Up until today, my PB was 12.758 @ 112.79 which was ran in + 800 DA a couple of weeks ago at Royal Purple Raceway.
Mods.are lower control arms, line lock, MGW shifter, GT 500 mufflers, and FRPP tune.
No doubt, I've not been highly thrilled with the FRPP conservative tune, however (at this time) I'm playing it safe with the possibility of losing my drivetrain warranty with another tune. I've also posted since day 1 my problems learning how to race with a manual versus an automatic (http://www.svtperformance.com/forum...irst-trip-track-baytown-texas-manual-car.html). As one who's come from the GM world and automatics (2005 Pontiac GTO, 2009 Corvette, 2009 Pontiac G8 GXP) this taking the manual down the quarter is far more difficult than any automatic ever was. I'm at the point I don't care who I'm racing and I don't care if what kind of reaction time I have. It's me versus my car, not me versus the other lane. That will come with more seat time.
At this point, I've probably made around 25 passes at Royal Purple Raceway (RPR) and about 5 passes at Evadale (about 15 miles north of Vidor, Texas).
So today is the first time Evadale has been open since last year, and some of my buddies have always told me that unlike RPR, you can almost run back to back. Well, that's not completely true, however I made passes at 13:15, 13:24, 14:13, 14:50 and 21:04. The reason the long time between 14:50 and 21:04 is that I left and drove around 50 miles to a casino in Lake Charles, lost $100 at the craps table, got a $35 buffet and drove back out. I got back around 17:30 and waited in line until 21:04 due to track shutdowns.
Anyway, let's see if the Old_Goat has learned anything about his car that he didn't know last time.
Well, as a matter of fact, I did. I had usually ran with traction control off or advance track off (where you hold the traction control button down for 8 seconds). I read somewhere that you should hit the traction control button twice quickly that puts you in advance track sport mode. Until today I'd never ran in this mode before.
So, let's see what happened. DA, right at +928.
12.555 @ 112.90............1.926 was the 60 foot time
A brand spanking personal best by .2 over last time. Same mods, air pressure in the Pirelli stock 235 x 18 tires was 25 pounds. Seat of the pants told me this was a good run, but you never really know until you read the slip. I was in the right hand lane. I tried to make every launch at around 2500 rpm and shift at around 6800-7000 rpm. First ever 1.9XX on the 60 foot time.
Well, lets' circle right back and make another run, but in the left lane. As I'm still learning the car and the shift/launch technique, I'm not overly concerned with the engine temp. Corrected time was around 12.444, but I don't count corrected time, only what the slip says.
13.393 @ 110.89............2.299 was the 60 foot time Apparently I launched way too high, spinning ain't winning. Let's forget this crappy run and do another one. I don't know if it's me or the lane, but I'm staying away from the left hand lane for the rest of the night. Most likely it's me. I can see one lane a bit better than the other, but not worth .37 on the 60 foot time.
Boy, I'm not liking this a bit at all. I let the car cool down for a while and make this run about an hour later.
12.600 @ 112.87............2.000 was the 60 foot time Yea, another one better than the PB before today.
Time to make one more pass, the DA on this one was around +835.
12.559 @ 111.83............1.945 was the 60 foot time It looks like another really great run.
Time to take a break and see how long it takes for the casino to get the $100 I had allotted for the craps table. Well, it took around 10 minutes, and then I bought a buffet and ate a nice big dinner. Back to the track to make two or more passes. Well, shades of RPR with several shut downs. The track was supposed to shut down at 8pm, but that never happened. I made my last pass at 21:04 and the car was about as cool as it gets. DA was right at +73, however the humidity was around 94% which is terrible.
12.533 @ 110.54............1.933 was the 60 foot time A new personal best. The run felt better than the other runs that day, I mean the car was just jumping. I know it was only .02 better than the first run, but it felt a lot better than the first one.
Conclusion, I'm very happy. Imagine this, I'm learning the car, learning the manual, learning the launch techniques.........and if you throw out the one terrible run, I made 4 runs from between 12.533 and 12.600, which means I made four runs within .067 of each other. Not bad at all.
