The "BAD 05GT" Drag Racing Video Thread

[US-1]

Pretty good 1/8th mile car, Don.

[don_w]

Originally Posted by US-1

Pretty good 1/8th mile car, Don.

Thanks... and that's at the "parking lot" track. haha. We'll be out at the good track in two weeks. I'm hoping we get good dry air that weekend... would love two see this thing get closer to 6.6s (and stay consistent).

[psfracer]

Do you run quicker at the parking lot or Barona? I am thinking Barona, even though the DA isn't as good, the track prep has to be way better.

I am hoping to pull consistent 6.70s at Barona, hopefully.

[don_w]

Better at Barona. Not only is the track/prep better, but it is typically much drier there. The humidity hurts my car more than a high DA due to heat or altitude. Just look back at FFW in Fontana. My car ran a bunch of 6.8s in the 1/8 there (and one 6.75), and it was hot (90 degrees) with the DA ranging from 3,000 to 4,000 feet.

Last night at the Q it was just plain yucky. On my last run, the temp was 55 and the dew point was 49. Hell, even all the stuff just sitting around in the pits got soaked from the condensation. We had a hard time getting the car on the trailer because the wet metal was slippery and the slicks would spin.

I'm hoping that the weather at Barona in two weeks will be in the 60s, sunny and dry. We'd all be loving that.

[don_w]

1/8-Mile Drags, Barona, February 21-22, 2009

This trip to the track was actually a culmination of about 3 months of work. Back in December, a crack was discovered in a water jacket of my aluminum block. Adam at ST Motorsports attempted to save it, but it was not to be. So, I made the decision to switch to the Ford Racing Boss 5.0 Modular iron block (aka, the Big Bore block). I kept the same crank and rods, but had to get new pistons made. Fast forward to February 14, when I was able to bring the car home with the new engine. The plan was to put some miles on it, and then have Adam put a track tune in it on Thursday, 2/19 and test it at Irwindale that night.

The first run at Irwindale resulted in a sputtering/coughing at the top end, so Adam made a change in the tune. Run #2 was a little better, but it still nosed over at the top end. Run #3 was the best (6.691 @ 103.04), but I noticed the wideband gauge showing mid-12s. So, Adam made another change in the tune, which we were going to test on Saturday at Barona.

During the first run on Saturday, I observed the AFR still in the mid 12s. I spoke to Adam over the phone, and using the Predator, I richened it up 8%. Donna made the next pass, and she said she saw high 12s on the wideband. This made no sense, so I made another pass and sure enough, it was about 12.8. So, after talking to Adam again on the phone, we suspected that maybe my wideband O2 sensor was faulty (it is almost 3 years old now). Without reliable data, it made any more tuning basically impossible. So, after the 3rd run, we made the decision to play it safe, and just have some fun for the weekend. I pulled 2* of timing out of it across the board and left it like that.

Over the weekend, we made a total of 11 runs. Even though we never got into the 6.6s, we still had fun, and Donna set a new personal best for her.

Here are the videos from Saturday, February 21, at Barona. The videos marked with the asterisks (**) are my favorites.

** Video #1, Time 10:48 am, DA = 3,004 ft:
My first run was my best of the weekend, and my best ever at Barona. It was also the best 60-foot time at Barona ever. I ended up running 6.765 @ 102.226, 1.461. The other car made a really run at 6.472 @ 110.157, 1.486.

** Video #2, Time 12:05 pm, DA = 3,104 ft:
After changing the tune by richening it up 8%, Donna made her first pass, and was just a tick slower. She was racing Ed (msgt46270) on the run, who was making his track comeback after almost a 2-year absence. It was great to see him making runs! Both of them cut identical RTs (0.145), and Donna ran 6.776 @ 100.492, 1.472, to Ed’s 7.602 @ 91.375, 1.692.

Video #3, Time 1:37 pm, DA = 3,300 ft:
This pass was in the “Run for the Money” competition. I was dialed in at 6.77, but it didn’t run the number. I kept the same tune settings as the previous run, but maybe the warmer air had an effect. Bottom line, it ran 6.821 @ 100.643, 1.481.

Video #4, Time 3:30 pm, DA = 3,410 ft:
Prior to this run, I reset the fuel to where it had been previously, and pulled 2* of global timing out of the car. This is how we left it for the rest of the weekend. Donna cut her best light of the weekend on this run (0.058), but coupled with the warmer air, all she could muster was a 6.979 @ 100.812, 1.579. The 60-ft was off by about a tenth. The other car ran even better than he did against me earlier, with a 6.177 @ 112.349, 1.443.

