Day 1 at Cordova was a good day with a second pass of 9.10 and 1.26 60' leaving off foot brake again. I tried the trans brake first and just roasted the tires. Shift point was 7200 rpm
Day 2 at Gateway was all my fault. I foot braked it, another 1.26 60' but then accidentally short shifted from 1st to 3rd. I was so mad at myself because the launch felt really good. I moved the shift point to 7400 to see if I could be quicker but the missed shift screwed that up. I also found out when I returned to my parking spot that the linkage to the front carberator was not hooked up, I had placed a towel over my carbs while prepping the car for my run and when I removed the towel unbeknownst to me I pull the clip off the linkage. So I made that run with only the rear carberator hooked up. I got a 9.22 and it was good enough to stay in first so I played it safe, however the road trip from Gateway to Byron was your typical Drag week gremlin showing itself. The trip was 280 miles, we left the track at 12:30pm. About 1/3 of the way in we heard a loud tap tap tap. Turned out to be a broken intake rocker on #4 cylinder. Guess where my spare rockers are......not with me, crap, how could I forget that. I called Blair and Jay to have parts coming from two directions especially with the hurricanes wreaking havoc with FEDEX and UPS (rightfully so). We received both packages this morning at about 8 am. We installed the rocker, packed up and made it to Byron at about 11:30am.
Day 3 at Byron. Waited for 2 hours in the pits and since I arrived late I knew I would only have one pass. So I moved the shift point to 7300, foot braked, and quickly rolled into the throttle instead of my normal just mashing the pedal to the floor as fast as I can. I didn't want to break traction off the line. I also lined up horribly in my lane because when I left the car pulled hard right and I was WAY out of the grove and had to correct it back into the grove. the run was a 9.29 with a 1.30 60', again good enough to stay in 1st so I was pleased.
My Dad, Eugene, and I are in the hotel near Great Lakes dragstrip now, the trip was a good trip. I will footbrake again tomorrow, stomp the throttle, shift at 7400, and see what happens. On the last day after my safe run should I be blessed to still be in the completion I will try the transbrake again and go for it.
The car is making 912hp at 6900 rpm and does not fall off very fast. I have 4.30 gears. It weighs 3250 with me in the car. I have a 4500 stall converter, Hoosier 30x10.5x15 slicks. I think if I have a good cool morning run and I launch well and shift correctly I can get close to an 8.99.
Thanks for the incredible willingness, comradery, interest that Blair and Jay have shown me to make this Drag Week as successful as it can be. Thanks for all who are following all us FE guys at Dragweek, you all make it fun!!!
