nmyeti
01-27-2002, 05:00 PM
I have not posted much over here in this forum lately because i just don't race much. Last night i got the urge to go out and play, and while i was still on pump gas, i expect the car as it sat last night was in the low, low 12s with a decent launch. Car is pulling really hard on the new turbo, and i decided to go out hunting for bear.
A bunch of us were at Mcdonalds for a gathering that was hosted by www.nmautoscene.com (if your from NM this is the place to be). Things were starting to get a bit crazy when some idiot ricer that was not a part of the gathering showed up and started doing peg leg burn outs in his eclipse RS. We all laughed really hard at him when he fried his clutch in the parking lot showing of his mad power yo! ;)
Anyway after he did this, there were some teenagers in mid 80s domestics that started showing up and acting stupid, i figured (along with most of the nmautoscene.com people) that it was time to take off.
My plan was to head to blockbuster pick up a DVD and just go home and chill out with my wife.
After i left Mcdonalds, i went over to blockbuster to look for the DVD. They didn't have anything worth watching, so i called my wife and said i would be home later. I then called my friend Nate, and asked if the sunbeam was still around as i would like to at least give it a go and see how it turned out.
Now most of you will have no idea what a sunbeam tiger is... i don't really expect you to know what they are, but here are a few web pages to get you up to speed. For those of you that do not want to read up on them think shelby cobra style british sports car from the 60s. Came with a ford 289 IIRC stock, and weigh in at about 2600lbs.
http://fordpower.hypermart.net/rt967.html
http://www.sunbeamtiger.demon.co.uk/index2.htm
This sunbeam tiger, which by all accounts is the current fastest street car that actually goes out and races has a 90 dollar junk yard ford 302 in it with a 200hp progressive shot of N2o and a very nice 3 speed drag racing transmission (like 4000rpms stall converter!). Last time he was at the track in Albuquerque he was running consistant 11.4s, and while thats not the fastest car up here, the thing is he can launch very hard on the street, and i don't actually know of anyone that has beaten him on the street.
I got back to mcdonalds which was cleared out by the cops shortly after i decided to leave for blockbuster, and the sunbeam guy was still there. When i pulled in and parked my car next to his it was quite funny to see the two together. Kind of like the odd couple. There could not be 2 more different cars lined up for a race as my 4 door 4 cyl family sedan sporting its snowboard rack, and his tiny 2 seater british sports car running an american V8.
I got out of the car and talked to the sunbeam guy for a bit, and we agreed we would go down to the old airport where we can actually get right at a full 1/4 mile in and give it a go.
we raced 2 times.
1st race he out reaction timed me badly (starter was really quick) but i got a decent launch. By the end of the race (almost a 1/4) i was withen 3 cars of him.
We come back and talk a bit. He said "you were pulling me top end where my n2o was breaking up." I said ya i noticed i was creaping on you, but you just destroyed me from the launch. I told him i would not mind running them again if he was ok with it...
We race a second time, and this time Nate does the starting. I got a good reaction, but i tried to launch it at 5500rpms like the old setup. Bog bad... motor came down to like 2500-3000rpms and went nowhere... He raped me on the launch (easy 2 cars) and pulled another car or so when i shifted into second (3 speed auto is still in 1st there i guess) and then creaped away till the top of second where it stablized at 4-5 cars... it held here to the end of the race.
I learned a few things...
1. can't expect to go out without any practice on a totally new setup and nail a decent launch
2. That thing is fast, and i am better off staying away from him He said that as it sits (street tires) it was running 11.4s in albuquerque last time he was there.
3. Don't go out hunting for bear, calling out in a sense the fastest street car in albuquerque, on pump gas and only 1.25 bar. Next time i am going to make sure i have the good stuff in the tank and the boost controller cranked if i ever race him again.
Good race with a cool car that kicked my rear.
After we split off from the sunbeam, ryan (dsm friend) said he wanted to run me. I figure what the heck since i need to work on launching anyway.
We ran 2x from a stop and once from a roll.
Frist race from a stop, he put a good launch on me to my nasty bog. Passed him pretty hard in the top of second, and just kept pulling away hard.
Second race i launched decent to him bogging... it was not really close
1st gear punch, i pull almost instantly and just keep pulling...
After we did this i figured i better learn how to launch the new setup. I stopped in the mid of the street and think i may have figured it out... seems my launch RPM needs to come up 500-1000rpms from the old setup now that i have the new flywheel and turbo.
Figured it out on one launch with Nate in the car, and it pulled HARD. Made me wish i could have done that against the Sunbeam, but i was too timid when racing him since i had not really learned the new setup.
After we split off from ryan, Nate and i headed back to montgomery. We had a guy in a red supercharged cobra reving at us. I told the guy that if he wanted to race to follow us... we turned off on a side street. I had fully planned to take this guy to a spot where we could run from a dead stop since i was still trying to work on launching, but nate suggested that i should try to run him a little now from a roll to see if its even worth the gas to drive to the racing spot. I thought this sounded like a good plan. The cobra and i got next to each other at about 20mph or so... We punch it, and he pulls me in 1st. Turbo spools in 2nd and i go by him. By the shift into 3rd or shortly there after, he gave up as it was not even close.
Talked to him a bit later, and he said it was an S-trim blower runing 8psi on a 5.0 cobra block He had all the other basic mods (exahsut, gears, etc) that one normally does before a blower.
