1991 Talon Track Visit: New Best!
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
The last time I took the Talon out to the track was way back in February. Since then, I haven't changed a single thing on the car, other than the oil, filter and a fresh set of NGK spark plugs. I have been driving the heck out of it, and it's turned out to be a great commuter car with power to spare, good handling, an ipod-friendly stereo and ice-cold air conditioning. It's also averaging 27 mpg with a 70/30 mix of highway/city driving, so overall, I'm very pleased.
This visit to the track was an act of impulse, as I needed to blow off some steam on Friday after a long week of work, and a little drag racing was an inexpensive, legal way to do so.
Friday night's test & tune sessions are mainly attended by full-on race cars with a few street cars mixed in. I was one of those street cars, and the only 4 cylinder in the whole place. As you could imagine, I felt a little out of place. I had heard that the surface of this track had been smoothed and re-paved, so I was excited to try it out.
As the trailers filled with expensive toys filed in, a few cars started making passes and I decided to head to the lanes. As I got closer to my turn, I noticed that the track folks had put up some cones that forced everyone to drive through the water box. Good for the RWD race cars, bad for me! The lanes were moving fast, so I quickly hopped out of the car and spoke with the official, who graciously moved the cones (slightly) to allow me to bypass the burnout box.
As I staged, I brought the revs way up and quickly feathered the clutch and floored the gas. I hardly ever launch like this on the street and it definitely caught me off guard. The car shot off the line and almost instantly I heard a couple pops of the 10,000 rpm rev limiter. After this quick misstep, I banged second and then rode out third through the traps. The guy at the booth handed me my slip and I was pleased to see a 7.6 second run at 95.5 mph, even with my lazy 1-2 shift. This would be my best 60 foot of the day, a 1.78. My second run was my best E.T and MPH (see the slip below) but I not my best launch or 60 foot. I was lined up with a race car on this run and literally could not hear myself think over that beast's thumping v8.
After my third run being very similar to my second, the lanes were getting full and I decided to head home. According to my datalogs, my 680cc injectors are totally overworked. I've got a set of 850s waiting to go in, which should allow me to run more boost and get a few more horses on 93 octane.
Thanks for reading and stay tuned!
The Talon Looks a little out of place here, I think. Some nice, fast cars were in attendance.
Here's a shot of the newly re-surfaced track. Smooooth!
This fascinated me. I applaud the cost-saving tactic employed here.
This Ford wanted to race me from a "dig." Hardy, Har.
Labels: talon
posted by Tom T. @ 6:26 PM,
