Given the company on this forum, my apologies for delay in getting round to this, but last weekend, I fulfilled a boyhood dream and took the ragtop down the quarter mile. It was on an old airfield set up for a drift and drag day on an typically Autumnal Saturday in the West of England; a mix of rain, wind and sunshine in equal measures. The drift track was a mixture of concrete, the odd bit of tar mac and cow pooh. It was very funny seeing guys getting it wrong and ending up doing rally cross rather than drifting in the muddy field. The drag strip was not much better and yet it was prefect, almost DIY but great organisation and people meant it all went really smoothly.
The cars were an amazing mix of Japanese & Eurpean street style, Drift specialists, Hot Rod (UK style - Anglia's and amazing Mark 1 Cortina Estate), Hot Rod (US style - Ford As and Bs) and various classics from 70's Capris to Mustangs and a old Ginetta; there was even an original GT40 which went down the track - huge respect.
My first run resulted in a wire coming off the coil after 4 feet - not good. Gremlin fixed, second run was amazing (lost to turbo'd Ford Fesita); and the third was my first win...
My friend who took the photo has clealry been fiddling in photoshop. The car was a Plymouth Fury and the guy driving it and I both had huge grins before and after. It seemed very old skool, big US muscle versus early bug.... the guys who did this for real must have been laughing so much!
Next run, spun the wheels too much so lost time and the race, although given the 700 bhp competition I wasn't expecting too much (took him on reaction time though)...
Next was a brief interlude where I had to find a new helmet to borrow (longer story), followed by a mixed second gear in the next run....
Final run of the day saw me just being beaten over the last part of the race by a 2 door BMW 3 series - he was a lucky boy!
Where this has left me is unfortunately is wanting more - I think I may a late bloomer. Best time of the day was 16 .05 sec, 81 mph, which should be good enough but it's not; I wanted/want to do better.
It seems I may have been bitten by the bug even though my timing sucks - I have a young family with a new born daughter so spanking money chasing horsepower and lower times will get me into a lot of trouble.
So what's next?
I was wondering if you guys had suggestions on things to do (without immediately buying a new engine, although I'm planning and hope springs eternal). So bearing in mind I have to try and workin these constraints, what else is there? For example:
- the gearbox has a mid mount on it but the back end jumped/juddered quite a bit when leaving the start line, is there something I can do to stop this?
- when leaving the start line, do I drop the clutch completely or do I need to control the power to the rear wheels?
- a friend was telling that I can make an adjustment to hand brake to use this as a staging brake, is this necessary or the best way to do it?
- I sold a berg traction bar I had picked up, was that a mistake and are they really useful?
The engine is a 1776 and my plan/desire is to get as close to 15 secs as possible. The plan has started already with a driver diet and re-fitting T-bars!
Look forward to hearing thoughts...
Cheers
Stuart
The Cal-look Lounge
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