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I guided the slick laden sled into the water box and stopped just after pulling through the water. I engaged the e-brake, loaded up the RPM’s, and slipped the clutch out breaking the meaty slicks loose. I fed it throttle and saw the slicks begin to smoke. The smell of burnt rubber forced an evil grin as I released the e-brake and eased her to the line.
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| Yes this is a picture of my first real burnout! Drag racer I am not! |
Staging lights, 6500 revs, slip the clutch and BAM I’m off, shift to second and I feel it bog before it takes off, 3rd gear flys by, 4th, TRAPS…. Shut her down, turn on the heater for good measure, look over the techtom and gauges… everything appears perfect. I turn the car around for the long drive down the return road and finally reach the ET booth. I pick up my slip and look at my time.
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Given that I had previously run consistent 2.2 60’ times I KNEW that I needed to work on the launch and adjust the pressure in the slicks. I adjusted them from 15 to 13 PSI and practiced my burnout and launch. After a few more practice runs I quickly realized that I needed to do a longer burnout to put more heat in the tires, this worked great as I was able to lower my 60’ into the 1.9’s and as a result I laid down the following pass.
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I was starting to get the hang of things. I was launching consistent 1.9’s and feeling pretty good, and to my surprise the little GA that could held up great! With launches under 2.0 I expected axle or tranny issues and guess what….. it just got better. I dialed up the boost to 14 PSI and I let her rip. Here is how she rewarded me.
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For the record the car weighs right around 2500lbs with me in it. The passes were made with ¾ tank of 93 octane pump gas, still had the passenger seat in, I have the rear seats removed in anticipation of other mods, and the car still has quite a bit of the sound deadening material left over from it’s audio days. There is more work that can be done to take her back and make a high 12 second pass, but honestly I am pleased with these results. 1.8 60’ times are nothing to be ashamed of and quite frankly are EVO and WRX territory. All of this from a totally streetable, emissions legal GA16DE.
Coming up… we take off some weight and head back to the strip!
Thanks to our project sponsors:
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212 Millar Ave
El Cajon California 92020
619-442-0680
