Went to Speedworld tonight with Yoda and had a great time. Ran pass after pass. Ok, first I'll get all the Lightning folk all rialed up--I smoked Yoda on his 1st run with my 96 LT1 Corvette!! Haha, oh shoot, damn it, he lost boost and then I beat him, damn it! No in all serious folks, I got my Corvette back together after having ignition problems and it ran better tonight than ever before, but not good enough to keep up with Yoda. The results tonight are as true of a story as any of you will ever here about a Vette and a Lightning (BTW spoke with a gentleman who was running a GN in the low 11's tonight and when I told him I ran a 13.6 tonight on a stock LT1--he said don't touch that thing you have a very very good running one. He said most Vette's like mine here in Phoenix run low 14's). My best run tonight was a 13.601, along with several other 13.6xx runs, but Yoda must have intimidated me at the line each time! We made 3 runs together and Yoda ran 13.2xx's and a 13.3xx and I ran a 13.8xx and 13.9xx's. I was bummed that my best runs of the night were not running against him. His beast kicks some serious butt!! Hat's off to you Yoda, congrats on your new best ET's!!! Had a blast tonight and hopefully I'll be at the track this weekend and try that guys slicks!



[This message has been edited by Peter B (edited 01-04-2001).]

 

hey Peter, thx for the kind words. Had a great time last night. I still cant beleive I was hitting 105+ last night. Like you said once I get some slicks & other stuff, 12's here I am.

Congrats on the vette running its best times. I am really impressed with those times considering that you are prety much stock still. Are you going to borrow those slicks to see what you can run?

------------------
99' Black (Wikd)SVT
best run 13.20 @ 105.05

01' Nissan Pathfinder
16.13 @ 82.59
240hp/265tq
wanna mod, but wife rolls her eye's

 

My '93 6-speed LT1 Vette used to run 13.40 @ 107.2 bone (I mean bone, right down to the factory oil) stock, and a best of 13.01 @ 108.3 with Borla cat-back, open face air box w/K&N, and a T.P. Performance custom chip. But that was at Gainesville Raceway in FL, just several hundred feet above sea-level. Sounds like you've got your Vette dialed. You'll likely never touch Yoda on the dragstrip, but you oughta challange him to a run from 60 mph to 140 mph and see if he'll bite!

 

Yoda,
I need to retire, I've got too much going on w/too little time! I am scheduled for an dirtbike outing this weekend and not sure whether it will be Sat or Sun. Actually, I guess I just realized that doesn't matter as **** will be there both days. I have posted a question on corvetteforum whether his bolt pattern will fit--if so I plan to try it. It was so hard for me to launch all night and I know I am losing considerable time, so I am really curious to try his slicks. If they don't fit, I will look into buying a set. I need to hook this thing up consistently before I open the motor up.

69bossnine,
Sounds like you knew how to drive your 93 correctly. Those times sound really good for a stock LT1. The track we ran last night is at 1250 feet and we were at 55 degrees. I am gonna find a correction calculator and figure out a corrected time.
I'm sure Yoda would bite on a run like you describe, but the only problem is this. Every time I take my Vette to the track and run the Lightnings, we come off the line very close and our 60 foot times are also close, but then from that point forward the Lightnings just keep pulling and pulling and pulling. I don't believe I can pull them on the high end. Now granted we are only running about to just over 100, but they sure pull good on top. You are right that I will not be able to catch Yoda in the 1/4--atleast right now. In the near future I plan on installing an LT4 top end including the hot cam kit and a 52mm throttle body, slicks and a high stall converter. My hope is get into the low 12's, and I think it is reasonable to think I could do it.

 

hehe, just ordered more hp for the truck. Will be in the 12's now!

 

Ok, what did you order? I thought you already ordered the pulley?? C'mon what is it? DR's, NOS, what?

 

My Vette was always a strong runner, many at the track considered it a factory freak. I also (all modesty aside) have a healthy reputation for driving....anything. I'm the guy that's always being asked, "hey, will you drive my car for a couple passes so I can see what it's capable of??" LOL. I'm confident that I was wringing every last squirt of quickness out of the Vette though. It ALWAYS mph'd between 106-108. I run my Lightning at the very same track today (running an automatic is..I dunno, there's no "art" to it, no technique to grab an extra tenth with), and it gets 13.30-13.45 @ around only 102. If I could go back in time with my Lightning, my old Vette would be reeling my truck in HARD on the 2nd half of the track. And seat of the pants, my truck does not pull from 80 mph forward as strong as I remember my Vette pulling from that speed, albeit my memories of that car are pretty nostalgic! Now, my Corvette was a beautiful launcher, consistent and strong, on the stock GSC's. I could get 2.0-2.1 60-ft times on any given evening. The 13.01 I ran was a best 1.98 60-ft. I never had trouble launching the car, it was actually the easiest to launch car I've ever owned, deadly on the street. I did NOT have the adjustable suspension. It was just the standard stock suspension, and man, would it transfer weight off the line. My friends used to say that it looked like the front tires were going to pull off the ground! (obviously they never did) It's been awhile, but I think I was launching from 2,200 to 2,400 with a "semi-soft" clutch drop. Soft enough to not shock the tires, hard enough to not slip or burn the clutch. Traction control OFF. What are you doing? I don't even know if your car is a stick-shift! Fill me in. Also, what kind of bike do you ride? I've got a 2000 KTM 520EXC.

------------------
Silver 2000, chrome wheels, 80mm Pro-M, R-9 Superchip, best 13.41 @ 102.2 mph

 

69bossnine,
Oh yeah, I've seen guys like you that no matter what vehicle you are driving it performs better than ever. I've also seen certain vehicles that just consistantly perform better than any other-all else being equal. Sounds like the combination of your driving capabilities and your Vette made a great package. My vette runs really strong and I was speaking with a guy at the track the other night running a GN in the mid 11's, he saw me running and he was very impressed. He said he has never seen a stock LT1 Vette run better than low 14's here in Phoenix--I have also seen the same. I gotta tell you though, my Vette does not pull on top like the Lightning. The Lightning just keeps pulling me harder and harder all the way to the finish line.

