Despite all the recent issues with the Blue Flame, we entered the 2014 battle of the big cars... the annual Southern Super Heavyweight Shootout.
The day started early and the weather was cold and windy. It was taking a long time to prep the track for the 4,000 plus pounds beasts of the dragstrip. Taking advantage of the downtime I decided to pre-load some different tunes to sort out some direction in the on-going tuning of the car. Problem was the tuning software declined to work due to some update issue which had previously worked just fine a couple days earlier. :mad-tilt:
So as they say, it was 'run what you brung and hope you brought enough'. The 1st time trial down the track yielded a disappointing 2.262 sixty foot launch and a sputtering run with a 14.358 ET at 96.39 mph.
I did have the A/F datalogger running and it showed it needed more fuel, particularly at the launch. With no way to modify the tune, I tried the other tunes hoping perhaps one of them showed better fuel but they were all worse.
I decided to simply run what I had and took another trip to the staging lanes for a second time trial. This time was only marginally better with a 2.103 sixty foot launch resulting in a 14.020 @ 97.21 timeslip.
I had originally entered in the Heavy Eliminator class which was a bracket class for 13.99 and faster cars. I had no hope of being competitive in that class, so I switched to the Street Eliminator class for 14.0 second and slower cars.
With only two time trials to work with, I dialed up a 13.9 for the first round of eliminations figuring I would leave myself a tenth of a second breathing room since I was convinced I wouldn't run any better than the 14 flat ET.
I was wrong. The launch felt better and I had to chase down the slower opponent, but much to my dismay I broke out with a 13.706 ET.
First round buybacks were the rule of the day and I happily ponied up the fee to get back in the competition.
Now I had no idea what the car was going to do and could only dial up the best ET with a 13.7 dial for the next round of eliminations. I would have to fender race at the top end of the track and try to get a good light and not break out. The next launch was still anemic at a 2.112 sixty foot time and I quickly caught the opponent and lifted at the end of the track, taking the win with a margin of victory 0.3151 seconds with a 13.997 ET.
The next round brought a couple surprises. In the staging lanes, the opposite car had a 14.4 dial as we pulled up to the staging line. Then the track official came over and informed me the tower was telling them I could not dial 13.xx and had to dial a 14.0 time to compete in the class. I acknowledged the decision and pulled into the water box with 14.000 lit up on dial-in board. After the burn out, the starting line attendant came over and again told me I was running a 14.0 dial according to the tower and he just wanted to make sure I knew. After all the drama, we finally got to launch and run down the track. I immediately noticed the win light in my lane indicating my opponent had red-lighted handing me the win.
The timeslip booth attendant informed me that the ET clock had map-functioned as he handed me the timeslip and was told to return to the staging lanes and they would re-run the round. The slip only registered a 2.090 sixty foot and a 5.787 at the 330' mark.
The re-run netted a repeat victory with the opponent red-lighting once again and I ran the pass out with a 14.029 on a 14.0 dial.
Next up was a opponent with a 15.6 dial and I knew the competition was getting better with the eliminations, so I decided to pull a bit deeper in the staging beam to help narrow down my reaction time to reduce my overall package as much as possible.
The strategy worked...
Car # 5027 / 5028(me)
Dial 15.60 / 14.00
R/T 0.134 / 0.002
60' 2.431 / 2.113
330' 6.587 / 5.813
1/8 10.072 / 8.934
mph 70.60 / 79.19
1000' 13.102 / 11.652
ET 15.712 / 14.137
MPH 86.00 / 85.77
After passing the opponent I hit the brakes as I neared the finish line and watched the win light in my lane.
I returned to the staging lanes for the final run of the day against a modified N/A Maurauder.
Car # 5028(me) / 5036
Dial 14.00 / 14.25
R/T -0.034 / 0.191
60' 2.076 / 2.071
330' 5.754 / 5.826
1/8 8.850 / 8.947
mph 79.50 / 79.43
1000' 11.542 / 11.652
ET 13.833 / 13.963
MPH 98.43 / 97.36
The Marauder went on to win the run-off of the bracket classes and grab the 'King of the Hill' trophy and I settled for runner up after a long day at the track.
