Went to the track today for our Toronto F-body club shootout. got there around 11:00am, swapped the tires, chatted with a few of the guys and went to the staging lanes. Got in line and my first run was 11.32@122mph spinning halfway through first (1.62 sixty) I thought it was a decent start to the day.

Temp was in the 80's with a headwind. (track 600 feet elevation)
DA was: 1913 feet

Next Wade asked me to drive a customers HC car. The customer was running 12.7's and was having problems with fourth gear (worried about tranny/clutch problems) so I took it for a spin.

Did a decent burnout but spun all the way through first. I hit all the gears cleanly and ran 12.1. Didn't notice any problems with the clutch or tranny.

The car drove nice, easy 11.60-11.80 car at full weight and a 1.5 sixty. (Loaded 99 Anniv TA WS6 with ARE HC and shortie headers, 12 bolt etc. Weighed over 3800 with me in it.)

Then I was talking to Paul M and the guys. He was there trying out his car with the new LSM single Turbo kit. He asked me to take it for a run. I thought SURE I'll drive a 550RWHP/610RWTQ turbo car!!

Got in line did the burnout and immediately noticed the torque. Only brought the revs up to about 3500 and dumped the clutch. The car smoked the ET Streets pretty fiercely till third but I stayed in it. Ended up running 11.3 @ almost 126mph shifting at 5500 on the stock tach with 3.73's in the 12 bolt!! (No shiftlight) I was very impressed. It is a fully loaded formula with turbo, ET streets, stock 17's up front, no weight reduction through the STOCK WS6 exhaust!! Pretty impressive. If he put a real exhaust on the car, shiftlight, cooler weather and a little racegas he'd run 130-134mph NO problem.

Now onto the sad part...

I went up to take my car for another run. I was sitting in the car in the staging lanes COOKING with the firejacket and helmet on. (It was HOT in the staging lanes)

Anyways sweating like a pig I went up did my burnout and staged. Brought up the revs and dumped the clutch. Launch was decent (1.61 sixty) and 1-2 cleanly, 2-3 cleanly and then on the 3-4 my ******* hand slipped off the shifter (From the sweat) and I wacked the rev limiter about 5 times. On the return road I could hear (tick tick tick tick)

I first thought I broke a spring so back in the pits I yanked off the coils and the valvecover but couldnt see anything immediately wrong with the springs. However one of the rockers was loose. We took off the rockers on both intake and exhaust on that cylinder and could see one was sitting lower than the other. (My exhaust valves are .100 shorter than my intakes) but the intake looked shorter. So it looks like I bent a valve on the front cylinder on the intake side.

Ended up taking a lash cap off the exhaust valve and put it on the intake side so that the rock and lifter wouldnt be rattling around and beating the **** out of the cam lobe. Managed to limp the car home without any further damage.

I am kind of depressed about this as it was my own stupid fault for not having a towel or something to get the sweat off my hands/face before going into the lanes. Going to drop the car off at ARE this week and pull the heads to fix the valve and see if there is anymore damage. What is weird is that the PR looks straight still. I am a little confused and think possibly a lifter **** the bed as well.

Anyways it was a fun day minus that incident. I know Wade, Stu and the guys will take care of me and I thank them for helping me out. I wanted to race for points today though dammit!!


Cheers,
Chris

 

I must say I had a great day at the track, great weather and did not too bad. The car ran flawlessly all day not a hiccup or a burp, thanks to ARE for putting together an awesome motor and turbo. ARE did some major customization to the QMP turbo kit to solve many issues that it came with, such as oiling problems , burned plug wires on the too short manifold, fit etc. but it works perfectly now.

I still have a lot to learn about driving this car, turbo are a very different animal. I guess I'll just have to admit I am not that great a driver but I will practice lots more now.

The track was not the greatest and traction was an issue, once again I kept hazing the tires all the way up the track. Setup today was ET Street's, full weight and 8 psi of boost

My times:

12.067 @ 121.01
12.063 @ 120.69

Both 60's were in the 1.7 range, this car doesn't come out of the hole hard but when the boost hits she shakes the tires pretty hard and takes off like a bullet. Mt problem is related to getting in and out of boost loading and unloading the chassis, it slows me down and gets the car squirrelly.

I asked Chris to take it for a ride, pointed out the eccentricities of the car and of he went. Chris rows through the gears like an Olympic oarsman, damn good driver. This was the very first time Chris has ever driven

Chris' times

11.391 @ 125.46
11.519 @ 125.73

Both of Chris' 60's were a fairly lazy 1.6 . Shows what a good driver can do. The car has plenty more in it even with the current boost and I'm looking forward to the next time.

