When I arrived at Pomona, I didn't think I had much of a chance at
getting good timeslips. As I posted a couple days ago, there were a
couple problems I thought I had which would seriously hurt my
performance.

The first was that my rebuilt tranny was making it very hard to shift as
quickly as I'm used to. The faster I try to shift, the more resistance
it puts up.

The second was that I thought my new clutch couldn't handle the power.
It turns out I owe Centerforce an apology for the post I made a couple
days ago about needing an ACT 2600 clutch. The Centerforce performed
beautifully at the track, I could not have asked for better performance.
With my new tires biting harder than I've ever seen from a street tire,
the clutch held strong. The tires wouldn't slip and neither would my
clutch, so it was either bog, break, or me slipping the clutch with the
pedal. My runs started off with the former, and the latter proved to be
the key to me launching well and getting good times.

*Run 1*
12.18 @ 115mph. 1/8th: 7.91 @ 92.1 mph. 60 foot: 1.89
Launch RPM was around 4400. I came in prejudiced that the clutch was
going to slip, so I dropped the clutch pretty quickly during the launch
to give it every chance of gripping.. It gripped plenty and the car
bogged. (The tires wouldn't let loose all day, which is something I've
never had before.. It was a combo of great tires + a very sticky track).
 

While I couldn't shift as fast as I'm used to, I was still able to shift
decently, and did not miss a gear or get any grind the whole day. Once
we saw the timeslip (I was truly shocked to see it) we knew that 11's
were possible with a good launch.

*Run 2*
12.09 @ ????
This time I tried raising the launch RPM's to see if I could prevent the
bog.. I wasn't sure what the clutch would do so I still let the pedal out
relatively quickly. I launched at around 5000rpm and it felt better than
Run 1, this time I had a touch of slip and the car didn't bog much.
Unfortunately I don't know what my 60 foot or other times were, they lost
my time slip! Very frustrating since it was my best-ever run so far. I
found out about the 12.09 from those who either saw the run or heard it
announced, but no one remembered the MPH.

Run 3
12.53 @ 115.08 mph. 1/8th: 8.23 @ 91.34 mph. 60 foot: 2.095
They gave me a re-run to make up for the lost timeslip.. I was not
concentrating well and ended up bogging the car very badly.. I think
there was a couple FWD DSM's that day that either beat or matched this 60
foot time.. Ouch!

Run 4
12.07 @ 115.1 mph. 1/8th: 7.78 @ 92.09 mph. 60 foot: 1.79
Ok, I just had 3 runs in a row where the clutch held the power completely
(remember, it's all the tougher for a clutch to hold power if the tires
don't slip). I realized I had been selling the clutch short and now it
was time to start slipping it more and seeing if it could hold. I
launched at around 4800 RPM, and this time around I slipped the clutch
more than I had.. It held well and the car felt good off the line.
Finally I was back to 1.7x 60-foot times.. That felt even better than
getting the new personal best of 12.07.

Run 5 (Final Run)

11.98 @ 117.09 mph !!!!!!!

1/8th: 7.71 @ 92.31 mph
60 foot: 1.75
I put full confidence in the clutch and slipped it a bunch and it felt
great.. The nose of the car rose up high as the car rocketed forward..
And the nose stayed up.. Made the 1-2 shift and I knew if I could just
pull off my remaining shifts well that I had a good shot at an 11. I
kept my foot in the gas through the 3-4 shift and nailed the quarter at
over 117mph. Damn it feels good to join the 11-second club :). I only
wish someone would have caught these runs on tape so I coulda heard the
"Holy moly!!" expression that the announcer made..

Enormous thanks go out to Road Race Engineering. They've done all the
work on my car and they are the sole reason it's gone from running high
13's over a year & a half ago to hitting an 11 now. They allowed me to
get to an 11 the way "I wanted to" – by keeping a completely reliable
daily driver that looks nearly stock inside and out and makes *no*
compromises to drivability. I never would have gotten this far without
them. Knock on wood, this car has never broken or been down at any point
in its life other than a clutch that gave out when we upped the power on
the engine beyond what the clutch was designed for.. Mike Ferraro, what's
your problem? :)

Thanks also go out to GReddy, the only aftermarket parts company I know
of who really supports DSM cars and has a wide variety of good products
we can use. (The PRofec B & GReddy Front Mount come to mind as two of
their best offerings). For those who don't know I have a bunch of GReddy
parts on the car including an 18G, Front Mount I/C, BOV, Airinx filter,
PRofec B, and boost/EGT gauges. Looks like their smog-legal, unclipped,
internal-wastegate 18G really can power you and your stock-head'ed 2G to
an 11 second timeslip... :)

Centerforce: the Dual Friction Ball-Bearing kicked butt. Sure was nice
to have a soft clutch pedal when I had to drive home from the track in
nasty traffic for over an hour. The only thing left that this clutch has
to prove is durability. If it can hold up then it does everything I
could want from a clutch. Time will tell.

Todd/TMO.. It's easy to forget how tough it would be to go fast without
fuel cut removed and the rev limiter moved up. Thanks for the ECU mods!

As for future runs.. I plan to get a little deeper into the 11's.. I
think the car as-is is capable of better times.. Besides getting a better
launch (I used to get 1.71's & 1.73's) there's still some experimenting
to do with shift points, and hopefully as I put more mileage on it the
tranny will shift quicker. Then there's boost.. I ran 21psi at the
track.. Considering I was running on 117 gas & have an 18G, I woulda
liked to have run at 23psi. Ah well, next time...

Marc
95 Road Race Engineering Eclipse GSX
"5th Fastest & 9th quickest 2G in the nation".
Don't worry, I won't let it go to my head. :)

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