Why wasn't I faster?

[Mike Blanche]

I have an El Camino, and the North Texas chapter of the National El Camino Owner's Association had a "Grudge Race" night at the Dallas Dragway in Crandall, TX, Saturday night.

I took the T out, too, since I wanted to make a trip down the strip. I had to get another member to drive the El Camino on this go-round, and as luck had it, she was paired up with me. This is a video from the El Camino. The actual race starts at about 5 minutes; the slam of the door at the beginning of the video is when I turned the camera on.

The engine you hear through the race is NOT the El Camino. It's the T. And when you hear it suddenly drop in tone...well, you'll see.



Now, what was the problem? This video from the stands may make it clearer.

http://s234.photobucket.com/albums/ee25 ... srides.mp4

I was doing my "1969 Don Garlits top fuel" impression!

[Bob Lemke]

The ET? Trap?

[Mike Blanche]

About 17.5 seconds, 85 mph. It was only my second run down a strip ever, and I didn't get my tire dry. And it obviously doesn't have a posi.

[Bob Lemke]

When I ran at Sacramento Raceway I avoided the water box on my way to the tree.

[Mike Blanche]

I tried; there was just no way to get around it. I would guess it's a couple of seconds faster than that, at least, but without a time slip, I'll never know.

[Bob Lemke]

Normally our Ts don't get to run on a NHRA track, even on the Wednesday "run what you brung" night. The Wednesday night I went down was prompted by a friend that informed me their scales were being repaired and weren't operational. Sure enough Tech Inspector asked me how much the T weighed and I told him with a straight face "2450 lbs" which is 660 lbs more. When asked if I knew the hp, I replied "255 hp crate engine". He played with his calculator and said that it appears I could run a mid 12 second and that would be too fast for the lack of safety equipment on my ride but added "your an older, mature guy. I'll let you run but you will run alone, nobody will be in the other lane" which was fine by me. Had my T weighed 2450 lbs instead of the 1790 it does, and only had the 255 hp I told him, I'm sure his prediction of a mid 12 was spot on. At launch I did just a street launch, no high rpm or dumping of the clutch. Didn't speed shift either because I didn't want to break anything. Ran a 10.8 @ 132 and was given my time slip along with a copy of NHRA rules for the 9.99~10.99 class. It would be great if we could do at least a 1/8 mile timed blast at next year's NATS in Carson City.

[Steve Stock]

Bob that is scooting right along, you have a bigger set than I.
Can you remember your 60' time?

[Bob Lemke]

Steve,

No, but it is on my timeslip. I'll find it and get back to you.

[Bob Lemke]

I haven't found my time slip yet, and when I do I'm going to scan it so I always have it handy. I did find an old post back in Feb 2011 where I had my time slip. My 60' times aren't too good, but like I said I didn't rev high and dump the clutch.


Re: 1/4 mile times
Post Admin: edit | delete | spam #1, by deckofficer, 25 February 2011 06:01 PM
I use a G-Tech, as I only got one shot at Sacramento Raceway's run what you brung night. To get a chance to run once, you have to tell them that your car is heavier than it is, and produces less power so when they crunch the numbers you will fall in a mid 12 second run. 60' times will never be good because I don't want to hurt the car. The single run I got was 2 summers ago, running the 355 circle track motor which produced 60 hp more than my current 383 stroker. 0~60' time was 1.671, 1/8 mile was 7.053 @ 103.02 and 1/4 mile was 10.845 @ 130.59. I have done a bit better with the G-Tech, but now with the new engine I have dropped to 11.421 @ 123.98 for the 1/4 and 7.389 @ 96.88 for the 1/8 with a slower 0~60' of 1.74. The added torque down low has hurt the 0~60' times. This is with 320 hp at the crank pushing a car that has picked up some weight, weighing now 1858 lbs.

This is the dyno sheet the 383 sbc produced at the 2010 Fred's Fun Run. It has less hp than the 355 and on my G-Tech turns in 11.5.