Mods.are lower control arms, line lock, MGW shifter, GT 500 mufflers, and FRPP tune.
No doubt, I've not been highly thrilled with the FRPP conservative tune, however (at this time) I'm playing it safe with the possibility of losing my drivetrain warranty with another tune. I've also posted since day 1 my problems learning how to race with a manual versus an automatic (http://www.svtperformance.com/forum...irst-trip-track-baytown-texas-manual-car.html). As one who's come from the GM world and automatics (2005 Pontiac GTO, 2009 Corvette, 2009 Pontiac G8 GXP) this taking the manual down the quarter is far more difficult than any automatic ever was. I'm at the point I don't care who I'm racing and I don't care if what kind of reaction time I have. It's me versus my car, not me versus the other lane. That will come with more seat time.
At this point, I've probably made around 25 passes at Royal Purple Raceway (RPR) and about 5 passes at Evadale (about 15 miles north of Vidor, Texas).
So today is the first time Evadale has been open since last year, and some of my buddies have always told me that unlike RPR, you can almost run back to back. Well, that's not completely true, however I made passes at 13:15, 13:24, 14:13, 14:50 and 21:04. The reason the long time between 14:50 and 21:04 is that I left and drove around 50 miles to a casino in Lake Charles, lost $100 at the craps table, got a $35 buffet and drove back out. I got back around 17:30 and waited in line until 21:04 due to track shutdowns.
Anyway, let's see if the Old_Goat has learned anything about his car that he didn't know last time.
Well, as a matter of fact, I did. I had usually ran with traction control off or advance track off (where you hold the traction control button down for 8 seconds). I read somewhere that you should hit the traction control button twice quickly that puts you in advance track sport mode. Until today I'd never ran in this mode before.
So, let's see what happened. DA, right at +928.
12.555 @ 112.90............1.926 was the 60 foot time
A brand spanking personal best by .2 over last time. Same mods, air pressure in the Pirelli stock 235 x 18 tires was 25 pounds. Seat of the pants told me this was a good run, but you never really know until you read the slip. I was in the right hand lane. I tried to make every launch at around 2500 rpm and shift at around 6800-7000 rpm. First ever 1.9XX on the 60 foot time.
Well, lets' circle right back and make another run, but in the left lane. As I'm still learning the car and the shift/launch technique, I'm not overly concerned with the engine temp. Corrected time was around 12.444, but I don't count corrected time, only what the slip says.
13.393 @ 110.89............2.299 was the 60 foot time Apparently I launched way too high, spinning ain't winning. Let's forget this crappy run and do another one. I don't know if it's me or the lane, but I'm staying away from the left hand lane for the rest of the night. Most likely it's me. I can see one lane a bit better than the other, but not worth .37 on the 60 foot time.
Boy, I'm not liking this a bit at all. I let the car cool down for a while and make this run about an hour later.
12.600 @ 112.87............2.000 was the 60 foot time Yea, another one better than the PB before today.
Time to make one more pass, the DA on this one was around +835.
12.559 @ 111.83............1.945 was the 60 foot time It looks like another really great run.
Time to take a break and see how long it takes for the casino to get the $100 I had allotted for the craps table. Well, it took around 10 minutes, and then I bought a buffet and ate a nice big dinner. Back to the track to make two or more passes. Well, shades of RPR with several shut downs. The track was supposed to shut down at 8pm, but that never happened. I made my last pass at 21:04 and the car was about as cool as it gets. DA was right at +73, however the humidity was around 94% which is terrible.
12.533 @ 110.54............1.933 was the 60 foot time A new personal best. The run felt better than the other runs that day, I mean the car was just jumping. I know it was only .02 better than the first run, but it felt a lot better than the first one.
Conclusion, I'm very happy. Imagine this, I'm learning the car, learning the manual, learning the launch techniques.........and if you throw out the one terrible run, I made 4 runs from between 12.533 and 12.600, which means I made four runs within .067 of each other. Not bad at all.
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