Video #5, Time 4:43 pm, DA = 3,177 ft:
On this run, I was lined up against Brian (Habu). This ended up being my worst run of the weekend, when it coughed in first gear for some reason. You can hear it on the video. I ran 6.928 @ 100.877, 1.547, with a 0.048 light. Brian tried to cheat, by leaving 0.028 early… haha. He ran 9.067 @ 81.926, 1.918.

Video #6, Time 5:27 pm, DA = 3,026 ft:
Donna was paired up with Grant (gmantheman) on this run. Once again, my car hiccupped down low, killing the 60’ time and the ET. Donna tripped the beams at 7.026 @ 100.474, 1.610. Grant ran 8.877 @ 80.873, 2.104.


And here are the videos from Sunday, February 22, at Barona.

** Video #1, Time 10:25 am, DA = 2,819 ft:
Donna made the first run of the day, and it was by far the best of the weekend. It was her personal best 60-foot ever (1.471), as well as the overall best 330’ and 1/8-mile numbers of the weekend. She went 4.334 @ 79.609 at the 330’ mark, and 6.723 @ 102.868 at the finish. A new Personal Best for Donna, and the best ever for the car at Barona. Nice job! Her opponent ran 8.025 @ 89.450, 2.036.

Video #2, Time 11:14 am, DA = 2,984 ft:
I was next in the seat, and couldn’t come close to Donna’s ET. I ran 6.825 @ 101.876, 1.507. The other car ran 10.391 @ 71.887, 2.629.

** Video #3, Time 11:49 am, DA = 3,063 ft:
On this run, Donna was paired up with a quick GT500. I had been talking to the guy earlier, and he said he had the 3.4L Whipple at 18lbs of boost, making over 800 at the tire. He was running a manual trans. Unlike a lot of other GT500 owners, he was running slicks on 15” Bogarts, so his traction was good. Donna ran 6.866 @ 101.504, 1.552, and GT500 ran 6.700 @ 105.387, 1.507. Since Donna jumped the tree a little (-0.055), and his RT was 0.109, they were only 0.002 apart at the strip.

** Video #4, Time 2:18 pm, DA = 3,477 ft:
My last run of the weekend started off with damn-near a perfect light. I cut a 0.001 reaction time, and a 1.499 60-foot, en route to a 6.840 @ 101.663. The other car ran 7.625 @ 90.224, 1.705.

Video #5, Time 3:20 pm, DA = 3,629 ft:
Donna’s final run was very frustrating. First they pull her into to the water box, for what appeared to be a solo pass. But no… they had her sit there while some tube chassis car sloooowwwwlllyyy pulled in too. Then it proceeded to do a John Force burnout, way past the tree, at which point it apparently couldn’t get into reverse, so it idled down the track. Meanwhile, Donna is still sitting back there. So, now they pull another car in to face her, which goes past the beams too. While all this is happening, my car is just getting hotter. Deep staging didn’t help either. Predictably, when Donna finally gets to run, it sucked. The car hiccupped again down low, and then could only run 7.118 @ 100.943 (versus 10.411 @ 72.121). You can hear my frustration at the whole thing at the end of the run. We decided to call it a weekend after that run.

[don_w]

1/8-Mile Drags, Barona, March 21, 2009

This trip to the track was primarily for suspension testing. After installing the 2.8L Kenne Bell supercharger, the car wasn’t launching as hard down low (based on runs at Fontana last week). So, the plan was to get some baseline runs, then change the angle of the lower control arms to shift the car’s instant center towards the rear. The LCA change was made after the 4th run… but the results were inconclusive.

I made a total of 7 runs. Even though I never got into the 6.6s, I did end up with three runs that were quicker than I ever ran at this track before.

Here are the videos from Saturday, March 21, at Barona. The videos marked with the asterisks (**) are my favorites.

** Video #1, Time 10:23 am, DA = 2,217 ft:
My first run was my 2nd best of the day, and at the time, my best ever at Barona. I ended up running 6.737 @ 104.365, 1.550. The 104.365mph was the car’s best 1/8-mi trap speed ever. The other car ran 8.547 @ 84.894, 2.114.




** Video #2, Time 10:52 am, DA = 2,260 ft:
My second run was my 3rd best of the weekend. I ran a 6.755 @ 104.044, 1.540. The other car ran 8.339 @ 82.852, 1.741.




Video #3, Time 11:17 am, DA = 2,466 ft:
On this run, I tried to launch from an idle, without bringing it up on the converter. It seemed to launch a little harder, but then it hiccupped in first gear, which killed the numbers. The car slowed to a 6.840 @ 103.571, 1.574. The other car ran 8.339 @ 82.852, 1.741.




