davidathans
Well-known member
I went out to AutoClub Dragway at California Speedway in Fontana to race Joe De Los Santos this weekend.
I made it out to the track at about 6:45am and there were already hundreds of cars lined up, waiting for the track staff to start passing out the Tech Cards. I waited in the Tech inspection line for over 2 hours and finally "passed" inspection around 10:30am. When i made my way to the pit area to start prepping my car for the race, group 3 (my group) was being called up and groups 1 and 2 had already had their chance to make a pass down the track. So i missed my first call to race, because i had to remove all my tools and put on my slicks.
Joe, called me just as i was finishing bolting up the race tires and let me know that he ran an 11.69 @ 119.8mph and was ready to race me. I thought to myself, "uh oh" because i knew i would have to beat my best e.t. ever to beat him. So, I told Joe that i wanted to have a practice run before i raced him and that we would race right after.
After i ate some lunch, i walked over to the staging lanes, where Joe was lined up getting ready to make his 2nd pass. I congratulated him on his new best e.t. and speed and he showed me his timeslip. He asked me if i got my skinny rims for the front of my car. Unfortunately, one of the rims i was planning to use was warped and the tire would not balance. So, i wished Joe good luck on his 2nd pass and went back to my car to wait for group 3 to be called.
At 12:48pm i got to make my first pass...
with my dad and uncle watching, with my best friend kenny recording video, and with Joe somewhere in the stands scouting out the competition...
I went for it....
Immediate shift from 1st into 2nd after a 2500rpm power brake launch. Another, seemingly immediate shift into 3rd. Pulling hard in 3rd, i hit 6500rpm about 300ft before the finish line. I let off the throttle all the way and then stabbed at it once more while crossing the traps...
I made my way to the ticket booth and i was greeted by a sweet lady, the same one who handed me my first and previously only timeslip in the 11s, with a grin on her face and a look of concern. She immediately checks my car for a roll cage and tells me that i'm too fast to race without one. I said to her, "Don't you have to break 11.49 to need a roll cage?" She showed me my timeslip...
It read:
11.506 @100.28mph
So, she advised me that i couldn't go any quicker without a roll cage and i nodded and sheepishly thanked her (because she didnt kick me out!)
When i pulled up in the pit area, Joe shows up and says something like, "what the hell was that?" or "what the hell did you do?"
I just smiled and opened my trunk.
When i found out Joe was making 498RW torque and 470RWHP after putting on his cat-less midpipe and tuning his car for 100 octane...i knew i would need more than skinnys and moving the battery to the trunk to beat him.
So, how did i beat him?
NOS. Hahahahaha.....surprise!
i took the plunge and bought the edlebrock kit that comes with a plate, the solenoids, hoses, a bottle... the whole works.
I had the car on the dyno on friday, just before the race, to see what my power output would be with Nitrous and to make sure it was safe.
Big Increase!!
Peak values went from 378.8RWHP to 477.5RWHP and torque jumped from 361 ft.-lbs. to 456.9 ft-lbs. at the tires.
Back to the race between Joe and I...
So, i showed him what i had in the trunk and under the hood and my dyno graphs. Unfortunately for us, there were like 500 cars there. Joe mentioned that he had to leave by 2pm and we were going to try and race eachother, but time wasn't on our side.
So, Joe left and I knew i would only get one more race before getting kicked off the track for not having proper safety equipment.
I found a guy in the staging lanes who had a 2007 or 2008 shelby GT500. Turns out he had intake, exhaust, supercharger pulley, and cheater slicks and runs 11.50s. He agreed to race me.
I lined up with him and sprayed right out of the hole again, this time i ran:
11.085 @ 110.14mph.
Beating the Shelby GT500's 11.539 @ 120.25mph.
Once again i ran out of gear way before the 1320 ft. mark. But this time, rather than letting off completely, i backed off and stabbed the pedal down 3 times right at the end to avoid going over 6700rpm.
I almost ran 10s!!!! I would have, if I had the skinny front wheels, or if my tires had a slightly larger diameter or if i were running 3.73 gears.
The 150HP shot of nitrous nearly dropped a full second off my e.t. and would have knocked off more than a second, but my stroker motor might have blown near 7000rpm and i chose my saving my engine over running 10s.
What an amazing experience! One of the greatest days of my life! I hit 100mph at the 1/8 mile mark on both races in under 7 seconds! Using some mathematical modeling, i have estimated the 0 to 60mph statistic in 2.7253 seconds! I even calculated that i pulled a maximum acceleration of 1.06g's.
