Northwest Members - Speed Channel - Buick Regal/GNX

Today at 4 pm (EST or PST depending on who you get your TV from) has a 30 minute special on the show "American Muscle Cars" about the GN/GNX.

I know it isn't an F-Body/LSx equipped vehicle, but for the 80's, it was one BBBBBAD mo-fo. :nod: :cool:

Just thought I would let y'all know in case anyone was interested. :)



It actually STILL is a bad mo-fo, and was also the engine they used for the 1989 20th Anniversary Trans Am (Turbo TA). Fastest 2 production cars from GM in ages..........

No arguement, the GNX is one BAD Mo-fo!!! And until they made the first SLP FireHawk, that Turbo TA was the fastest production car Pontiac ever made (I believe). And now of course the 4th Gen Birds are even quicker. :)

No arguement, the GNX is one BAD Mo-fo!!! And until they made the first SLP FireHawk, that Turbo TA was the fastest production car Pontiac ever made (I believe). And now of course the 4th Gen Birds are even quicker. :)
I would give up various body parts for either an 89 TTA or an 87 GNX.........or Courtnie. :lol:

:hump: :drool: :devil: :nod:

:hump: :drool: :devil: :nod:
And your point would be? :lol:

Why do they call the Turbo Buicks "Bufords"?

Oh you Buick Grand National folks are going to love this...

Short Video (http://bgnra.org/Chris_Chow_Dyno_Burn.htm)

It does not get any better. :cool: If anyone can top this dyno, post it. :judge: :D

Oh you Buick Grand National folks are going to love this...

Short Video (http://bgnra.org/Chris_Chow_Dyno_Burn.htm)

It does not get any better. :cool: If anyone can top this dyno, post it. :judge: :D
DAYUM!!!!! Mind if I smoke................ :nod:

Would those two items sticking out of the hood be twin turbos by any chance?

DAYUM!!!!! Mind if I smoke................ :nod:

Would those two items sticking out of the hood be twin turbos by any chance?

I guess, man I never heard\seen anything like that before on a dyno or video. :cheers:

I always thought PAiN had the best dyno video. Now I guess it needs to be NA and FI to keep him in the rankings, lol. :D

I don't know if I can better this video or not, but I do have a pretty awesome vid of a 1000+ rwhp Buick T-type doing 200+ mph in ORR that I'll post up in about 5 minutes :)

That is a pretty awesom dyno vid though :D

If you go here (http://www.streamload.com/racehead) and download the vid called "200 mph" you see kind of a so-so vid of an awesome T-type :devil:

OMg.. he just smoked the tires on the dyno..

Well that ties it, if a 6 cyl is that much faster than my V8, I'm modding my sons 4 banger! As for which vid is more impressive.....um....uh.....BOTH! :drool:

Bills does give you an idea of what it's like to run at HIGH speed. LOTS of noise & vibrations you just aren't expecting. I will say after hitting 140+ the 3rd time in my car it wasn't scary anymore. But the first time WAS! :eek2:

btw if i remember right the guy smokin the tires on the dyno swapped a v8 in it's not the V6 anymore

If you go here (http://www.streamload.com/racehead) and download the vid called "200 mph" you see kind of a so-so vid of an awesome T-type :devil:

Took me forever to download, that was a sweet car and video. 200mph is a little to fast for me. :drive: Damn just think you were only 22mph slower. I watched your vid again, that was sweet as can be. :hail:

Yeah, to think Bill did 172 in an almost-stock F-body kinda taints the 205 by the Super GNX huh Todd? But that was in the 1 mile top speed event too (that they didn't have last year!). And from what I understand, that elevation kills turbos. I wonder what it would do on the Salt Flats with 2.73 gears?

I'm hoping to find out what my car will do in a balls-out, 1 mile, flat-to-the-floor run. There is a nice long straight-away at the starting line of the Pony Express. I wanna see how close I can get to my tech speed of 140mph in 1 mile. Figuring I run 113 in the 1/4 mile here, I hope to get close to 140 in a mile. But that is at 6,000' of elevation. It's amazing how much power you lose up there. I couldn't even spin my tires last year!!!

That t-type had a 2 mile run at the 3rd mile, and the 3rd mile was the mile that the "average" speed was taken from. I wonder how fast he was going in the last 100 yards ?! I know one thing .... if he'd been running my rwhp he wouldn't have gone anywhere near 172 mph lol ! Aerodynamics are your friend and those cars are friggen' bricks.