**Video #4, Time 12:44 am, DA = 3,205 ft:
The pass was part of the Run For The Money competition. It costs $10 to enter and you get one pass… closest to the dial with out going under or going red, wins the pot. Since the DA was much worse, I figured it wouldn’t run as quick as in the morning, but not as bad as the previous run. So I dialed in a 6.78. Oops… I was wrong. It made the best run of the day, as well as my best ever at Barona. Go figure. The car ran 6.728 @ 103.621, 1.509. The other car ran 6.567 @ 103.121, 1.414 on a 6.54 dial in.




Video #5, Time 2:40 pm, DA = 3,044 ft:
This was the first pass after the LCA angle adjustment. The 60-foot time was the best of the day, but the rest of the run wasn’t as good. It ran 6.808 @ 102.950, 1.507. My opponent aborted… 14.349 @ 44.718.




Video #6, Time 3:34 pm, DA = 3,355 ft:
This was a frustrating run. The tree didn’t activate after we got staged, and I ended up sitting there with the car up on the converter a lot longer than I wanted to. It really put some heat in the engine, too. Again, the car hiccupped down low, resulting in a 60-ft time of 1.559, and the worst run of the day, 6.852 @ 103.307. The nice looking Chevelle in the other lane ran 6.981 @ 100.635, 1.636.




Video #7, Time 4:02 pm, DA = 3,170 ft:
The last run of the day was also frustrating. After I rolled into the water box, I had to sit and wait while they pushed someone back from the line, again putting heat into the engine. After that, it hiccupped again down low and all it would run was a 6.826 @ 102.926, 1.567. The other car went 6.982 @ 101.862, 1.688.

[Chris06GT]

Nice runs and video Don!! Love seeing vid's of you guys running....

[don_w]

Thanks. And I forgot to mention. Donna wasn't feeling well, so she skipped this trip. My son had camera duty this time.

[maxpayne]

Originally Posted by don_w

As most of you know, I've been videotaping the vast majority of my drag races for quite sometime, and have posted them on various forums. I'm not going to repost all the older ones here, but they can be found on my Car Domain site: http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2450734/2

However, I will be posting all my future videos here in this thread. Last weekend we raced on both Friday (at Qualcomm) and Saturday (at Barona). Both of these are 1/8-mile tracks and are they only tracks here in San Diego. Over 95% of my runs have been at these two tracks.

Anyway, here is the first batch from last Friday, 4/6/07.


===============================================


1/8-Mile Drags, RaceLegal at Qualcomm, April 6, 2007

This was a fun night at the track. The Stangpede Club was out in force for a trackside BBQ, with quite a few members making runs down the track. We had a great time hanging out, eating burgers and dogs, and watching the races!

All of our runs were on the 10psi blower pulley. The temperature was around 60 degrees all evening, but the humidity was pretty high (over 70%). Dew point was in the 50’s all night, which really hurt the air.

We only made 11 runs because we quit a little early. But one of them was good enough for another trophy! Donna won the Super Street Class trophy for running closest to the class index (7.50)!!

Here are the videos from Friday, April 6 at Qualcomm. My favorite vids are marked with the asterisks (**).

Video #1, Time 6:45 pm, DA = 369 ft:
My first run was against Ed. We both must have had first run jitters, because I went way early turning on the red light, and Ed was way late on the tree. Ed had some major traction problems (you can see the tire smoke in the vid). I ran 7.480 @ 91.84, with a 1.729 60-foot time. Ed’s spinning run resulted in an 8.921 @ 84.58, 2.141.

Video #2, Time 6:56 pm, DA = 369 ft:
Ed and I lined up again, but this time he had an excellent 0.536 light. I missed a perfect light by 0.004, going red at 0.496. Ed again had some traction problems, but mine hooked pretty well. I ran 7.395 @ 95.33, 1.706 to Ed’s 8.192 @ 87.55, 2.047.

**Video #3, Time 7:03 pm, DA = 376 ft:
This video was taken from mid-track. Both Ed and I turned on the red lights (my 0.493 to his 0.474), but he got better traction on this run. My 7.433 @ 92.21, 1.692 to his 7.917 @ 88.40, 1.849.

**Video #4, Time 7:25 pm, DA = 369 ft:
My fourth run was against a mid 7-sec Nova. A year and a half ago, this Nova would eat my lunch all the time, now I got a chance to get even. I cut a decent light (0.550 to his 0.615), and then outran him by a couple tenths. The timeslip showed my 7.387 @ 92.21, 1.680 beating his 7.591 @ 91.27, 1.705.