I made it out to the track at about 6:45am and there were already hundreds of cars lined up, waiting for the track staff to start passing out the Tech Cards. I waited in the Tech inspection line for over 2 hours and finally "passed" inspection around 10:30am. When i made my way to the pit area to start prepping my car for the race, group 3 (my group) was being called up and groups 1 and 2 had already had their chance to make a pass down the track. So i missed my first call to race, because i had to remove all my tools and put on my slicks.
Joe, called me just as i was finishing bolting up the race tires and let me know that he ran an 11.69 @ 119.8mph and was ready to race me. I thought to myself, "uh oh" because i knew i would have to beat my best e.t. ever to beat him. So, I told Joe that i wanted to have a practice run before i raced him and that we would race right after.
After i ate some lunch, i walked over to the staging lanes, where Joe was lined up getting ready to make his 2nd pass. I congratulated him on his new best e.t. and speed and he showed me his timeslip. He asked me if i got my skinny rims for the front of my car. Unfortunately, one of the rims i was planning to use was warped and the tire would not balance. So, i wished Joe good luck on his 2nd pass and went back to my car to wait for group 3 to be called.
At 12:48pm i got to make my first pass...
with my dad and uncle watching, with my best friend kenny recording video, and with Joe somewhere in the stands scouting out the competition...
I went for it....
Immediate shift from 1st into 2nd after a 2500rpm power brake launch. Another, seemingly immediate shift into 3rd. Pulling hard in 3rd, i hit 6500rpm about 300ft before the finish line. I let off the throttle all the way and then stabbed at it once more while crossing the traps...
I made my way to the ticket booth and i was greeted by a sweet lady, the same one who handed me my first and previously only timeslip in the 11s, with a grin on her face and a look of concern. She immediately checks my car for a roll cage and tells me that i'm too fast to race without one. I said to her, "Don't you have to break 11.49 to need a roll cage?" She showed me my timeslip...
It read:
11.506 @100.28mph
So, she advised me that i couldn't go any quicker without a roll cage and i nodded and sheepishly thanked her (because she didnt kick me out!)
When i pulled up in the pit area, Joe shows up and says something like, "what the hell was that?" or "what the hell did you do?"
I just smiled and opened my trunk.
When i found out Joe was making 498RW torque and 470RWHP after putting on his cat-less midpipe and tuning his car for 100 octane...i knew i would need more than skinnys and moving the battery to the trunk to beat him.
So, how did i beat him?
NOS. Hahahahaha.....surprise!
i took the plunge and bought the edlebrock kit that comes with a plate, the solenoids, hoses, a bottle... the whole works.
I had the car on the dyno on friday, just before the race, to see what my power output would be with Nitrous and to make sure it was safe.
Big Increase!!
Peak values went from 378.8RWHP to 477.5RWHP and torque jumped from 361 ft.-lbs. to 456.9 ft-lbs. at the tires.
Back to the race between Joe and I...
So, i showed him what i had in the trunk and under the hood and my dyno graphs. Unfortunately for us, there were like 500 cars there. Joe mentioned that he had to leave by 2pm and we were going to try and race eachother, but time wasn't on our side.
So, Joe left and I knew i would only get one more race before getting kicked off the track for not having proper safety equipment.
I found a guy in the staging lanes who had a 2007 or 2008 shelby GT500. Turns out he had intake, exhaust, supercharger pulley, and cheater slicks and runs 11.50s. He agreed to race me.
I lined up with him and sprayed right out of the hole again, this time i ran:
11.085 @ 110.14mph.
Beating the Shelby GT500's 11.539 @ 120.25mph.
Once again i ran out of gear way before the 1320 ft. mark. But this time, rather than letting off completely, i backed off and stabbed the pedal down 3 times right at the end to avoid going over 6700rpm.
I almost ran 10s!!!! I would have, if I had the skinny front wheels, or if my tires had a slightly larger diameter or if i were running 3.73 gears.
The 150HP shot of nitrous nearly dropped a full second off my e.t. and would have knocked off more than a second, but my stroker motor might have blown near 7000rpm and i chose my saving my engine over running 10s.
What an amazing experience! One of the greatest days of my life! I hit 100mph at the 1/8 mile mark on both races in under 7 seconds! Using some mathematical modeling, i have estimated the 0 to 60mph statistic in 2.7253 seconds! I even calculated that i pulled a maximum acceleration of 1.06g's.