Despite the loss, it was a great day at the track.
The day started early and the weather was cold and windy. It was taking a long time to prep the track for the 4,000 plus pounds beasts of the dragstrip. Taking advantage of the downtime I decided to pre-load some different tunes to sort out some direction in the on-going tuning of the car. Problem was the tuning software declined to work due to some update issue which had previously worked just fine a couple days earlier. :mad-tilt:
So as they say, it was 'run what you brung and hope you brought enough'. The 1st time trial down the track yielded a disappointing 2.262 sixty foot launch and a sputtering run with a 14.358 ET at 96.39 mph.
I did have the A/F datalogger running and it showed it needed more fuel, particularly at the launch. With no way to modify the tune, I tried the other tunes hoping perhaps one of them showed better fuel but they were all worse.
I decided to simply run what I had and took another trip to the staging lanes for a second time trial. This time was only marginally better with a 2.103 sixty foot launch resulting in a 14.020 @ 97.21 timeslip.
I had originally entered in the Heavy Eliminator class which was a bracket class for 13.99 and faster cars. I had no hope of being competitive in that class, so I switched to the Street Eliminator class for 14.0 second and slower cars.
With only two time trials to work with, I dialed up a 13.9 for the first round of eliminations figuring I would leave myself a tenth of a second breathing room since I was convinced I wouldn't run any better than the 14 flat ET.
I was wrong. The launch felt better and I had to chase down the slower opponent, but much to my dismay I broke out with a 13.706 ET.
First round buybacks were the rule of the day and I happily ponied up the fee to get back in the competition.
Now I had no idea what the car was going to do and could only dial up the best ET with a 13.7 dial for the next round of eliminations. I would have to fender race at the top end of the track and try to get a good light and not break out. The next launch was still anemic at a 2.112 sixty foot time and I quickly caught the opponent and lifted at the end of the track, taking the win with a margin of victory 0.3151 seconds with a 13.997 ET.
The next round brought a couple surprises. In the staging lanes, the opposite car had a 14.4 dial as we pulled up to the staging line. Then the track official came over and informed me the tower was telling them I could not dial 13.xx and had to dial a 14.0 time to compete in the class. I acknowledged the decision and pulled into the water box with 14.000 lit up on dial-in board. After the burn out, the starting line attendant came over and again told me I was running a 14.0 dial according to the tower and he just wanted to make sure I knew. After all the drama, we finally got to launch and run down the track. I immediately noticed the win light in my lane indicating my opponent had red-lighted handing me the win.
The timeslip booth attendant informed me that the ET clock had map-functioned as he handed me the timeslip and was told to return to the staging lanes and they would re-run the round. The slip only registered a 2.090 sixty foot and a 5.787 at the 330' mark.
The re-run netted a repeat victory with the opponent red-lighting once again and I ran the pass out with a 14.029 on a 14.0 dial.
Next up was a opponent with a 15.6 dial and I knew the competition was getting better with the eliminations, so I decided to pull a bit deeper in the staging beam to help narrow down my reaction time to reduce my overall package as much as possible.
The strategy worked...
Car # 5027 / 5028(me)
Dial 15.60 / 14.00
R/T 0.134 / 0.002
60' 2.431 / 2.113
330' 6.587 / 5.813
1/8 10.072 / 8.934
mph 70.60 / 79.19
1000' 13.102 / 11.652
ET 15.712 / 14.137
MPH 86.00 / 85.77
After passing the opponent I hit the brakes as I neared the finish line and watched the win light in my lane.
I returned to the staging lanes for the final run of the day against a modified N/A Maurauder.
Car # 5028(me) / 5036
Dial 14.00 / 14.25
R/T -0.034 / 0.191
60' 2.076 / 2.071
330' 5.754 / 5.826
1/8 8.850 / 8.947
mph 79.50 / 79.43
1000' 11.542 / 11.652
ET 13.833 / 13.963
MPH 98.43 / 97.36
The Marauder went on to win the run-off of the bracket classes and grab the 'King of the Hill' trophy and I settled for runner up after a long day at the track.
Despite the loss, it was a great day at the track.