for eliminations. He made it to the semis.


We were going bananas. Really don't need a left head light.

I took a picture of the 68 Camaro because I had one. Would you believe someone was racing a Maverick?
Silverado vs Saturn, we'll race anything.

+2 MPH by simply folding the mirrors in??? Impressive!

Sounds like you guys had a real fun day. I'm hoping Nov 7th at TRP has equally good weather.

-Dave

Sounds like a fun day. That's a monstous scoop on the Maverick. Must be hard to see with those things.

It was a blast. Hadn't raced more than time runs in a long time.

Here is how it went:

Time runs:
ET @ MPH, 60', reaction time
14.50 @ 99.38, 2.21, .041
14.14 @ 99.59, 2.26, -.014
14.24 @ 100.23, 2.32, .121

I recorded all 3 of these on the laptop.

On the first pass I lost .05 in the first 60' and another .25 from 60' to 330'. I actually felt the tires break free there and lost a bunch of time. First time for everything I guess.

After that it was time to race. I had hoped for another time run but there were too many broken car/track cleanup and I had to bail out of the staging lanes for test'n tune to get to the gamblers race. I was really on the fence since I was still not too comfortable with the car. But they announced that next week is the last week and so I was pretty sure this was it for 2009 - at least at 42, so I went for it.

The race was 1/8 mile. Practice 1/8 times were 9.53, 9.24, 9.34. What to dial? After some deliberation I settled on 9.24. On the third pass I had tried again w/o traction control so I went back to the second pass for my number. I felt I could run it hard and not break out at 9.24. BTW I was the second slowest car in the class - the other was an old street rod running 9.90's - the only two cars on street tires. There were 40 cars. at race time I put away the laptop - "use the force Luke"

Round 1 was a good one.
Cut a .023 light and ran 9.27 on a 9.24 with a 2.20 60' and a slight lift at the end. Competition was a 68 Camaro running 6.70's. I was quite pleased I decided to race it after all.

Round 2 got some help
Managed a .097 light but ran 9.30 on a 9.23 dial. The Mustang red lighted -.099

Round 3 odd event
A car from pass before mine was real slow to exit the racetrack - it was a gen 4 Firebird - just some old guy slowing up the program. So the starter was holding us till he left shutdown. Well I got impatient and staged, and the other guy was sitting in pre-stage. Suddenly the lights came down and I went. Awful reaction time, traction control off too. Let off the gas at the end since the other guy never left. Turns out the timing system starts the bulbs down 10 seconds after the first car is staged and the other is in the pre-stage. Lesson: Always pay attention to the starter.

Anyway they let us both through to the next round.

Round 4 another good one
Double breakout. I had a .06 light and he had a .09 light and my 9.22 on a 9.25 was less than his 7.31 on 7.35

Now there's four cars left.

Round 5 not good
Well the clock was striking 12 and the magic ran out. Cut a .118 light, again forgot to turn the traction control on, and ran 9.44 on a 9.22 dial. Not good enough. the time between passes was getting shorter here and I probably gave up some there also.

But I got $30 for making the semis.

Lots of people came were interested in the car. Overall I was surprised how many people said something about it. The cashier at the gate remarked what a pretty car it was. ("I bet you say that to all the drivers" I thought). The GTO guy said it was strange seeing the engine in there "sideways". One guy with a 68 Camaro came up and told me that on the burnouts I was dragging the rear tires and pulling rubber up off the track. I thought that was cool. Most were impressed the big heavy car was that fast.

I think there may be another tenth if I could get the launch and everything right. I tried octane boost and the temp was cooler than last time. These things did not succeed in improving my times this time.

Finally got the rubber off the SS - most of it anyway