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Drag Racing
     Well, I finally took my car out to Thompson Drag Raceway to really see what it could do in the quarter mile.  Sorry, I forgot to bring my digital camera with me so there are no pictures.  Next time I will remember to bring it with me.  I did about what I expected to do for being my first time to drag race a car (legally, and officially timed anyway).  Remember, this car is completely stock and has no modifications to it what so ever.  According to some sources that I have found around the Internet, my TA out of the Factory could do 15.7 seconds in the quarter mile with my engine.  So being 24 years old, I guess it hasn't lost much at all.  If some of you out there have done this before and could verify what some of the middle times are (T1, T2, etc.), please let me know.  Here is how My TA did on the 4 time trials I ran:

Run Number
#1
#2
#3
#4
Reaction Time
1.166 sec.
1.016 sec.
0.895 sec.
0.748 sec.
T1(60ft.)
2.428 sec.
2.314 sec.
2.310 sec.
2.325 sec.
T2(330ft.)
6.847 sec.
6.744 sec.
6.712 sec.
6.736 sec.
T3(660ft.)
10.469 sec.
10.370 sec.
10.319 sec.
10.358 sec.
T4(990ft.)
13.494 sec.
13.392 sec.
13.333 sec.
13.405 sec.
1/4 Mile Time
16.316 sec.
16.111 sec.
16.044 sec.
16.139 sec.
1/4 Mile M.P.H.
78.707 mph
84.581 mph
85.002 mph
84.491 mph

     As you can see, the more I ran, the better my reaction time was.  I didn't do any of the following races that they had, I really just went there to see officially what my car could do.  Plus I didn't want to break anything like my transmission (which someone did do).  There was a new 2001 Trans Am up there that was pulling 13.3 seconds in the quarter mile.  This Winter, I plan to do some slight modifications to see if I can pull any more horsepower out of her.

Round Number 2
     Well, I took my car out again to the racetrack to have some fun again.  This time I remembered to bring my camera.  Here is how the times worked out this time:


Run Number
#1
#2
#3
Reaction Time
1.018 sec.
1.220 sec.
0.742 sec.
T1(60ft.)
2.289 sec.
2.266 sec.
2.332 sec.
T2(330ft.)
6.701 sec.
6.674 sec.
6.731 sec.
T3(660ft.)
10.324 sec.
10.303 sec.
10.345 sec.
T4(990ft.)
13.355 sec.
13.337 sec.
13.363 sec.
1/4 Mile Time
16.082 sec.
16.065 sec.
16.079 sec.
1/4 Mile M.P.H.
84.512 mph
84.572 mph
84.864 mph

Also, you can notice that my reaction time still sucks.


Round Number 3

     Well, I took my car back up to Thopmson Drag Raceway to see how it would do after I completed the exhaust work.  I performed better than I expected which was nice.  After putting on the Headmann Headers and Flowmaster mufflers, I basically picked up about a full half a second on my old times.  I guess redoing the exhaust really does work.  See the results below: 7/31/02

Run Number
#1
#2
#3
#4
Reaction Time
0.743
0.637
0.836
0.824
T1(60ft.)
2.357
2.320
2.351
2.316
T2(330ft.)
0.000?
6.578
6.613
0.000?
T3(660ft.)
10.099
10.078
10.121
10.037
T4(990ft.)
12.989
12.983
13.027
12.926
1/4 Mile Time
15.597
15.601
15.649
15.529
1/4 Mile M.P.H.
88.359
87.996
87.892
88.540

     As you can see from the results, my old best time was 16.044 and my new best time was 15.529.  So, I improved by 0.515 seconds and about 3 m.p.h..  I am guessing I picked up about 25 more horses at the flywheel and 20 more horses at the rear wheels.  I think it was worth it.
If you want to see some comparisson times between my 1978, my 1989, and my 1998, Click Here.

More Photos

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