GreenGSX
DSM Wiseman
- 371
- 5
- May 13, 2002
-
Rochester,
New York
Shootout 2003 trip report,
In order to understand just how cool my shootout was this year youll have to have some sort of understanding of the hell I put myself through to get there. This really starts about three weeks ago when I thought I was getting a good head start on my preparations by replacing the head gasket that I blew at the Glen this spring. Thats when I discovered that my killer 50trim T3/T4 turbo had bit the dust. So, now Ive got a new head gasket with a 14b so everything is great. Then I go to Buffalo and kill my third Fidanza flywheel so out comes the tranny and in goes the stock flywheel. Not to bad still have lots of time to get ready. Did I mention that I still need to paint the car? More on that later. Then, last week, on my way home from Divisional my timing belt took a break and tore up my race head and 7 of my 8 1mm over SS Ferrara valves got bent. So, now Im down to 1 week and the car needs a head and paint. The crew comes over and we get the head on the car Tuesday night in the rain and Wednesday night I get everything buttoned up. Thursday at around noon I turn the key and she starts right up. Now all I have to do is get it painted by 5pm on Friday and Im all set. Thursday night I tape the car and Friday morning the primer goes on, at 11am the green goes on and WTF! the paint is lifting off in spots!. It turns out that somebody did some shady spot repairs and the paint crinkled up like a MoFo. So, I have to sand that down, re-prime, re-wet sand it, and then hit it with color again. By this time its after noon and the car is baking in the sun. Its so hot you cant leave your hand on it without burning yourself! Heres the rub, I still have to get the clear-coat on Well, all I have to say is that the clear got on the car but it was dry before it hit it. It looks OK from 30 feet but any closer and it looks like a blind guy painted it. You know, when its 2:30 and your still spraying clear and you know you have to be on the road at 5 you dont have to many options thats all Im going to say about that. Did I mention that while this entire crazy wrench turning marathon was going on that I have a new girlfriend? Lucky for me she is an angel and is totally supportive otherwise I wouldnt have made it. Im a lucky guy
At 5:00pm or so I make it to Steves for the late caravan down and by 6ish were on the road. Around Cleveland we get a call from Chris informing us that our hotel reservations have been cancelled. It seems that our Thursday check-in never got changed to Friday and they gave our rooms away. Good thing for us we found the last two rooms at the Norwalk Inn and they were both clean and cheaper than the Amerihost.
Saturday we get up and head on out to Cedar Point. Not much to mention here except that the ride Top Thrill Dragster is the most mind boggling ride I have ever seen. I didnt get to ride it but it scared the shit out of me just looking at it. Take a look at it here
http://www.topthrilldragster.com/public/inside_park/rides/thrill/ttd/index.cfm
Saturday night after the coasters I headed out to the Best Western to soak up the DSM vibe and hang out with the rest of the Rochester DSM crew. This year was much better than last year. The people were cooler, the cops were nicer, and nobody got stupid and vandalized stuff like they did last year.
Sunday morning we pack up the car and head on out to the drag strip. I was a little late getting there but Steve and the guys were nice enough to snag pit spots for us. With all the work Ive done in the last three weeks I wasnt feeling all that warm and fuzzy when it came to beating the snot out of the car. So I didnt bring race gas. I figured that I would take it easy on pump gas and just go have some fun.
My first run of the day was what I thought it would be, high 12s at around 106mph. That was with the boost spiking at 22-23psi and then holding at 19-20psi. The bad part is that the car was flat on the top end, which I knew was from knock. Here are the details
R/T 0.679
60 1.813
1/8 8.193
MPH 85.27
1/4 12.853
MPH 106.27
For my second run I added a bit more fuel and Ariane, my girlfriend, went along for the ride. This run was nearly identical to the first except for the better launch. I was still getting knock counts around 15-20 and not a lot of timing advance (16-22 degrees).
R/T 0.602
60 1.754
1/8 8.122
MPH 85.55
1/4 12.768
MPH 106.29
When I got back to look at the logs I noticed that my fuel trims were all at 139% so I reset the ECU and added 4 gallons of 110 to the 5 gallons of 93 that was in the car already. I just wanted to be safe
R/T 0.635
60 1.786
1/8 8.030
MPH 87.56
1/4 12.58
MPH 108.73 <<<< New best MPH with a 14b!!!!
