Local FireChicken gets dropped by a four banger Options

[awd4kicks]

The rebuilt transmission checked out and the car felt as powerful on the 24-25 psi as the day that I broke third gear. I confirmed that BP93 octane is working well with this particular cam timing and resulting in very little knock at WOT.

So what do you do on your first real night back out in the wild? I got the chance to rewrite a little history against the FireChicken.

First race:
30MPH roll... Go on third honk
I'm in second at about 4k RPM and the GM is in first gear. We both hit it for a good start and my turbo takes just a split second to build power. By the end of 2nd gear I had moved out entirely in front of the 383 stroked LT1. Third gear fell into place without any drama and it pulled at least another good car length or more. When 3rd wound out, I went for 4th gear but missed, and I called it good enough. The other driver said the distance between us was more than 2 cars at the end of my third gear but I couldn't tell you from my vantage point. (And that's alright by me! ) It was fun and I definitely liked the out come, but there was little excitement or drama.

So when you haven't tempted fate enough, you go at it again!

Second race.
We started at the same speed and same gear selections, but this time I thought I would try to up my rolling launch by brake boosting. Well that worked like crap. The car wanted to speed up too much with the boost and by the time the third honk came I had squeezed the brakes enough to bog the engine. It was a miserable start but I did get to see the FireChicken shred it's rear meats as he took off! It was very cool to see/hear as he put a good 2-2.5 car lengths on me while I waited for the engine to get back on it's feet and spool up...

Thinking:
Forever...
still waiting...
Man that was a stupid way to launch...
should I just quit now...
no here comes the power...
I'll stay in it to see what happens

When second finally topped out i was back in the power curve and slammed third home. To my surprise I couldn't realize any real gain in my 2-2.5 car deficit. Thinking ahead, I made a mental note to absolutely place 4th gear before releasing the clutch and let the power make up the time. And what a plan it was. 4th gear was in power almost immediately. I could feel it build as the FireChicken seemed to be... yes, yes 4th gear is reeling him in. HOLY !@#* I'm really beginning to fly...
The engine was on full tilt and I had to verify with the tach that I had more RPM to go. As I flew by my worthy opponent I glanced down to see that the tach had just passed 8k RPM and I still had more to go before shifting. So what do you think I did? I let it eat the rest of the way to red line, for at least a full car pass and no doubt that the Talon had come back from an otherwise embarrassing start. We were moving fast enough that I wanted no part of 5th gear and immediately began to apply the binders. It even seemed to take a lot of time to scrub off the speed...WOW my heart was pumping like a freight train.

Now that was an exciting run. On the cruise back I re-ran the events through my mind, appreciated the fact that everything was still together and everyone was safe. Then felt the need to smoke a cigarette as if I just had some great sex.

Imagine... A first gen AWD DSM pulling the top end on a big inch domestic regardless of the launching ability. I'm liking this and I appreciate the re-run.

[awd4kicks]

The F-body owner knows that I'm always up for a race. regardless of vehicle prep. I would like to run the bird with spray on my current pump gas/24-25psi tune to see where everything falls in place. We need to get a full run with the bird with-out NOS too. Then I would like the fire chicken to make the nitrous run against a race gas-high psi tune on the Talon.

This coming Friday night Midnight Mayhem may be the best venue.

And for the love of God, finish that nitrous install. It's been on the car now longer than the engine has been in the car and never finished. GITER DUN!