In the 10's...Again and Won My First Race! [Archive] - Chevelle Tech

: In the 10's...Again and Won My First Race!


kjett
Oct 12th, 03, 11:17 PM
Well, after my hiatus from the 10's I'm back. Ran in the semi-annual Georgia F-Body association Fall Shootout at Silver Dollar Raceway today. What a great event. Best pass of the day was as follows:

60' - 1.539
330' - 4.428
660' - 6.875
MPH - 100.09
1000' - 9.000
1320 - 10.810
MPH - 124.29

Made 7 passes, all in the 10.81-10.94 range with the exception of two passes where I was on the brakes in the X-Class bracket finals and 1 pass where I tried the transbrake (read below). I weighed my car for the first time since adding the cage, weld wheels and skinnies (replacing steel Rally wheels/BFG radials). Much to my surprise the car only weighed 3,480lbs :eek: It weighed 3,680 with me in it. The car is all steel. Only weight savings are aluminum heads, radiator, intake, heater delete, radio delete, and one race seat on the drivers side. I reinstalled the factory bucket on the passenger's side because I couldn't stand the sight of a stripped out interior. I felt like removing the passenger seat was, for me, cheating (no offense to anyone that has done this in their ride, just wasn't for me). So reinstalling the factory bucket added 44lbs back.

The Density altitude today was just under 2,000'. We were also running into a 15 MPH headwind/crosswind all day. Can't wait to see how it runs at Bristol next week. Definitely see some 10.7's, most likely some 10.6's.

For those wondering what I did to get my 60' times to come back down:

- replaced 29x10 Hoosier D05 compound slicks that had 75 passes with 28x10.5 MT ET Drag "S" series (stiff sidewall) slicks. The stiff sidewall really seems to help. Maybe a similar effect to a radial slick?

- Lowered the front coilovers so that the front end is 2" lower than the rear as measured at the wheel well. I now have 5.5"-6" of travel on the front end. I verified this by putting a floor jack under the front of the car and jacking it up to just before the tires began to lift off the ground, taking measurements at the bumper at both normal and elevated heights.

- Set front coilover shocks (Hal 12 Ways) to 1st position (full soft).

- Set rear shocks (Hal 12 ways) on 3rd position. I had been previously running them at 6-7 clicks. I just wasn't seeing the separation in the chassis that I thought I should be using no-hop bars. I may even go one click softer yet on the next outing.

- 17.5lbs in right rear bag, 8lbs in left.

Granted 1.5x 60' times aren't stellar, but it's decent for my car. Car looked really good, although no air. In reviewing the video frame by frame this evening I see one iteration of bounce after the initial front end rise. This tells me I need to slow ever so slightly the rise of the front end. That's very easy to do I will put the front shocks on the second position.

I tried launching on the transbake on a time run today. Car hit the tires super hard. As soon as I released the transbrake switch (on the shifter handle, Cheetah SCS), the car launched and the G-force caused me to shift into second right away :mad: Rookie mistake. I will try the transbrake again next week at Bristol.

This event is really for the Camaro/Firebird/Trans Am guys, but they also have bracket races for Vettes (Y Body?) and Everything else (X-Class). There were only 7 X class cars so I only had to go three rounds but I won smile.gif No cash, but they did give me a real nice trophy. I thought it was pretty cool.

It's late, I'll try and post some video tomorrow.

ejrempel
Oct 12th, 03, 11:30 PM
Glad you had fun!

mr 4 speed
Oct 12th, 03, 11:33 PM
Nice job..congrats on a few more 10 second timeslips :cool: graemlins/thumbsup.gif

Bob West
Oct 12th, 03, 11:39 PM
Congrats Ken...way to go graemlins/thumbsup.gif

DragRacer
Oct 12th, 03, 11:40 PM
Congratulations Ken... graemlins/thumbsup.gif

JOHN WILSON
Oct 12th, 03, 11:50 PM
Very nice! Congrats on the win. Here's to some 60's in better air. graemlins/beers.gif

vonswanko
Oct 13th, 03, 6:44 AM
Great job Ken :cool:

Have you checked the pinion angle as you lowered the car?Got any pics of the angle of the front u-joint?

