While Jack was in school Friday (he didn't want to miss wheel-time in Driver's Ed that day), I took our project car to a private track rental at Maryland International Raceway. Even though I had the slowest car out there, I was grinning ear-to-ear by the time I went through the traps. This was the first time that car has been to the track. Keep in mind the car is basically stock, except for the 3.90:1 GT rear, duals (which add nothing), and some suspension goodies. Here's a cruddy cell-phone shot while in the staging lanes -
The rear rims are new, which I bought from another racer at the event (planned ahead of time). The wheels are S197 17x8" silver Bullitts, shod with 325/45R17 M&H drag radials. They have a diameter of 28", which is a TALL tire, so I figure this combination has a corrected gear ratio of 3.65:1. The wider 2000 GT rear-end, combined with the offset of the S197 wheels, placed the DR's perfectly in the wheelwells.
I shaved 4/10ths over the course of the day, having made 8 passes total. I ended up with a best of:
60'... 2.158
1/8.. 10.302 @ 67.56mph
1/4.. 16.208 @ 83.44mph
I'll admit to having trouble working the pedals to do a proper burnout, as I kept rolling up to the line or killing it entirely. At the line I was actually spinning the DR's. So line-locks will allow me to heat up those DR's and lower my 60' time (a 60' of 1.95x would have certainly put the car into the 15's!). I changed my shift points during the day, but generally I was shifting around 4800. My final time down the track was a 16.232, so I was able to back-up my super impressive runs.
I could scan my slips, but I don't think anyone is going to challenge my times on the internet.
Here are some more pictures I got this morning from another attendee. The first one was taken while in the right lane, which was the street tire lane. The second picture was taken later in the day while sporting the new DR's.
At least we have a baseline before tearing into the motor this winter (worked split-port heads, cam, and Windstar swap).
The rear rims are new, which I bought from another racer at the event (planned ahead of time). The wheels are S197 17x8" silver Bullitts, shod with 325/45R17 M&H drag radials. They have a diameter of 28", which is a TALL tire, so I figure this combination has a corrected gear ratio of 3.65:1. The wider 2000 GT rear-end, combined with the offset of the S197 wheels, placed the DR's perfectly in the wheelwells.
I shaved 4/10ths over the course of the day, having made 8 passes total. I ended up with a best of:
60'... 2.158
1/8.. 10.302 @ 67.56mph
1/4.. 16.208 @ 83.44mph
I'll admit to having trouble working the pedals to do a proper burnout, as I kept rolling up to the line or killing it entirely. At the line I was actually spinning the DR's. So line-locks will allow me to heat up those DR's and lower my 60' time (a 60' of 1.95x would have certainly put the car into the 15's!). I changed my shift points during the day, but generally I was shifting around 4800. My final time down the track was a 16.232, so I was able to back-up my super impressive runs.
I could scan my slips, but I don't think anyone is going to challenge my times on the internet. Here are some more pictures I got this morning from another attendee. The first one was taken while in the right lane, which was the street tire lane. The second picture was taken later in the day while sporting the new DR's.
At least we have a baseline before tearing into the motor this winter (worked split-port heads, cam, and Windstar swap).