That last run the car felt much better and I knew I had my timing advance back. I quick look at my logs and yep only 0-5 knock sums and 26-30 degrees of advance. Look at that trap speed! Almost 109mph with only 20 psi. I think on a cooler day closer to sea level this 14b will hit 110mph. Ive got one more run before the bracket racing starts so I just want to see on consistent I can drive this thing. So no more tuning or mechanical changes..
R/T 0.458 << RED light!
60 1.792
1/8 8.088
MPH 85.55
1/4 12.656
MPH 108.18
Ok, now the car is dialed in, here we go into bracket racing!!!! First round I run up against a 20g powered car with everything Buschur sells bolted onto it. He has a 12.80 dial in so I know hes sandbagging it. I need to cut a good light and hit my dial in to win. I dialed in at 12.60 and off I went. Because of his dial in he left the light first and got a really good jump on me. I hustled out of the hole but I just couldnt catch him. When I got my slip I was surprised to see that I had won even thought I broke out! It turns out the reason the guy got a good jump on me was because he red-lighted! Yeah! The other guys numbers are going to be in parenthesis. Just FYI
R/T 0.715 (0.394 RL!)
60 1.752 (2.000)
1/8 8.020 (8.348)
MPH 86.83 (90.90)
1/4 12.577 <<< Another 14b personal best!!!! (he did 12.949)
MPH 108.38 (he did 94.12 on the brakes)
On my next run I lined up with a 2g that looked like it meant business. Another sandbagger with a 12.65 dial in time that should really be running a 12.30. I changed my dial in from 12.60 to 12.55 which I know isnt a lot but I didnt want to loose by breaking out. Well, the guy came out of the hole and actually had a better reaction time (0.644 to 0.652) than I did but he broke out partially I think because I was so close at the finish. To be honest I was so bang on to my dial in I dont he could have beaten me..
R/T 0.652 (0.644)
60 1.751 (1.757)
1/8 8.016 (7.977)
MPH 86.44 (88.29)
1/4 12.577 <<< only 0.02 seconds off my dial-in!!! (12.455 broke out!)
MPH 107.94 (109.80)
I dont remember much about the next guy except that his 60 time was really bad. Even though he dialed in at 12.80 and got a good 0.3 second head start I beat him to the 330 mark by about 0.7 seconds. I was so far ahead of him that I mashed the brakes at the finish and still managed to run a 12.79 at 90.36mph!
R/T 0.569 (0.730)
60 1.782 (other guy ran a 2.304!)
1/8 8.057 (8.889)
MPH 86.64 (84.77)
1/4 12.795 (13.464)
MPH 90.36 (107.34)
Now Im in the finals with two other FWD cars. We drew cards to see who got the buy run and I didnt get it. So I ran against the mirage with the 4G63 transplant. He was running a 12.90 dial in time but I knew he had much more top-end than I did do to his low weight. The real advantage I had was my car was consistent and he was FWD. So, as we lined up I let him heat up his tires first. Then he hustled up to the start a lit both start lights. I took my time getting up there, then took some more to trip the first light, then a little more to trip the last light. I knew that if I took my time his hot tires would cool and his brain would fry from the anticipation. Funny thing is that it really didnt matter because I cut such a perfect light that he never had a chance..
R/T 0.503 <<new personal best (he did a 0.806)
60 1.737 (1.976 good for FWD)
1/8 7.999 (8.436)
MPH 86.74 (85.93)
1/4 12.610 (12.925)
MPH 96.64 (hit the brakes again cause I could see him in my mirrors!) (109.33)
Im in the finals!!! Just one more guy to beat and I win. The bad part is that Im really nervous. Like, I cant even stand still kind of nervous. With that 0.503 light I just cut I know I was only 0.004 seconds from red lighting. I have to take it easy at the launch but not so easy that I have to play catch-up. Once again I made this guy wait at the line but in the end it didnt really matter. I just out-drove him and won easily.
R/T 0.610 (0.810)
60 1.771 (he did 2.108!!!)
1/8 8.040 (8.442)
MPH 86.08 (88.94)
1/4 12.678 (12.856)
MPH 92.37 (on the brakes again) (111.57)
Well, that the end of the story! I won the B1 class at the shootout and had the pleasure of driving home with a big as trophy and a pretty girl. What an amazing end to three weeks of preparation. I have to say that I really felt that the car could have done 12.40s with the way it was running. It just seemed to get faster and faster as the day went on. It also never stalled, broke, or failed to win a race the whole weekend. The only thing I wished I did was given her a better paint job. I think that will come in due time. I just need to drive this for a while and stop fixing it. But thats another story
New girlfriend, great friends, hot cars, roller coasters, and good times .who could ask for anything more!!!
