Drove the old Plymouth to Lapeer yesterday and made a few eighth mile test and tune passes. About a 45 minute drive.
It had been many years since I had run it at the track and I've got to tell you, it felt really good to get it out again.
Brought my 15 year old stepson, younger of two, to hopefully corrup...I mean influence him even more.
I had never run eighth mile before and I dug it.
I didn't set any new personal records but the car ran really well and was consistent.
In fact it was so consistent, after I made the second change to the car I saw how it was going to be so I decided to just drive it
after that.
It ran 7.15, 7.16, 7.17, 7.17.
My R/Ts, although far from competitive, weren't horribly bad for an aging out of practice street guy.
I must have been wound up, because the first one of the day was the best.
.0128
.549
.042
.048
I had the only Mopar there at the time, lol.
Analysis?
60 foot times were a little bit mushy at 1.66, 1.67, 1.68, 1.68
It had wheel spin: Really not good. Maybe a turn or two, I would guess?
Maybe someone more well versed than me can tell from the video.
Made a couple changes, saw no change in the time slips, so that was that.
My last pass I decided to try a longer burnout, didn't make any difference. Didn't really expect it to, either.
But, it did look and sound cool...and someone got video of it
so..whatever LOL.
The many compliments the car got, given it's rough appearance, was cool. And Sam was surprised by those.
A few understand it's a luxury to not be afraid to lean on the fenders and so on.
The underlying point of it, that I sometimes get across is....I've never been a slave to it, it's always
served me first and done a good job. Someday I will give it that long overdue attention.
That day may come later than intended, but life happens.
Three best questions and comments from Sam:
"Where do you know all these people from?"
(He meant the people who just come up and talk, like you've known them for years.
Welcome to the brotherhood.)
"You seem to leave a really long time before the light turns green! Why do you do that?"
"Don't take this the wrong way, but I was kind of surprised how good the GTX did"
Lots of quality time spent and he initiated alot of the discussions like those.
I didn't have to work to keep him engaged.
This is a good sign
When done we loaded the car up, and drove it back home with no problems.
Just a huge smile on my face, glad to get it out and pound on it again.
After we came home and I got it parked back in the shop, I checked my Hoosier cheater slicks because I had
forgotten how old they were. The date code explained an awful lot....I'm a little embarrassed by how old they are.
Pics, vids, and stuff like that to follow.
Thanks for reading