Video #5, Time 8:08 pm, DA = 348 ft:
This was Donna’s first run. This video (as well as the rest of them) was shot from the end of the track, where the Stangpede BBQ was set-up. There was an oil down on the left track, so Donna was forced to run on the right track. The traction on the right track is pathetic… they usually don’t have the higher HP cars run on that track for that reason. And you can see why. Donna spun really bad early in the run, and could only run an 8.120 @ 94.34, 2.248. The import in the other lane was waaaaayyyyy behind at 10.933 @ 67.87, 2.796.

Time 8:23 pm, DA = 348 ft:
Donna’s next run was the trophy run. But, I apparently was too busy stuffing my face at the BBQ to notice she was about to make a pass. So I didn’t get it on video. D’Oh! Her numbers were 7.522 @ 92.59, 1.795.

**Video #6, Time 8:42 pm, DA = 341 ft:
Donna’s 3rd (and final) run was her best of the night. She was up against a 96 Firebird. The Pontiac had some sort of issue at the starting line, so this was over early. Donna’s excellent 7.372 @ 95.13, 1.672 was much better than the Firebird’s 12.125 @ 73.29, 3.871.

**Video #7, Time 9:27 pm, DA = 327 ft:
My next run was against Ed’s car again, which also had some traction problems in the first 60 feet. I finally managed to cut a good light (0.516), and then ran 7.430 @ 94.93, 1.706. The silver mustang ran 8.240 @ 87.55, 2.072.

Video #8, Time 10:06 pm, DA = 294 ft:
Immediately on the launch, my car lost traction and broke loose, and I had to pedal it… basically killing the run. All I could muster was a 7.836 @ 94.33, 2.022. My opponent ran 10.325 @ 69.77, 2.401.

Time 10:22 pm, DA = 304 ft:
Unfortunately, we ran out of videotape, so my last two runs are not on video. On this pass I ran 7.424 @ 95.13, 1.712.

Time 10:43 pm, DA = 298 ft:
My last run of the night turned out to be the quickest run of the night. After a good 0.543 light, I ran 7.367 @ 95.13, 1.669.

Not to be a dick but .....in all videos I think you jump before the light goes green....deffinetly on the first 2 during the day...the one that you posted with GTsupercar...too...Are those count as legit runs?I've never been to a track but you can really tell...your car sure is fast as shit dough

[Hawgman]

Originally Posted by maxpayne

.....in all videos I think you jump before the light goes green.........I've never been to a track but you can really tell...

If you wait until you see a green light, you are late and just got beat. You leave on the last amber light. The whole point of a reaction time is to break the staging beam as close as possible to the green light coming on. Not waiting for it to come on then breaking the beam.

[maxpayne]

Originally Posted by Hawgman

If you wait until you see a green light, you are late and just got beat. You leave on the last amber light. The whole point of a reaction time is to break the staging beam as close as possible to the green light coming on. Not waiting for it to come on then breaking the beam.

Howcome none of the other racers did it?

[don_w]

Originally Posted by maxpayne

Not to be a dick but .....in all videos I think you jump before the light goes green....deffinetly on the first 2 during the day...the one that you posted with GTsupercar...too...Are those count as legit runs?I've never been to a track but you can really tell...

The only time the red light matters is during elminations in competition. During timetrials, qualifying, or test and tune, red lights mean nothing. The ETs are still valid. On many trips to the track, I am there with the sole purpose of trying to nail the tree, so going red sometimes is part of it.

Originally Posted by maxpayne

your car sure is fast as shit dough

"shit dough"??? Damn, I bet that makes some nasty cookies...

[stkjock]

Originally Posted by maxpayne

Not to be a dick but .....in all videos I think you jump before the light goes green....deffinetly on the first 2 during the day...the one that you posted with GTsupercar...too...Are those count as legit runs?I've never been to a track but you can really tell...your car sure is fast as shit dough

No red light = legit sure as shit!!!


Don - sweet vids, are those new slicks for you?

[don_w]

Yes... new slicks. Adam had them mounted up by Goodyear last week at the PSCA event in Fontana. They are 29x11-15s... a little taller than my M/T 28x11.50s.

[ZmanM3]

Good to see Bad05GT videos again! As for your suspension setup, I'm no expert but it does look like your getting weight transfer but it seems the front is more loaded which is a result of the heaver engine and heaver blower. So I'm woundering if the more loaded front suspension is affecting weight transfer to the rear causing more tire spin on launch. Again, I'm no expert and don't know as much about drag racing as I'd like to.

[Steedman07]

Great vids Don..I am surprised the run was about as good leaving from idle than using the converter..Man I cant wait for the track to open up here!!

[msgt46270]

Here's two video's that I took of Don racing.

[don_w]

Awesome, Ed... thanks!