Posted By: feets
A newbie goes to the Texas Mile - 03/24/24 02:26 AM
I made it to the Mile!
Lacking any fast Mopars I loaded up my Mercedes CL65 and headed south for the weekend. I had a goal in mind of running 29.6 seconds and 172 mph at the Texas Mile. Now, they don't track ET so I brought my Dragy along to do that. It was pretty helpful.
Friday morning found me in the tech line as it opened then immediately going to the grid for my licensing pass. I had to keep it between 140 and 160 mph. That's when I found out that the first 300 feet were going to be tough. Walking it out of the hole still blew the tires off and I was pedaling through 65 mph. The quarter was a slow 117 mph but 143 in the half was encouraging. Sadly, I had to back out and held 149 mph through the mile. It gave me a good feel for the 3000+ feet of shut down area. When it was all said and done I took my timing ticket to registration, told them I had been a good boy and asked if I could go play with the other kids. They issued me a Class B license that allows me to run 199.9 mph.
There was 1-1/2 to 2 hours between runs but I managed 4 more passes that day. I reduced air pressure and tried different ways of pedaling but that first 300 or so feet of track just would not hook. My 0-60 times were off. 60-130 was hovering around 2 seconds slower than normal. 1/4 mile speeds were hovering around 117 mph instead of my normal 120. However, once it hooked up the little car would boogie.
4 passes all saw speeds between 169.6 and 170.1 mph.
Today (Saturday) it was a friggin zoo. The number of cars doubled. I was able to go straight to the grid and got an early pass. I left my stuff in the trunk for ballast in an attempt to find traction. It was a better but I was still pedaling more than I liked. Much like the others, I ran 143 in the 1/2 and 169.8 in the mile.
As the day got hot and the winds shifted to head on I made another pass. The car hooked better and I tried shifting a bit shorter to use some of the fat torque this thing makes. The results were inconclusive due to the head wind. I had my slowest 1/2 mile and only managed 168.1 in the mile.
All the other drivers I spoke to sain they were down on speed, too. I parked it and helped a friend get herself settled for an attempt at 170.
Mother Nature won again and we called it an early day.
Tomorrow morning might be OK in the cool air and reduced crowd but by late morning we're supposed to have 20+ mph headwind and it'll be time to go home.
There were a lot of friendly folks about and a lot of neat cars. Maybe I'll come back and try it again after I do a tune and a couple other things to the car
I wonder what the standing mile record for an Imperial might be...
Lacking any fast Mopars I loaded up my Mercedes CL65 and headed south for the weekend. I had a goal in mind of running 29.6 seconds and 172 mph at the Texas Mile. Now, they don't track ET so I brought my Dragy along to do that. It was pretty helpful.
Friday morning found me in the tech line as it opened then immediately going to the grid for my licensing pass. I had to keep it between 140 and 160 mph. That's when I found out that the first 300 feet were going to be tough. Walking it out of the hole still blew the tires off and I was pedaling through 65 mph. The quarter was a slow 117 mph but 143 in the half was encouraging. Sadly, I had to back out and held 149 mph through the mile. It gave me a good feel for the 3000+ feet of shut down area. When it was all said and done I took my timing ticket to registration, told them I had been a good boy and asked if I could go play with the other kids. They issued me a Class B license that allows me to run 199.9 mph.
There was 1-1/2 to 2 hours between runs but I managed 4 more passes that day. I reduced air pressure and tried different ways of pedaling but that first 300 or so feet of track just would not hook. My 0-60 times were off. 60-130 was hovering around 2 seconds slower than normal. 1/4 mile speeds were hovering around 117 mph instead of my normal 120. However, once it hooked up the little car would boogie.
4 passes all saw speeds between 169.6 and 170.1 mph.
Today (Saturday) it was a friggin zoo. The number of cars doubled. I was able to go straight to the grid and got an early pass. I left my stuff in the trunk for ballast in an attempt to find traction. It was a better but I was still pedaling more than I liked. Much like the others, I ran 143 in the 1/2 and 169.8 in the mile.
As the day got hot and the winds shifted to head on I made another pass. The car hooked better and I tried shifting a bit shorter to use some of the fat torque this thing makes. The results were inconclusive due to the head wind. I had my slowest 1/2 mile and only managed 168.1 in the mile.
All the other drivers I spoke to sain they were down on speed, too. I parked it and helped a friend get herself settled for an attempt at 170.
Mother Nature won again and we called it an early day.
Tomorrow morning might be OK in the cool air and reduced crowd but by late morning we're supposed to have 20+ mph headwind and it'll be time to go home.
There were a lot of friendly folks about and a lot of neat cars. Maybe I'll come back and try it again after I do a tune and a couple other things to the car
I wonder what the standing mile record for an Imperial might be...
