For the last 3+ years we have not had a 1/4-mile track in Southern California, period. The last track that we had at our disposal was shut down indefinitely because of sound complaints. 3 years and 1.5 million dollars later, a new sound barrier wall is built, and the track is open for racing again! Hallelujah! I wasted no time taking the Eclipse up there to race. It's been ready to go for a long time now. I've basically made zero changes to the setup in a really long time. The car has been running strong, and I haven't felt the need to do much, other than take it out and beat the piss out of it a few times a month.
Here's how the day went:
Up at 4:30am. Drove about 90 miles north to get to the racetrack, by myself. Waited in line for a while amongst a shitload of really expensive trailer queens. Car passed tech quite easily (told the lady I was "hoping" to run 13's). A few friends arrived to cheer me on. Racing started at 9am. I promptly got in line.
Run 1:
I didn't do anything to the car, just rolled up and ran it. I have a 6,500rpm 2-step on it, which also acts as an anti-lag, and I decided to use it. This proved to be a mistake. Massive amounts of wheelspin, which you will see in the video. I ran a 12.3 @ 117 with a 2.0 60-foot @ 20psi of boost. Right off the bat, I broke my record for fastest trap speed with any of my cars, ever. I was happy! I just need to work on that launch.
Video: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10 ... =2&theater
Run 2:
I lowered the tire pressure to ~22psi up front and ~18psi in the rear. Didn't change anything else. Went for it again. Got a better launch, still lots of wheelspin, and got out of the groove a bit, but did a 12.2 @ 117 with a 1.91 60-foot.
Video: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10 ... =2&theater
There's also an in-car vid of this pass. Try not to laugh at how silly I look!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbadBrwv ... e=youtu.be
Run 3:
At this point, the track was PACKED with cars, and it took forever for me to get my 3rd pass. I wanted to make it count, because we had to leave. I decided to lower the front tire pressure more, down to 18psi. I also turned up the boost a bit. I got a different lane on this pass, which had a lot of really fast cars running in it before me, so I think that helped. The track was also hotter at this point, it was about 80 degrees outside. I launched the car, and GODDAMN it hooked up hard, but the power felt way way down, like it was falling on its face. I got my 11-second pass though! 11.93 @ 112mph. I had a 1.69 60-foot. The boost was up to 23psi, and the car didn't like it at all. I suspect that it was pulling out timing. I don't have a knock sensor on the car, but my tuner set up a safety feature for it to pull out timing if the boost goes too high, so I think that's probably what was happening. Either way, I was stoked! I packed up the car, and drove it 90 miles home with zero issues.
Video: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10 ... =2&theater
Here's another video that a friend made. He's a bit on the "creative" side, just keep that in mind.
http://player.vimeo.com/video/87519062
The car is definitely a bit down on power. My 1/8th-mile trap speeds were consistently ~3mph lower than what I have ran before. I need to get the car on a dyno and really dial it in. My goal is 450whp on 91 octane, deeper into the 11's, and 120+ mph trap speeds. Now that I have a 1/4-mile track to take it to, I'll be racing a lot more. Stay tuned for more progress!