Rob

10secBu
Oct 13th, 03, 7:31 AM
Congrats on the win Ken...glad to hear those 10 second passes continue graemlins/thumbsup.gif .

blaauboer
Oct 13th, 03, 8:08 AM
Very nice Ken........Do you feel the 28's hurt at all from the 29's........Glad to see all worked out for you........

My solid will me all in by the weekend.....I will run as soon as I can........Just two weeks left so it's gonna be all or nothing......

Scott.

Georgia69
Oct 13th, 03, 8:40 AM
Way to go Ken!

JUNK YARD DOG
Oct 13th, 03, 8:57 AM
alright ken,that was a hell of a recovery.now you are ready to wear them out in bristol

427L88
Oct 13th, 03, 9:03 AM
graemlins/thumbsup.gif Superb!!!!

JIM
Oct 13th, 03, 9:14 AM
Congrats to you on a sucessful day graemlins/thumbsup.gif

BigRed-L72
Oct 13th, 03, 9:50 AM
graemlins/thumbsup.gif

Tracy Focht
Oct 13th, 03, 10:01 AM
most excellent! graemlins/beers.gif

bob_adamsky
Oct 13th, 03, 12:24 PM
graemlins/thumbsup.gif

BillsCamino
Oct 13th, 03, 2:15 PM
graemlins/thumbsup.gif
Sorry I missed it this year. :(

kjett
Oct 13th, 03, 6:19 PM
Thanks everyone. It was a fun day of racing indeed graemlins/thumbsup.gif

fatrat70
Oct 13th, 03, 6:26 PM
Good job, it's much more fun to bring home money isn't it :D Sounds like you are getting the suspension figured out.How did the fan and water pump work out? I will have to have Mike check yours for the spray now LOL ;) Super Chevy in Gainesville in 2 weeks you coming down??

sheetmetal
Oct 13th, 03, 7:19 PM
graemlins/thumbsup.gif way to go Ken. Does your front end have any lateral movement to it? i put the moog 5230 springs in mine a week or so ago and i can shove the front end anyway i want to with 1 hand. Dave

kjett
Oct 13th, 03, 7:45 PM
Originally posted by sheetmetal:
graemlins/thumbsup.gif way to go Ken. Does your front end have any lateral movement to it? i put the moog 5230 springs in mine a week or so ago and i can shove the front end anyway i want to with 1 hand. Dave Thanks, Dave. No lateral movement on my car. I don't know if you're aware but I installed a QA1 coilover system on the front of my car earlier this year along with some GW upper/lower control arms. Front is really stiff. I ended up having to switch from the big block coilover spring to the small block spring just to get some decent front end travel. I'm just not starting to get the 60' dialed back in a little. When I had the Moroso trick springs on there is was very loose like you're describing. With a front end that loose you'll get great weight transfer but you will need a shick with really good valving to control the front end rise, and in extreme cases you may even need travel limiters.

Have you taken your car to the track yet? I'm real anxious to see how it runs. Looks like a real strong combo. Take care...

sheetmetal
Oct 13th, 03, 8:48 PM
Ken, thanks for the interest in my car. no, no track time yet. The car is loaded with gremlins right now and am slowly working them out. Im not really sure if the track down here runs all year or not. out winters are somewhat mild. If im able to get it where im comfortable with it and the track is still open ill go this year, if not, next. One again, congrats. Dave P.S i got to go for a ride in John Wilsons car. all i can say is WOOOOOOOW. he needs a grab bar for the passangers.

67johnny
Oct 13th, 03, 8:58 PM
Looking forward to the video Ken! Those trans-brake launches "are" a hoot!

YEA HA! graemlins/thumbsup.gif

Thad
Oct 13th, 03, 10:26 PM
Congrats-o-rama.

Georgia69
Oct 14th, 03, 8:33 AM
Pat...based on his other post, I suspect Ken may be keeping the N2O in his helmet smile.gif

mr68
Oct 14th, 03, 1:12 PM
great mph, you make loads of horsepower. congrats. ray