Great fun at the track :D

bhuff30

Founding Member
Dec 11, 2001
6,037
35
129
Olathe KS
I had absolutely no plans of going to the track, but I ended up there and having a lot of fun. I was in the 97GT, but didn't even have my helmet or even 20$ cash to run. I borrowed a helmet and some money and I was racing. haha Not the car of choice, being an NPI with 149k miles and the ONLY modification being and offroad pipe.

My last race was absolutely epic. I was lined up against a black 99-04 GT mustang. I don't know what he had for mods, but I knew he was up 45hp on me just in factory trim. I knew I'd have to NAIL the light and get a killer 60' to even have a hope against him. I got an excellent start, with a .064 reaction time to his pokey .240, and the BEST 60' ever for the car with a 2.047 (normally does 2.1-2.2s). This is on a 500 tread wear street tire and stock 3.27 gears! To my shock, by the end of the 60' he wasn't even in sight. In fact, I couldn't find him in the mirrors either, he was running directly in my blind spot. I kept nailing the gears and he stayed right in my blind spot! Somewhere after the 1000' mark, his 50+hp advantage prevailed and he started gaining fast. By the finish line, he had a tiny .078 second advantage on me! As we crossed the line, I was shouting and screaming as he nosed past me just before the strip. I've never had a race so close as this in 100+ passes I've made in my life! I gave him all HELL in the little NPI. I ran a [email protected] to his [email protected]. Later it he night, I saw him run a 13.8 at better than 100. :D

I made a total of 4 passes and LOST every single one. I had a 3/4 tank of gas, and none of my usual tricks (like extra air pressure in the front tires, removing the spare and other dead weight, even leaving the sub in the car). I was mostly running mid 14s at 94ish mph. To my credit, 2 of the losses were against a blown 3v GT. He had a kenne bell and it was damn nasty.
 
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14.2 for a npi wiht 147k is insane. thats what you call the driver mod.

these cars dont lose power till around 200k or more. Mine has 150k+ and runs like a champ.

Great deal. Those gears are proboly helping you out of the hole with crappy tires. Also, stock 3.27's are nice for npi's because you cross the trap in your powerband in 3rd. Sounds like you had a blast! You need to get a good 1/8 mile track to let those npi driving skills shine against the higher hp cars.
 
Most excelent :nice:
I really need to get down to Texas Motor Speedway as its only a 20 min drive to see what I can get my NPI Stang to run.
 
I've tried running out the 1/4 in 3rd and it never works for me! I end up crossing the line at ~5500+ and way out of the power band. It is happiest below 5000 and that's where I usually shift. I always loose a bit of ET and 1-2mph when I run out 3rd.

I should have gone a lot more aggressive on the launches, since the traction was there. I had the extra weight of 3/4 tank of gas, the spare tire and the sub in the trunk, and the track was very well prepped. There was racing all day long and the guys taking care of the track were proud to say they broke 4 rear ends for the day. :nice: I didn't make full use of it though.

I wish I knew I was going to the 1/4 ahead of time because I would have bolted on the nittos and done all the little tricks to see if I could run a 13. Maybe next time! It sure won't happen if the weather warms up though.