Tim
In order to understand just how cool my shootout was this year youll have to have some sort of understanding of the hell I put myself through to get there. This really starts about three weeks ago when I thought I was getting a good head start on my preparations by replacing the head gasket that I blew at the Glen this spring. Thats when I discovered that my killer 50trim T3/T4 turbo had bit the dust. So, now Ive got a new head gasket with a 14b so everything is great. Then I go to Buffalo and kill my third Fidanza flywheel so out comes the tranny and in goes the stock flywheel. Not to bad still have lots of time to get ready. Did I mention that I still need to paint the car? More on that later. Then, last week, on my way home from Divisional my timing belt took a break and tore up my race head and 7 of my 8 1mm over SS Ferrara valves got bent. So, now Im down to 1 week and the car needs a head and paint. The crew comes over and we get the head on the car Tuesday night in the rain and Wednesday night I get everything buttoned up. Thursday at around noon I turn the key and she starts right up. Now all I have to do is get it painted by 5pm on Friday and Im all set. Thursday night I tape the car and Friday morning the primer goes on, at 11am the green goes on and WTF! the paint is lifting off in spots!. It turns out that somebody did some shady spot repairs and the paint crinkled up like a MoFo. So, I have to sand that down, re-prime, re-wet sand it, and then hit it with color again. By this time its after noon and the car is baking in the sun. Its so hot you cant leave your hand on it without burning yourself! Heres the rub, I still have to get the clear-coat on Well, all I have to say is that the clear got on the car but it was dry before it hit it. It looks OK from 30 feet but any closer and it looks like a blind guy painted it. You know, when its 2:30 and your still spraying clear and you know you have to be on the road at 5 you dont have to many options thats all Im going to say about that. Did I mention that while this entire crazy wrench turning marathon was going on that I have a new girlfriend? Lucky for me she is an angel and is totally supportive otherwise I wouldnt have made it. Im a lucky guy
At 5:00pm or so I make it to Steves for the late caravan down and by 6ish were on the road. Around Cleveland we get a call from Chris informing us that our hotel reservations have been cancelled. It seems that our Thursday check-in never got changed to Friday and they gave our rooms away. Good thing for us we found the last two rooms at the Norwalk Inn and they were both clean and cheaper than the Amerihost.
Saturday we get up and head on out to Cedar Point. Not much to mention here except that the ride Top Thrill Dragster is the most mind boggling ride I have ever seen. I didnt get to ride it but it scared the shit out of me just looking at it. Take a look at it here
http://www.topthrilldragster.com/public/inside_park/rides/thrill/ttd/index.cfm
Saturday night after the coasters I headed out to the Best Western to soak up the DSM vibe and hang out with the rest of the Rochester DSM crew. This year was much better than last year. The people were cooler, the cops were nicer, and nobody got stupid and vandalized stuff like they did last year.
Sunday morning we pack up the car and head on out to the drag strip. I was a little late getting there but Steve and the guys were nice enough to snag pit spots for us. With all the work Ive done in the last three weeks I wasnt feeling all that warm and fuzzy when it came to beating the snot out of the car. So I didnt bring race gas. I figured that I would take it easy on pump gas and just go have some fun.
My first run of the day was what I thought it would be, high 12s at around 106mph. That was with the boost spiking at 22-23psi and then holding at 19-20psi. The bad part is that the car was flat on the top end, which I knew was from knock. Here are the details
R/T 0.679
60 1.813
1/8 8.193
MPH 85.27
1/4 12.853
MPH 106.27
For my second run I added a bit more fuel and Ariane, my girlfriend, went along for the ride. This run was nearly identical to the first except for the better launch. I was still getting knock counts around 15-20 and not a lot of timing advance (16-22 degrees).
R/T 0.602
60 1.754
1/8 8.122
MPH 85.55
1/4 12.768
MPH 106.29
When I got back to look at the logs I noticed that my fuel trims were all at 139% so I reset the ECU and added 4 gallons of 110 to the 5 gallons of 93 that was in the car already. I just wanted to be safe
R/T 0.635
60 1.786
1/8 8.030
MPH 87.56
1/4 12.58
MPH 108.73 <<<< New best MPH with a 14b!!!!
That last run the car felt much better and I knew I had my timing advance back. I quick look at my logs and yep only 0-5 knock sums and 26-30 degrees of advance. Look at that trap speed! Almost 109mph with only 20 psi. I think on a cooler day closer to sea level this 14b will hit 110mph. Ive got one more run before the bracket racing starts so I just want to see on consistent I can drive this thing. So no more tuning or mechanical changes..
