First Trip to Drag Strip

[Gopher]

Thanks to Dave Smith and the great people at Factory Five my first trip to the Drag Strip happened this Saturday. The headers I needed to showed up Friday thanks Jessie. I needed a stock set for the custom set from Stainless Headers are back for a modification .I'm also working with them on making a mock up set of headers that owners can adjust to make fit your car .Adjustment like length, positioning to straighten and align side pipes.Once you make your adjustment and lock them down you send the headers back and they make a set to match your changes .
Now drag strip fun .First learning to drive with arm restraints was interesting .Once that was figured out the fun began. I made fourteen passes before being told to please park it and get a full cage in the car. The safety people took a dislike to my last two passes at the end of the day. The car teched without a problem .I have a sfi bellhousing,balancer and drive shaft loops and shields but was warned about the no cage .Double rollbars and a windshield only lets you go so fast no passes under 11.00 seconds. The motor is a All aluminum Windsor based 427. Dart block AFR 225 Outlaw heads,Howard Cams solid roller cam, Hillborn efi stack injection, Callie's billet crank,Crower titainum rods thank you bother inlaw. On the dyno it made 710 hp 683 torque.
The first couple of passes were just launch and shut down or slow pass to get a reading for AF ratio's to see how the dyno tune transfered to the real world. The Five link was adjusted to get the car to leave straight.The tuner that came to the track to help me then started working for real . The 8th pass netted a 10.89 at 136.45 mph on Kumo Ecsta xs tires. The tuner kept saying there's more there yet and went to work on getting the 60 foot times down and I started lifting at half track to keep from getting in trouble with safety people . This is also when we switch tires to a set of Goodyear 26.5 Dia 13 inch wide drag slicks that the tuner brought for me to try. When I get the photo's I will post my first ever wheellie in a car. The second pass with slicks netted a 9.95 at 140 mph . This also brought my last warning from safety people. When talking with Dave Smith on Thursday he gave me some sound driving advice watch third gear because these cars like to start spinning tires then boy was he right smoking the tires at 90 mph was not what I was expecting to happen.
To sum it up it was a great day .My last pass the one that got me told to put it on the trailer and not come back without a cage was a 9.59 at 141.54 running on slicks.This is the fastest I have ever gone in a car. The car was predictable ,responded to adjustments like it should have and given more time I think there's more there yet.The next step is Blackhawk or some other track for testing but first How knows of a good High Performance driving school. While I have raced motorcycles I think it time to go to school .

[Martin]

Sounds like you had a great day. Does 9.59 make your car the fastest ffr on the drag strip?

[Gopher]

I doubt it someone has got to be in the 8s .Better slicks wheelie bars and someone could get there pretty easy.I owe a lot of credit to the friends that help me at the track.Most of them have 40 or 50 years experience and have forgotten more than I'll ever know about chassis setup and driving tips.They were a huge factor in the results. Thanks Dan ,Jim,Justin, Dwight, Thanks All

[Gumball]

Gopher - Good idea getting some on-track instruction. I'm an instructor for a couple of groups, including NASA (National Auto Sports Association) and a couple of local groups that host high-performance driving track-days. There's an event at Road America in a few weeks that is sponsored by Midwest F-Body Association and I think there are still slots available (last weekend in April). I'll be there as one of the group leaders and would be happy to introduce you around and show you how such events work if you'd like to just stop by to check things out either Saturday or Sunday. There is usually a Cobra or two around at these events, so it'd be a good time to get tips that are specific to your situation. In this area, you can really take advantage of these type of events just about every weekend from late April through early October. Tracks that aren't too far include Blackhawk Farms, Road America, Autobahn Country Club, Gingerman, Grattan, and Putnam Park.

PM me if you have questions or want more info.

Here's a shot of me in my most recent car - sold it to a friend last season - at Blackhawk:

http://i845.photobucket.com/albums/ab15/CCRsAC/IMG_0159-1.jpg

[riptide motorsport]

Sweet!!!!!!

[LDave]

Great times!!! How much would to estimate the car makes at the rear wheel? Have you ever weighed the car? Can't wait to see those pics!

[Mike N]

Gopher those are some very impressive times, congratulations! There is a 1/4 mile times thread on the other forum if you are interested. http://www.ffcars.com/forums/36-drag-racing/196696-ffr-time-slips.html You would currently place 3rd on that list behind 2 turbo cars. Again very impressive car you have there and obviously great driving too.

