Here we go! The track was a mob scene with well over 300 cars for the Dover Drag Strip 8th reunion. Nice air but headwind again! Flag was blowing straight out at times. The track surface was excellent. Scale stated car was 3850 with me and third tank of fuel.
Pass one: 12.11 at 112.8 MPH 1.78ST SLICKS 16 psi
Right out of the box the car hooks and cranks off a 12.1 likes its nothing.
Pass two: 12.13 at 112.3 MPH 1.78ST SLICKS 16 psi
Advanced timing 2 degrees, car goes "nah bro, you had it spot on the first time" set it back to where it was. Looking at the crowded lanes it was time to turn the bottle on, 52/52 jets.
Pass three: 11.08 at 121.59 MPH 1.62 ST SLICKS 16 psi
Car comes out of the hole like a beast, treed the guy in the left lane and it turns into a real race at the top end where he just reels me in at the stripe, It was close!
Track official at the end of the track rather irate about cars sudden increase in acceleration, stern warning indicated. Since I have to come back in 2 weeks with a different car felt further shenanigans best avoided.
Pass four: 12.09 at 113.1 MPH 1.78ST SLICKS 16 psi
Changed metering one step richer since the air was cool, car said "I like that" and gave up another tenth and mph to the cause.
Pass four: 12.09 at 113.09 MPH 1.78ST SLICKS 16 psi
Changed metering rods again, pulled bottle out of car, made sure glovebox and ashtray were emptied, pulled the floormats, bumped up the slicks 2 pounds, bumped the front tires 5 pounds and went to the bathroom for good measure. 11.99 was right there....
Pass four: 12.09 at 113.09 MPH 1.80ST SLICKS 18 psi
And I blew it. Instead of focusing on running the car at its best like I had done most of the day I had started casting an eye on the tree trying to improve my light. Came out of the hole soft as I was not on the converter enough and pulled the worst ST of the day a 1.80.
Took one look at the packed staging lanes and headed home.
Only disappointment of the day was malfunction of the dash cam as it overwrote the 11.0 pass!
Here is what the last pass of the day looked like via dash cam:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1F7FkuC4j0Next time I'll just leave the camera on and let it record the whole day, it has enough on-board storage for 14 hours of footage.
All in all I'm pleased; The car ran flawless and ran quicker than it has ever gone even though it is running an engine built back in 1992 with iron factory heads and chunky TRW forged slugs. The tune was pretty much spot on, its heavier than "back in the day" since it now has factory bumper up front (fiberglass unit with aluminum brackets hanging on wall now) the ultralight weld racing wheels are on the shelf and the crusty 2" Hooker headers were replaced with a set of Summit Racing $110 1.75" tube headers.
Not bad for an old street rat.
I'm actually considering doing some work on the car and running it up to the 11.49 mark. A fresh short block with pistons that don't weigh 5 pounds apiece and some aluminum heads would do wonders... hmm.. Got a set of them just sitting on the shelf..
The GTX's weak point as it sits is the converter in my opinion. Its just a stock 340 unit that was tossed in as an experiment back in 1995 and its been in there ever since! When 1000 CFM of AFB's pop open on the line the car is a little soft out of the hole till the rpm comes up a touch and then it comes on like gangbusters. A looser converter or even a 2.74 first gearset would help it snap out of the hole with a bit more authority.
Thanks for everyone who chimed in! Was a great weekend and now I have 2 other cars to get ready to go in the next few weeks before season ends.
Gary