Anyway the differance between his speed and mine is actually 33 mph. And that last 33 mph would feel like the differance between trolling for trout going across grandpa's lake and taking a trip in Miss Budweiser. There's one thing that my vids ( or any high mph vids for that matter ) cannot convey to those watching them, and that is how differant differant speeds feel to the occupants of the car. The differance between the way that 160 mph and 170 mph feels would shock you. It's like the differance between going 70 mph in the express lanes and going 120 mph in the express lanes.

When Mike ( my Nav ) and I did the 10 mile practice runs I hadn't gone over 130 mph in 2 years. I hadn't done a single lapping day prior to the PE so I wasn't in any way shape or form attuned to high speeds ( never will I do this again ). So anyway I knew that I'd be running at least 165 mph during the race and so felt it was very important that I get up to speed during the practice runs to both, get myself acclimated to these speeds, and also to check my car out since I still had a day to make any changes that I might deem necessary. Any way we left the starting line and since 10 miles goes by pretty quickly in ORR we didn't waste any time getting up to about 160 mph ( 1st 1 1/2 miles or so ) from there we kind of crept up near our tech speed to about 165ish mph. Holy crap it felt fast :) . I was trying to smoothly offset the wind gusts that were pushing the car side to side and get my eyes far enough out in the horizon ( very key to going fast ) so that I was recognizing things a few seconds before I got there. About 5-6 miles into it I was starting to get my "speed legs" under me and at this point Mike called out my current speed which was 167 mph. I looked over at Mike ( ok so I did one of those eye dart things that take about 1/10th of a second ;) ) and asked him "Mike ya wanna see what 170 feels like ? ....." Now as Mark or Boyce or anyone who knows Mike can tell you, he's about the nicest, mellowest, most layed back guy you'll ever meet ... but there IS this other side to him haha !..... He instantly said "YEAH !" So I pinned the throttle and just let it wind out with Mike calling out each MPH . One sixty nine...one seventy ...... one seventy one.........one seventy two. I gotta tell you that it felt like I was going 200 mph. The hood was vibrating and shaking, the window wipers were fluttering around, differant outside parts are whistleing differant notes, the road got 6 ft narrower and there's this underlying "roar" of wind that forces you to yell to be heard, even thru our Nady communicator setup. The car itself felt smooth, but the parts bolted on to the outside of it were taken a major hammering just from the air. I wasn't moving the steering wheel I was "breathing" on it. In other words it felt like another world from 160.

I'd would seriously like to sneak one of you guys into my car for a practice run as my Nav during next years PE. It would be an eye opener for you, your adrenaline would flow in buckets, and you'd be sucking your thumb while rolled up in the fetal position by the time we got stopped LOL!!

I did the Richard Petty. When I drove they let you get up to 140 MPH. Then I did a ride along with the instructor and he did 170 MPH, like Bill said big big difference. When he hit 170 MPH I was starting to pucker :jest:

I did the Richard Petty. When I drove they let you get up to 140 MPH. Then I did a ride along with the instructor and he did 170 MPH, like Bill said big big difference. When he hit 170 MPH I was starting to pucker :jest:

Imagine if you had done this on a narrow 2 lane hwy with no shoulders, no barriers, with bumps and dips and corners that you didn't know were there, and 15-25 mph wind gusts pushing you around ?! And oh yeah, medical help is NOT around the next corner. ;)

PS I've always wanted to do this school. How was it ? How much track time versus class time etc. You might want to do the Proformance Race School at PR. It's a great school.

Yep there is a lot to take into consideration, a little wind here or there is huge. :)

The Richard Petty school I did was not much of a school at all.

Classroom: Reviewed basic safety stuff.
Van: Instructors drove the group around track and showed you the line
Drive: The instructor is in the car ahead of you. Your instructions are to stay on his bumper and go where he goes. The instructor gages if you are staying on his bumper and tracking with his line the better you do the faster he goes up to about 140- 145 Mph. Your basically in the middle of the track not anywhere near a wall.

It was fun about $350 bucks for eight laps, over pretty quick though. The ride along program is only about $90 for three laps. You go out in a car that has a passenger seat, two cars side by side and they do a little passing, one straight you up against the wall another one down low and hit speeds of 170- 175 mph. Even though you are not driving I got a better feel for what a Nascar race might actually be like then driving the car at 140 Mph in the middle of the track.

They do the ride along program during the schools and I would do that again in a heart beat.

What Bill says is true. Tho I have never done 170, I can tell you first hand that 140-145mph feels & sounds TWICE as fast as 120 does. Not to mention how quickly you find yourself going into the turn at the end of that long straightaway that just flew by. I rolled thru a blind sweeper at 120 & it felt like taking an exit ramp a little too quick. I am quite sure that I would have a wet spot to clean up after doing 170.

