Hey I thought I'd start one of these!
I finally got the car together and out to the track this weekend.
We've had rain for about 2 weeks straight, so it was interesting. No parking in the grass - unless you wanted to be there till next week. Water was coming through the track near the traps, so they ran 1/8. It didn't matter to me - I'm usually lucky to get to the 1/8 without getting out of shape. oh - it was windy too.
The first run is always fun. After sitting around since September your body has forgotten all about acceleration, the fact that you can't see down the strip when you launch the car on 2 wheels, and other craziness. Needless to say when I was up and felt the car drifting it got shut down.
Second run was a better launch - actually eek ed out a 1.29 60' - about par for my slobbery tune-up. Got out about mid track, lost track of things, forgot to shift, remembered to shift after I noticed the little hemi squealing at me, then got hit by the wind. Did I mention it was windy? Apparently my little billboard shaped car doesn't like the wind - it was a hairy ride and it got shut down for a coasting 6.54.
I was happy after the third run. Clean launch - I actually had time to notice that the top of my hood needed washed before it settled down to where I could see down the track. 1.31 60' - not sure what was different from the 2nd run. Shifted a bit early - just to make up for forgetting it in the first 2 runs. Ran it on through for a 6.17. Which is about what I'd expect with the throttle stop set a bit lower than it was last year and the motor tuned a bit fatter.
In my after race inspection last night I think I may have found some of my launch issues. My wheelie bars have about an 1/8" clearance on the rear frame. I knew they were close before, but after all of the rear end changes this winter, I somehow forgot to recheck it. They are basically acting as bump stop - especially when the car is on them, they'd be pushing on the frame and binding everything up. Not good.
Luckily the only thing tied to the back of the frame is the chute. So it should be fairly easy to relocate the back cross-member, cut off the back of the frame and hang a new chute mount out there.
Got the Gasser meet at Thompson in a week and a half.
Perry