The Northern Virginia Mustang Club's first track rental of the season was today at Mason Dixon Dragway in MD. I ran the car 8 times and had a mix of 1.6 and 1.7 60 fts, and six 12.8s at 108, with one 12.6 and one 12.7 run. I even added two degrees timing to make up for the altitude. Nothing happening other than the one 12.6
My son kept claiming I was shifting like I was in slow motion, so I let him take a spin. He did 3 runs that yielded the same 12.7s at 108, but his 60 fts were 1.8, 1.9 and even a 2.0! The boy wasn't hooking at all but easily matching my time and mph. If you figure 2/10s ET for every tenth gained on the 60ft, we were definately looking at 12.00 territory with a decent hook like my 1.6s.
He wanted to drop tire pressure for his 4th run from 16lbs to 14lbs, but I told him the car bogs bad at lower pressures. But he kept insisting and I gave in.
He lined up, hit the gas, the front driver's tire came OFF THE GROUND and he started flying down the track. I knew it was a 12.0 run. About 300 ft out, smoke starts pouring out the front of the right rear wheel well, and that corner collapses. After pulling it onto the grass, we look underneath and the BMR relocation bracket has literally folded in half.
Lucky for me, my tuner (JJ from Woodbine Motorsports) was there with his trailer and a friend's Lightning, and graciously offered to tow it to his shop with the Lightning driving home under it's own power. That's customer service and a true friend--he saved me considerable hassle today.
Poor Zach, my son, was stunned I wasn't mad at him. I guess you have to experience being a dad before you really get it. I was just glad he wasn't hurt and the incident was as smooth as it was. He could have sheared an axle, flipped over the wall...hell, the car will be fixed in a week or so.
I'll have pics & videos, timeslips, the whole shebang over the next couple days. JJ will need to start disassembling the rear to see exactly what went wrong.
Hardware failure notwithstanding, somethings's up with the car for sure though, still haven't figured out why neither one of us can have the right combo of hook, shift speed and a good tailwind to cross paths at the same moment...
John
My son kept claiming I was shifting like I was in slow motion, so I let him take a spin. He did 3 runs that yielded the same 12.7s at 108, but his 60 fts were 1.8, 1.9 and even a 2.0! The boy wasn't hooking at all but easily matching my time and mph. If you figure 2/10s ET for every tenth gained on the 60ft, we were definately looking at 12.00 territory with a decent hook like my 1.6s.
He wanted to drop tire pressure for his 4th run from 16lbs to 14lbs, but I told him the car bogs bad at lower pressures. But he kept insisting and I gave in.
He lined up, hit the gas, the front driver's tire came OFF THE GROUND and he started flying down the track. I knew it was a 12.0 run. About 300 ft out, smoke starts pouring out the front of the right rear wheel well, and that corner collapses. After pulling it onto the grass, we look underneath and the BMR relocation bracket has literally folded in half.
Lucky for me, my tuner (JJ from Woodbine Motorsports) was there with his trailer and a friend's Lightning, and graciously offered to tow it to his shop with the Lightning driving home under it's own power. That's customer service and a true friend--he saved me considerable hassle today.
Poor Zach, my son, was stunned I wasn't mad at him. I guess you have to experience being a dad before you really get it. I was just glad he wasn't hurt and the incident was as smooth as it was. He could have sheared an axle, flipped over the wall...hell, the car will be fixed in a week or so.
I'll have pics & videos, timeslips, the whole shebang over the next couple days. JJ will need to start disassembling the rear to see exactly what went wrong.
Hardware failure notwithstanding, somethings's up with the car for sure though, still haven't figured out why neither one of us can have the right combo of hook, shift speed and a good tailwind to cross paths at the same moment...
John