But also note that I am going back for more..... :drive: ADRENALINE :hump:

It does not get any better. If anyone can top this dyno, post it.The power level is nice, however, the front fender exhaust exit is beyond Ghetto and make this car comparible to a Ricer in my book :doublepuk

The power level is nice, however, the front fender exhaust exit is beyond Ghetto and make this car comparible to a Ricer in my book :doublepuk
I'd have to agree, I'll bet neither one of us would even ride in it would we ? :drive:

Now that you mention it John....and here all I could think was "How well does that short exhaust work with those turbos?" Obvioulsy it works up top, but I would think it would bog like Hell off the line.....but I WOULD ride in it! :D

I'll bet neither one of us would even ride in it would we ?You got that right.....if I need a real rush I'll twist Steve Barker's arm for a quick spin in his 1175 RWHP C2!

I'd would seriously like to sneak one of you guys into my car for a practice run as my Nav during next years PE. It would be an eye opener for you, your adrenaline would flow in buckets, and you'd be sucking your thumb while rolled up in the fetal position by the time we got stopped LOL!!
Nobody else has the sack to jump on this? I'll be up for that. I aint askeered of speed. Though I've only had my car up to 135 and that was the day after I bought it. I've had it up to 120 numerous times after that. It is a rush. I love it.

Nobody else has the sack to jump on this? I'll be up for that. I aint askeered of speed. Though I've only had my car up to 135 and that was the day after I bought it. I've had it up to 120 numerous times after that. It is a rush. I love it.

It would be a rush! But I figure I'm going to have my hands full keeping my shorts empty driving my car at 140. Personally I can't imagine ridng in someone elses car at 170+!!! :eek2: Not even someone I trust like Bill....

It would be a rush! But I figure I'm going to have my hands full keeping my shorts empty driving my car at 140. Personally I can't imagine ridng in someone elses car at 170+!!! :eek2: Not even someone I trust like Bill....
:werd: I was the passenger in enough high speed pursuits that eclipsed 120 MPH to NOT wanna be the passenger in a car at that (or higher) speed with someone I don't even know..........it ain't about having the sack, it's about trust, the desire to live to see my 36th B-Day and knowing better. ;)

Bah, you only live once. 36 was 4 years ago for me. I'd jump at the opportunity.

Bill is one of the very few people I'd trust in that situation. All the safety gear is in place. Closed course. He's done it many times before. It's quite a different environment than a HSP.

Bah, you only live once. 36 was 4 years ago for me. I'd jump at the opportunity. Exactly, ya only live once....I wanna extend it as long as possible. :lol:

Bill is one of the very few people I'd trust in that situation. All the safety gear is in place. Closed course. He's done it many times before. It's quite a different environment than a HSP.
I can relate, but since I don't know him, I can't afford him that trust level yet.........perhaps someday. :D

Just so you know, the motor in that GN is an LT1, NOT a V-6

Exactly, ya only live once....I wanna extend it as long as possible.
I see we're on opposite ends of the spectrum here. :lol:

Not that I have a deathwish or anything. But it's a calculated risk I'd be willing to take.

I can relate, but since I don't know him, I can't afford him that trust level yet.........perhaps someday.
I hear ya. So when are you back up here again so you can get to know all the guys and gals?

Just so you know, the motor in that GN is an LT1, NOT a V-6
No way in hell that sounded like a 6.

Sitting in the passenger seat while going really fast takes a leap of faith that not many can muster up. Myself included. When I was a freshman in HS my best friend had a '71 Camaro that we used to go drinking and cruising in. There was this very cornery road that we would go racing on at speeds up to 110-115 mph. Young and no fear you know. One day my buddy whom I trusted implicitly lost control and we hit a telephone pole doing about 100 mph. Broke the pole into 3 pieces. The passenger side of the car at about the firewall area was shoved in past the floor shifter/tunnel. I broke my neck, by buddy was severely injured. Never again was I a trusting passenger. "If I ain't driving, then I ain't going" pretty much sums up my attitude now :)

I'm amazed at my nav Mike. Even after sliding thru that oil at 165+ mph he looks over at me with a shit eating grin on his face and says "WOW !" like I had just given him an extra treat on top of the regular ORR run ! lol ! He's actually more relaxed on the starting line than I am. Navigators have big brass clanking ones as far as I'm concerned :)

I see we're on opposite ends of the spectrum here. :lol:

Not that I have a deathwish or anything. But it's a calculated risk I'd be willing to take.


I hear ya. So when are you back up here again so you can get to know all the guys and gals?
Eh, I am just in one of "those" moods right now.......right situation and I would jump at the chance I am sure.

I am looking at being moved up before May this year........if all goes well maybe sooner. Not sure how many more trips before then.......and those will be primarily to scout for houses. :(