Asked if he wanted to go from a light (wanted to practice my launches anyway since the sunbeam death was still fresh in my mind) and he just said no way "that thing is too fast"
Felt good to race a bit after such a long time away.
Thought you guys might enjoy these.
A bunch of us were at Mcdonalds for a gathering that was hosted by www.nmautoscene.com (if your from NM this is the place to be). Things were starting to get a bit crazy when some idiot ricer that was not a part of the gathering showed up and started doing peg leg burn outs in his eclipse RS. We all laughed really hard at him when he fried his clutch in the parking lot showing of his mad power yo! ;)
Anyway after he did this, there were some teenagers in mid 80s domestics that started showing up and acting stupid, i figured (along with most of the nmautoscene.com people) that it was time to take off.
My plan was to head to blockbuster pick up a DVD and just go home and chill out with my wife.
After i left Mcdonalds, i went over to blockbuster to look for the DVD. They didn't have anything worth watching, so i called my wife and said i would be home later. I then called my friend Nate, and asked if the sunbeam was still around as i would like to at least give it a go and see how it turned out.
Now most of you will have no idea what a sunbeam tiger is... i don't really expect you to know what they are, but here are a few web pages to get you up to speed. For those of you that do not want to read up on them think shelby cobra style british sports car from the 60s. Came with a ford 289 IIRC stock, and weigh in at about 2600lbs.
http://fordpower.hypermart.net/rt967.html
http://www.sunbeamtiger.demon.co.uk/index2.htm
This sunbeam tiger, which by all accounts is the current fastest street car that actually goes out and races has a 90 dollar junk yard ford 302 in it with a 200hp progressive shot of N2o and a very nice 3 speed drag racing transmission (like 4000rpms stall converter!). Last time he was at the track in Albuquerque he was running consistant 11.4s, and while thats not the fastest car up here, the thing is he can launch very hard on the street, and i don't actually know of anyone that has beaten him on the street.
I got back to mcdonalds which was cleared out by the cops shortly after i decided to leave for blockbuster, and the sunbeam guy was still there. When i pulled in and parked my car next to his it was quite funny to see the two together. Kind of like the odd couple. There could not be 2 more different cars lined up for a race as my 4 door 4 cyl family sedan sporting its snowboard rack, and his tiny 2 seater british sports car running an american V8.
I got out of the car and talked to the sunbeam guy for a bit, and we agreed we would go down to the old airport where we can actually get right at a full 1/4 mile in and give it a go.
we raced 2 times.
1st race he out reaction timed me badly (starter was really quick) but i got a decent launch. By the end of the race (almost a 1/4) i was withen 3 cars of him.
We come back and talk a bit. He said "you were pulling me top end where my n2o was breaking up." I said ya i noticed i was creaping on you, but you just destroyed me from the launch. I told him i would not mind running them again if he was ok with it...
We race a second time, and this time Nate does the starting. I got a good reaction, but i tried to launch it at 5500rpms like the old setup. Bog bad... motor came down to like 2500-3000rpms and went nowhere... He raped me on the launch (easy 2 cars) and pulled another car or so when i shifted into second (3 speed auto is still in 1st there i guess) and then creaped away till the top of second where it stablized at 4-5 cars... it held here to the end of the race.
I learned a few things...
1. can't expect to go out without any practice on a totally new setup and nail a decent launch
2. That thing is fast, and i am better off staying away from him He said that as it sits (street tires) it was running 11.4s in albuquerque last time he was there.
3. Don't go out hunting for bear, calling out in a sense the fastest street car in albuquerque, on pump gas and only 1.25 bar. Next time i am going to make sure i have the good stuff in the tank and the boost controller cranked if i ever race him again.
Good race with a cool car that kicked my rear.
After we split off from the sunbeam, ryan (dsm friend) said he wanted to run me. I figure what the heck since i need to work on launching anyway.
We ran 2x from a stop and once from a roll.
Frist race from a stop, he put a good launch on me to my nasty bog. Passed him pretty hard in the top of second, and just kept pulling away hard.
Second race i launched decent to him bogging... it was not really close
1st gear punch, i pull almost instantly and just keep pulling...
After we did this i figured i better learn how to launch the new setup. I stopped in the mid of the street and think i may have figured it out... seems my launch RPM needs to come up 500-1000rpms from the old setup now that i have the new flywheel and turbo.
Figured it out on one launch with Nate in the car, and it pulled HARD. Made me wish i could have done that against the Sunbeam, but i was too timid when racing him since i had not really learned the new setup.
After we split off from ryan, Nate and i headed back to montgomery. We had a guy in a red supercharged cobra reving at us. I told the guy that if he wanted to race to follow us... we turned off on a side street. I had fully planned to take this guy to a spot where we could run from a dead stop since i was still trying to work on launching, but nate suggested that i should try to run him a little now from a roll to see if its even worth the gas to drive to the racing spot. I thought this sounded like a good plan. The cobra and i got next to each other at about 20mph or so... We punch it, and he pulls me in 1st. Turbo spools in 2nd and i go by him. By the shift into 3rd or shortly there after, he gave up as it was not even close.
Talked to him a bit later, and he said it was an S-trim blower runing 8psi on a 5.0 cobra block He had all the other basic mods (exahsut, gears, etc) that one normally does before a blower.
Asked if he wanted to go from a light (wanted to practice my launches anyway since the sunbeam death was still fresh in my mind) and he just said no way "that thing is too fast"
Felt good to race a bit after such a long time away.
Thought you guys might enjoy these.