This is interesting looking at my time slips. Many of my 60 foot times were 2.0xx and 2.1xx, yet my launches were terrible. If I hammered right off the line, it spun out of control and could not regain traction. So the way I would launch was just barely get the car moving, then roll on the throttle, then about 10 feet or so in motion hammer to WOT. I know I am losing some serious time with that technique, yet I'm still in the 2.0-2.1 range. Anyhow, its a 96 LT1 which thus makes it the automatic in that year, I have the 3.07 optional rear end. At first I was planning on installing the LT4 top end including the hot cam kit and 52mm throttle body. But now, I'm thinking of going a different direction (at first), I'm now thinking of a set of M/T ET streets and then see how it does. At that point after baselining it with that change, I think I will install a Vigilante torque converter, I think 2600-2800 stall. I'm willing to bet with that combination I could knock of .2 with the tires, and possible another .2-.3 with the torque converter, thus netting me (hopefully) a best of a 13.1. At that point I would move forward with the LT4 items to bring up the power on the top end.

I run with the ASR off--there is no way I could post a good time with it on. Only mods I have done to the Vette is the Hypertech (including reprogramming shift firmness and fan turn on temperature), 160 thermostat and removal of throttle body coolant line. Another area I am losing time is on my 1-2 shift. On the track when it hit 2nd gear, it did not just chirp, it layed a serious strip of rubber, and the shift is so agressive that it jolted the car and would slam my helmet into the window each time. My Wife was in the stands and she said all the people there kept saying "ok, watch this guy, he's gonna wreck on this run". She said after I straightend up after 2nd gear they didn't even bother to watch me post the time. If I could hook better on the shift, I could move forward harder instead of spinning.

I ride a 2001 CR500. Just got an FMF Gnarly pipe for it yesterday and will be installing tonight. I've been told the Gnarly pipe adds a lot of midrange torque (yeah like I really need that on 500). Man that 520 of yours has got to have a ton of torque! My Brother has a 2001 KTM EXC 380 and he just bought his son a 2001 KTM SX 125--I'm very impressed with the KTM's.



[This message has been edited by Peter B (edited 01-05-2001).]

 

For an automatic, you're doing great. A guy I used to race with ran a stock '94 auto in NHRA sportsman, and he was a consistant 13.60 dial. He was the Southeastern points leader in that car in '95 I believe. You gotta realize that any vehicle with the torque your Vette has can't just have the throttle "mashed" off the line. I have to feather the bejeesus out of my Lightning through 1st. You don't have a traction problem, you've got traction reality. Pretty darn good reality, actually. The C-4 independent rear works really well. It squats a bunch, allowing loads of transfer, and has no bad habits like wheel-hop. The C-5's i.r.s., comparitively, stinks. Bad wheel hop, no good transfer. So your car works very well to start with. With any strong-torque car on street tires, you've got to wait for the weight to plant the rear tires (usually about 10 feet out) before you roll in the full throttle, so your launches are not "terrible" IMO, just normal. I've heard that the torque converter is "the" mod to do on the automatic Vette's, makes them run as good or better than the manuals. Also, I always remember automatic LT-1's running 101-102 trap speeds, nothing that would reel in a Lightning. But your auto trans has much more parasitic drag than the manual, which could account for it not pulling as hard as my car did on the top end. My 6-speed car ran 107+ consistently, and would keep pulling. I saw 170 in 5th gear with a 200lb. passenger in that car and it was still pulling with another 400-500 rpm left! Scared me silly, I don't go over 120 anymore because of that night. I'm sure that my car was a bit of a freak. I won fast-trophy on a 13.40 dial the 1st night I ever raced it, with 1700 miles on the odo, and the factory oil still in the crankcase. Paper filter, the whole nine yards. When I walked up to the tower to get my trophy, a guy I had went to high school with who worked the tower asked, "what've you done to that car?" I said "nothing", he says "jeez, I've seen another LT1 out here hit 13.40, but that was at around 102 mph and change. 107.2, that's out of the ballpark. I'm here every weekend, and that's just plain amazing. We were all sitting up here figuring that you had brought out another one of your "breathed-on" cars". I love talking about that old creaky C-4, can you tell????? I sold it because with all the racing I did, after 60,000 miles I figured it should belong to someone else before the tranny and clutch exploded!

The 520 KTM is a torque-monger. Much meatier mid-range than the YZ400F's my friends ride. I love the bike.

 

69Bossnine,
Thanks for all the info.
Just to give you some speed times; most of my runs were exactly where you are saying--101-102 mph, but what is interesting is I'm looking at my time slips (and I made notes on each of them), and on the runs where I had alot of wheelspin (2.3xx 60 foot times), I ran my highest top speeds; 104.365,103.517,104.335.

[This message has been edited by Peter B (edited 01-05-2001).]

 

That gets complicated. What was your speed on those runs at the 1/8th mile mark compared to the quicker runs?

 

Or maybe those runs were against Yoda, with your nerves causing the over-zealous wheel spin and the trap speed simply a result of catching Yoda's monster-truck-sized draft!

 

660: 81.856
et: 13.907
1/4: 104.365 highest top speed run of night

660: 81.066
et: 13.601 bes et of night
1/4: 102.410

I'm gonna make a spreedsheet to start keeping track of all the data. I'll be keeping you posted of the results as it seems like you still have a connection to the Corvette.

 

it was definately a case of my monster sized thingy creating a huge draft!!!