Any Day Racing is a Great Day!

Went to Steele this past Sunday afternoon for some racing. Temps were in the 80's F, so it wasn't a great day for times, but always a great day for fun.

My main goal this week was to try out my new drag racing rims and tires. They are TSW Nurburgrings in Matte Gunmetal, 18x8 (35mm offset) up front and 18x9.5 (40mm offset) in the rear with Nitto 555, 265/50-18 and Nitto 555R, 305/45-18. The tires maintain the stock height and the TSW rear drag radials are great for driving to the track and hooking the launch, plus they're not too dangerous if caught in a rainstorm on the way home.

With the new setup, I cut 1.9x sixty-foots on every pass, with a best of 12.986 @ 107.51, sixty-1.964. Slower than last time, but good and consistent. Here's a video from the stand:




I also ran into my friend in the Shelby GT500 Mustang. He had a good run against an amazing 2011 Porsch Panamera: a four-door Porsche capable of runnning 11's.









The Porsche also ran against a Twin-Turbo Z06 Corvette. Quite a sight.









Any day racing is a great day!

The Best of the GTO Videos, Part II

Here are a few more videos from various eras of the GTO.

First, when I built the heads/cam LS1 motor, I took a visit to El Paso, Texas, my previous assignment. El Paso has a great street scene and managed to find many legal venues for fun. One was the Dezert Demonz airport street races. On Sunday nights, hundreds of cars and thousands of people would gather at the private airport for cars, fun, and racing. This montage is of one of my runs against a nice Pontiac Grand Prix GTP.



Next is a different kind of montage: a compilation of launches at the drag strip in Steele, Alabama. This is still the heads/cam package I had, but the tim es were getting into the lower 12's. Included are the "conversations with the timeslip guy", where I chatted with the fellow in the booth about each of my runs. A fun night.



Finally, a view from the stands when I had built the 408 motor. This was the first 11-second run for the GTO.

Quicker at Steele

Another run at Steele Sunday afternoon, set a new personal best to help celebrate the 16th Anniversary of my Ordination to the Priesthood (March 4th).

New best: 12.761 @ 109.38 (with new CAI and A6 HPTune).
Previous best: 13.224 @ 106.76 with Cat-back only (Borla Touring).

Only changes: Cold Air Intake(Fastlane Pipeline 4") and my own custom A6 transmission tune with HP Tuners. No other mods to the motor or tune.

Best run:
Sixty: 1.942 (stock 20" PZeros at 27psi)
1/8: 8.282 MPH: 86.98
1/4: 12.761 MPH: 109.38

Overcast in the 40'sF at Steele, good track prep. I figure the CAI was worth 2/10ths, the A6 HPTune 2/10ths, and the weather 1/10th. Guessing, of course.

The car chirped the 1-2 shift, so you can see how much the transimission tune helped. It was almost too good a tune for the launch. I'll be adding drag radials next week.

On the way to the track, I got 22mpg. On the way back with the stock tune reinstalled, I got 21mpg (250+ mile round trip, all highway).

I really like the quality of the Fastlane Pipeline 4" CAI. I've used a down-and-out intake on my GTO, and I feel that and the 4" really make a difference.



First video:


Same run, from the inside with my Ipod:


Lots of fun!

One thousand miles on the Odo.