[Gopher]

The scales at the track had me at 2386 lbs with me in the car and less than 1/4 tank of fuel .Passenger seat was not in car no carpet .The body was on but it only in primer doors are fitted as well as trunk deck. I need to modify the hood scoop to clear the air filters I'm using and I have yet to come up with a solution that I really like yet. Jim from Opal Engineering gave me a estimate based on the dyno number the motor made in his shop of 620 to 630 at rear wheels. The slicks made a huge difference also there was 8 alcohol cars doing testing and several times though the day the safety officials stopped running cars to prep the track for the Akly guys .If you could get on the track right after them the traction was amazing as they were using traction compound on the entire quarter mile. While the spool I currently have in the rear end will not work on the street it sure made Saturday fun.
Gumball when I get the car a little farther along I will be talking to you about a driving school .Saturday taught me if it wasn't for the help and knowledge of my friends there would have been no way my car would have preformed the way it did and I don't know as much as I thought I did. Hopefully by the end of the week I'll have the photo's and a video up.

[skullandbones]

Gopher,

Could you include a couple of your time sheets as well with those photos? I would like to see some of your segment times (e.g. 60 ft) etc. Also, you said you didn't know as much as you thought you did. What were some of your biggest surprises of the day? Thanks, WEK.

[Gopher]

To answer Skullandbones :As much as I would like to just scan and post the time slip I can not as there is no scanner were I'm at for the rest of this week .While I have internet that's all . My reasons for going to the strip last weekend were two fold .1 Several of the top Alcohol cars doing there testing were friends that helped during assembly of my car and were willing to donate there time to help with chassis setup.So I only had to pay the dyno tuner for the day. 2.I pushed off the minor surgery on my knee for as long as I could so now I'm at the Mayo Clinic to have Arthoscopic surgery to repair the cartilidge in my left knee. I do have the time slip with me to show my Doc the car runs.Yeah I want to show it off a little. The times are 60 ft 1.33, 330 is 3.80, 660 is 5.93 at 117.20 ,1000 ft 7.92 , ending at 9.59 @141.54 .I only took my best time slip with me .
As for surprises the gentlemen helping correct that doing the chassis set up keep saying how predictable the five link was.In the beginning I was lost as to why Justin did what he did but By the end of the day they had taught even I how to adjust it and why. The same with he fuel injection Jim had already showed me so much when the motor was on the Dyno but now I got to put it to use with him guiding me with questions .That I did not realize I was being taught till late in the day.Dan was doing the same thing with my driving . I had let him make some of the first passes while they sorted out the chassis . He proved to me that the car was faster leaving the line in second gear.The 60 ft times went up but the 330's came down. While this was harder on the twin disc clutch then leaving in first I had no problem with it all day.

[ehansen007]

9s on your first weekend? Holy shnikies! I want video!

[Gopher]

While this might be this cars first its not mine my father ran a B Gasser .I have pictures of me sleeping in a basinett next to the car. He never had the best parts or big time sponsor but he made a lot of friends and taught me a bunch .The biggest thing was don't ever be afraid to ask for help. That what I did I asked a lot of his old friends to look over my changes when building the car and would they help out at the strip.Not one said no .I want to think that my father was looking down and maybe pushing it down the track when no one was looking. It really just started out as a day to get both young and old racing enthusiasts together to see what the car could do. When we learned that it was the last of the alky guys test and tune days we were just lucky as they use traction prep on the whole quarter mile not on just the concrete launch pad.Yes this make my times not look as good because I doubt the traction will as good as it was that Saturday.
Still these guys pulled a lot of tricks out to dial the car in.To watch a 75 year old man arguing with a 35 year old about fuel maps and VE tables and the young punk ending up being proven wrong was funny as hell. At the end of the day we all went home with one big smile and going whens the next time and can we beat this one along with I told you put the cage in while you where building it.I also lost 500.00 buck on a bet .I said that the car may break into the 10's but now way will it do a 9. It was Justin's 75 year old Grandfather that took my money. Now it on to paint and finish.

[LDave]

Any word on the pics? I'm anxious to see some roadster wheelies!

[skullandbones]

Wow. Those are pretty impressive numbers. I can't believe the part about starting in second gear. Do you think you will change the gearing down the road to dial it in even better? Can't wait for the pics, video........... WEK.

[Gopher]

When I left the line in 1st gear all it did was spin the wheels and go up in smoke. In 2nd it bogged a little then hooked up. Working on getting the pics from my friends .I did not get home from hospital till monday and I still have not been cleared to drive yet . But my knee feels good. As for changing gears yea 3.73s are to high for anything but the strip . I know there maybe an argument about that. I'm going to install the 3.31s I have with the True Trac Diff for the street and track days this summer .The spool is great but again its a drag strip only component. I'm looking for the parts to build another complete rear end or somehow adapt the Quick change set up I have the problem is the five link .I guess I could make up a 9 inch with 8.8 ends . Is there anyone who has done a full cage in a roadster .I need some Idea's on building the cage.If anyone has done this pics would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance for any Idea's .