Once again a big thanks to Chris for helping out at the track, it's too bad you hurt the motor but it doesn't seem too bad and you should be up and running in no time flat.

I convoyed most of the way home with him to make sure he got there.

 

Thanks Paul! It was a lot of fun and your car is VERY impressive!!

That car has 10's@130mph in it no problem at all with more tuning/practice.

During the second run I was expecting to blow the tires away like the first run but I ended up bogging and then taking off with spinning on the shifts. It takes a while to get used to the huge jump in HP and TQ when you hit boost. It isn't linear like a blower at all hehe...

If I get the opportunity to drive it next time I am pretty sure I can improve on that 11.3.

A massive burnout and 5500rpm launch will do the trick hehe

As for my car I am thinking about getting the guys at ARE to throw in headstuds and the good FI/nitrous gaskets while they have the heads off.

If I decide to run a shot/boost later this year or next year the car will be all ready for it


Chris

 

Are you on stock lifters? Sounds like what happened when my lifter went out.

At least this way you wont be beating on it for about a month and you wont (possibly) tear it up before you hit some 10's this winter.

 

yeah I am running stock lifters...

did you bend a valve or just need a lifter replacement?

cheers,
Chris

Did you go with the comp lifters?

 

LOL, your story about getting to drive all these different 6-speeds at the track sounds like when I go. I've learned to start taking my helmet with me even if I am there to spectate. haha

"Yep, I'd be glad to abuse your car"

Paul, any photos of the turbo install? Sounds pretty cool. What size engine are you running in the Formula now?

Chris, sorry to hear about the valve. Should be an easy fix though.

Tony

 

Chris' car didn't sound too bad and he'll probably have it back to together very quickly. We had a great conversation about what he was thinking about for his future plans. If he does it, it will be awesome

I have a few pictures lying around of my install and I think one of our club memebers took a video of the 11.51 pass yesterday. Next time the car is on a lift I'll snap some pics and post them. If you want to abuse my car you'll have to get on a plane and head due north , you won't be wasting a trip

The car is an ARE 415 CID. The bore is 4.060' to give a thicker wall for boost. The motor is 2 years old and utilize ARE's dry-sleeve process that has been rock solid. The turbo is a PTE T74, Qtrim running at 8 psi. I have a couple of thousand miles on the combo now and it has been rock solid and even get great mileage. On the track it is a handfull boost hits fast and hard, on one of my runs I managed to haze the tires right through 4th on ET streets. This car has a ton more in it and should only get quicker as the season moves on

ARE put together a great car and Chris knows how to drive it. We have a few more things to finish and then it should be done.

Paul

 

Sorry to hear about your engine Chris. Hope your back in action soon.
Tom

 

Sorry to hear about your miss-hap. But I'm sure that it'll be up and going in no time.

Warbird, it sounds like you're going to have a rockin and a rollin car there.

See you guys around.

 

Sorry to hear about the mishap on your engine. Been there, done that, no fun at all. Anyway, sounds like your are in good hands with the shop up there. Wish the shop fixing my car was that caring at the time. Cheers and good luck.

 

Cheer up Chris you got 10 points just for showing up, and it was the first drag event so Mills only leads you by 5 points at the moment definitly not insurmountable by any stretch of the imagination. You have 7 more events to catch and pass him.

 

bent a valve, pushrod was straight, broke a spring and the rocker was sideways. Went with the cranes. they are loud, but seem to be working great.

 

That sucks Chris. Hope you get'er back on the strip soon!

 

Thanks guys!
On the bright side it might be a good time to throw in some good headstuds and gaskets hehe

I'll let you know what happens.

Cheers,
Chris

 

My motor is studded top and bottom, it gives you that extra degree of confidence when running around hard

You'll get your chance to try again soon Chris

I made a list to finish it off hopefully before the next time:

1. Shift Light
2. Injectors
3. Bigger oil restrictor .070 from .030
4. A-Piller guages
5. Re-tune
6. Dual Walboro 340 to replace the single

Next time we get to the track bring your depends we'll crank it up to 14 psi and see what happens . Hopefully you'll remember cycle oil pump and turn off the TCS

 

haha I wont forget this time

Those changes and the shiftlight installed will make a huge difference!!

Can you bring a dyno graph with you next time to the track (after all the changes) I'd like to have a look at see where the best shiftpoints would be.

You can also borrow my slicks and skinnies. (That is 2 tenths and 2 mph right there in rotating weight!)

do you have larger brakes up front? My skinnies fit without grinding with the stock calipers and I also have the powerslot rotors.

thanks again, I think 130-134mph+ will be cake next time even in this heat!

Chris