Went to the track last night

[saber]

Okay,
So I went to Raceway Park last night to take a few quarter mile runs with the GT. There was much excitement and picture taking. The temp was about 50 degrees. I did not warm up the tires or lower the air pressure. I launched very easy at 3,000 rpms and stayed at that RPM for about 2 seconds after take off before I floored the accelerator. I had no wheel spin (which told me I launched too easy!). My shift from second to third was late and my stats were:

60 foot 2.075
330 foot 5.294
1/8 MILE 7.836 at 97.01 mph
1/4 mile 11.8 at 123.7 mph

I estimate that with a more aggressive take off and a better second to third shift, I could easly have gotten 11.6. I could not run "all out" for a second race because the tower informed me that my helmet was not certified for the ET the GT was capable of.

 

[dbk]

Not bad for one run!

It looks like your car easily has more in it as well. With an 1/8th mph like that, I'm sure you can squeak a good 4-5mph out at the big end, given the GT's prodigous power up top. That 2.07 could also easily get down around 1.9, and you're looking at .2-.3 better from that alone.

:cheers

 

[Jason Watt]

nice... :thumbsup

 

[jamie]

I think that is an excellent time for the first time you went out in your car, and with that mph you ought to be able to see 11.50's if you choose to run it more times and get practice and can get the 60' time down. I think the time you ran is much more in line with the hp to wt figures of the car and what I expect to run in mine. Those low 11 times in the 128 mph range are just fantasy and unrealistic and make good magazine reading and bench racing but that is about it. Nice run!
When you say raceway park do you mean Englishtown?
Jamie Furman

 

[B O N Y]

good show, quite respectable :biggrin

 

[saber]

I think that is an excellent time for the first time you went out in your car, and with that mph you ought to be able to see 11.50's if you choose to run it more times and get practice and can get the 60' time down. I think the time you ran is much more in line with the hp to wt figures of the car and what I expect to run in mine. Those low 11 times in the 128 mph range are just fantasy and unrealistic and make good magazine reading and bench racing but that is about it. Nice run!
When you say raceway park do you mean Englishtown?
Jamie Furman

Jamie,
Yes; Englishtown, I will tell you that launching is tough with this car. I tried another run, just for a better 60 foot time, and I ended up with 2.6. I have a fair amount of 1/4 mile experience and I feel that if I had Drag radials, I could get low 11s; there really is that much power in the top. Are you in the tri state area?

 

[jamie]

No I am from Virginia but if you were ever into vipers I am a viper club member and come up to englishtown every year with my supercharged viper to run in the viper shootouts and I know a few of the Jersey boys up there. I, like you have a lot of drag race experience and I have done a couple of leaves on the street and can tell the car is much more difficult to bring out hard than say a viper gts which on a dragstrip will runaway from the SRT cars. But I am going to the track stock first next week to see what it will run on regular tires, and then I will try the radials maybe take them with me that day.
Jamie

 

[saber]

I would suggest you start at a 3,250 rpm launch, the trick for me was knowing how long to hold it before going all out. You should get better times than 11.8 if you have 3 or 4 runs available for trial and error. Let me know how you do.

 

[jamie]

I definately will but I am a little apprehensive with this car because it is really hard to leave in.
Jamie

 

[Bill Briley]

EX-O-lent !! :thumbsup

I am in the eastern PA. area and have run Englishtown many times. I will agree the GT is a real chalange to "bring off" on the street. I have raced my Roe SC Viper at E-Town. (10.71 at 129mph....Tower advised me to take it home.) I had G-force Drag Radials and 3:73 rear gears. I know it would do better.
Any way the point is ,a set of Drag Radials would make things a lot easier.
Please keep us informed.

 

[jamie]

It looks like what Jerry Deyoung said is correct alot of viper owners like the gt! I know I do. My viper was the first viper to ever be successfully supercharged and it was done by Jason Heffner, built the system from scratch and never had any issues whatsoever and always ran good and looked factory installed. As a matter of fact my first pass ever with the supercharger was a 10.51 at almost 135 with 6psi of boost and drag radials. The car never had any other mods, it had the stock exhaust system , stock gears etc. A couple years ago at the viperclub meet at englishtown in 104 degree weather the car ran 10.80's at 131 on my daily street tires which were not really that good of drag tires as they were 19" pirelli mounted on 19" 547 hre's. If your into vipers you know Jason is really the top of the food chain for viper tuners and being a good friend of mine he is looking at what mod or mods that can be made to maximize the performance of the gt, without jepordizing the warranty or the cars excellent street manners. If anyone is interested I will keep you posted.
Jamie Furman

 

[dbk]

...being a good friend of mine he is looking at what mod or mods that can be made to maximize the performance of the gt, without jepordizing the warranty or the cars excellent street manners. If anyone is interested I will keep you posted.
Jamie Furman

That is definitely interesting Jamie. Heffner definitely has the rep, I'm sure everyone would love to hear what he comes up with.


:cheers

 

[saber]

I am checking into drag radials but I can't seem to find the exact stock size so I could put them on a spare set of stock rims. I don't think I like the stock eagle tires; I have experienced some abrupt "surprises". What is the best way to prep the stock tires for take-off?