[cwebster]

Originally Posted by big dave

Cal, man it's good to see you're back at it again. I hope all's well with your health now. As always, you've given us some of the most informative and insightful posts anyone could ask for. With all the practice and documenting you're doing, it's no doubt you'll start to see those times fall again. Now is the time of year the die hard racers have been waiting for with the cold temperatures and good da, we just have to hope the tracks are treated well enough to offset the cold surfaces.

Thanks Dave. I do try to be thorough and it's always nice to know someone appreciates it. This track was prepped very well in both lanes. I alternated left and right to see if one was better, as I usually do. Although both were prepared equally well, the left lane always has a more narrow groove because big motor, wide-track drag racers tend to use the right lane and overrun the start line a lot for their burnouts. Our cars have a wide track so, in the left lane you have to either pick which half to line up on or straddle the narrow groove. For me, the left lane is often better if it's not too slick because it lets me spin just a little off the tree. On slick days the right lane is more consistently sticky.

Racing keeps the blood pumping through my veins, bro. I try to stay focussed on the positive. Docs are keeping an eye on my circulatory system and heart so I've had several imaging appointments. I've also been dealing with the VA on some issues related to my wartime service. I'm not gonna let all that get to me, though. At the track I can put everything else out of my mind and focus on going fast.

Originally Posted by big dave

One thing I noticed when comparing your time slips to the PDR video... the mph seems to be way low on your slips. Normally, depending on the track, my PDR mph is either dead on with track's timer, or maybe a couple mph low. Yours, on the other hand, is way off. Though the et's don't match up between the two, we know why. The mph just isn't making sense to me. Your PDR was showing 128 on 1 pass, yet the time slip showed 121. What gives? I'm sure you already have that figured out. lol. One thing's certain, you know how to handle a manual! No wonder you're the quickest manual on our list so far.

I noticed that too... I was thinking that their speed trap optical gate might be placed slightly off or there might be network latencies in the copper connections from weathering or wear. A speed trap will tend to give a lower speed than a direct measurement on the car, though. The speedometer is showing speed at a single point in time whereas the trap calculates speed as a function of distance over time. When the continuously accelerating car trips the first (speed trap) gate it's going slower than when it trips the 1/4 mile gate. Also, my estimate of speed at finish was based on trying to pause the video at the moment I passed over the last gate to read the PDR. I could have miscalculated this.

Nonetheless, I'm going to leave a note on their FB page messaging to ask about it. I'm on the stock tires here so I know my speedometer is within 1 or 2 MPH of actual, based on public road radar speed signs and traffic tickets (just a few). Even the DR's are about the same height, only about 7mm taller. That would put the speedometer slightly lower than actual.

Thanks for the compliment Dave - means a lot coming from such a seasoned racer as yourself.

Originally Posted by big dave

There was a big splash when David (17CamaroZL1) busted down the 10 second barrier with his stock ZL1. I too was able to get a new best before the tracks up this way closed for a few months...though I wasn't very close to the 10s. I'm not giving up though, spring can't get here soon enough.

I can't wait to hear how you next trip down the 1320 turns out...until then, I'll be tuned in

That's amazing! You and David are definitely pioneers of the A10 racers. I've said from the beginning these should be 10-sec cars - even the M6, were it not for the booby-trapped ECMs.

I should have at least 1 more track weekend before the season ends. Yesterday was a bust, though. Even though I pestered them ahead of time to be sure they'd be opening the gates, only 8 cars showed up so they cancelled and gave us our money back. They're scheduled for Street Legal Drag racing next Sunday and the weather looks very favorable so we'll see... I'm doing everything I can to get local racers and fans to show up.

--Cal