R/T 0.458 << RED light!
60 1.792
1/8 8.088
MPH 85.55
1/4 12.656
MPH 108.18
Ok, now the car is dialed in, here we go into bracket racing!!!! First round I run up against a 20g powered car with everything Buschur sells bolted onto it. He has a 12.80 dial in so I know hes sandbagging it. I need to cut a good light and hit my dial in to win. I dialed in at 12.60 and off I went. Because of his dial in he left the light first and got a really good jump on me. I hustled out of the hole but I just couldnt catch him. When I got my slip I was surprised to see that I had won even thought I broke out! It turns out the reason the guy got a good jump on me was because he red-lighted! Yeah! The other guys numbers are going to be in parenthesis. Just FYI
R/T 0.715 (0.394 RL!)
60 1.752 (2.000)
1/8 8.020 (8.348)
MPH 86.83 (90.90)
1/4 12.577 <<< Another 14b personal best!!!! (he did 12.949)
MPH 108.38 (he did 94.12 on the brakes)
On my next run I lined up with a 2g that looked like it meant business. Another sandbagger with a 12.65 dial in time that should really be running a 12.30. I changed my dial in from 12.60 to 12.55 which I know isnt a lot but I didnt want to loose by breaking out. Well, the guy came out of the hole and actually had a better reaction time (0.644 to 0.652) than I did but he broke out partially I think because I was so close at the finish. To be honest I was so bang on to my dial in I dont he could have beaten me..
R/T 0.652 (0.644)
60 1.751 (1.757)
1/8 8.016 (7.977)
MPH 86.44 (88.29)
1/4 12.577 <<< only 0.02 seconds off my dial-in!!! (12.455 broke out!)
MPH 107.94 (109.80)
I dont remember much about the next guy except that his 60 time was really bad. Even though he dialed in at 12.80 and got a good 0.3 second head start I beat him to the 330 mark by about 0.7 seconds. I was so far ahead of him that I mashed the brakes at the finish and still managed to run a 12.79 at 90.36mph!
R/T 0.569 (0.730)
60 1.782 (other guy ran a 2.304!)
1/8 8.057 (8.889)
MPH 86.64 (84.77)
1/4 12.795 (13.464)
MPH 90.36 (107.34)
Now Im in the finals with two other FWD cars. We drew cards to see who got the buy run and I didnt get it. So I ran against the mirage with the 4G63 transplant. He was running a 12.90 dial in time but I knew he had much more top-end than I did do to his low weight. The real advantage I had was my car was consistent and he was FWD. So, as we lined up I let him heat up his tires first. Then he hustled up to the start a lit both start lights. I took my time getting up there, then took some more to trip the first light, then a little more to trip the last light. I knew that if I took my time his hot tires would cool and his brain would fry from the anticipation. Funny thing is that it really didnt matter because I cut such a perfect light that he never had a chance..
R/T 0.503 <<new personal best (he did a 0.806)
60 1.737 (1.976 good for FWD)
1/8 7.999 (8.436)
MPH 86.74 (85.93)
1/4 12.610 (12.925)
MPH 96.64 (hit the brakes again cause I could see him in my mirrors!) (109.33)
Im in the finals!!! Just one more guy to beat and I win. The bad part is that Im really nervous. Like, I cant even stand still kind of nervous. With that 0.503 light I just cut I know I was only 0.004 seconds from red lighting. I have to take it easy at the launch but not so easy that I have to play catch-up. Once again I made this guy wait at the line but in the end it didnt really matter. I just out-drove him and won easily.
R/T 0.610 (0.810)
60 1.771 (he did 2.108!!!)
1/8 8.040 (8.442)
MPH 86.08 (88.94)
1/4 12.678 (12.856)
MPH 92.37 (on the brakes again) (111.57)
Well, that the end of the story! I won the B1 class at the shootout and had the pleasure of driving home with a big as trophy and a pretty girl. What an amazing end to three weeks of preparation. I have to say that I really felt that the car could have done 12.40s with the way it was running. It just seemed to get faster and faster as the day went on. It also never stalled, broke, or failed to win a race the whole weekend. The only thing I wished I did was given her a better paint job. I think that will come in due time. I just need to drive this for a while and stop fixing it. But thats another story
New girlfriend, great friends, hot cars, roller coasters, and good times .who could ask for anything more!!!
Tim
Sounds like you had quite a few weeks there.
