I think over 25 DSM's showed for Pomona today, it was very cool to have
so many cars & owners together. BBQ was great, thanks Jeff & everyone
else (Scot- donuts, John- drinks, etc) for feeding us.

Before I talk about my times, a couple other noteworthy items.. Jack ran
a 1.67 and then a 1.65 60-foot time! I think that pretty much takes the
record for West Coast DSM's.. Congrats!

Bill Diaz ran a 12.0 or two.. At 118+ MPH and with 1.95 60-foot times..
That car is an 11.6 waiting to happen..

Ok, as for my runs..

Short version.. Old best was 11.98 @ 117 mph. New bests:

11.81 @ 118.67 mph,
11.95 @ 118.92 mph

Most noteworthy parts continue to be a stock 2G head, stock 2G intake,
and an internal wastegate (on an 18G). Car is full interior/exterior, my
daily driver, and no weight has ever been removed except for taking out
the spare tire during the runs.

And now the long version.. :)

--> Run 1: 12.15 @ 113 mph, 60 foot: 1.72
Got a good launch, but at 6k RPM on up for both 3rd and 4th gear, I had
constant misfires that slowed the car down. I had tried running a little
higher boost (22-23psi) than usual and the car wasn't liking it.. MPH was
down 2-4 from last Pomona outing.

--> Run 2: 12.43 @ 111.59 mph, 60 foot: 1.959
I owe a big debt to Scot Gray, he had an extra set of fresh plugs around.
We found that my old plugs were just that - old. The gap had increased
over time & was causing the misfires. So with Scot's help we made the
misfire problem go away with the new plugs.

Unfortunately this turned out to be a lousy run for other reasons.. I
started off with a really bad launch that killed the run (bogged the
launch). To make matters worse, the tranny rejected my 3-4 shift and I
had to wait to get into 4th. How long did I have to wait? Well, my
EGT's are always around 900C when I cross the 1/4 mi.. This time they
were 810C.. Not very much time spent in 4th..

--> Run 3: 11.81 @ 118.67 mph, 60 foot: 1.693
What can I say, this run rocked :). Got a great launch and managed fast
shifts across the board.. The car pulled like crazy..

I actually wasn't expecting Run 3 to be a good one - I was using it as a
"tuning" run. After the bog in Run 2, I needed to analyze how I was
launching to see how to improve.. I purposely hurried to the staging
lights before the other car. I wanted time to rev the engine to my
"usual place", but this time pay attention to find out where I had been
revving to in the past.. Usually I only have time to bring the revs up to
where it "sounds good" before the lights are going and I need to launch..
Can't look at the tach and the Christmas tree at the same time..

I found I had been launching in the low 4000 rpm range.. So with the
extra time at the light, I brought the revs up closer to 5000 and made
sure they stayed there.. Then during the launch, I made a conscious
effort to give extra gas as I released the clutch.. Like the last
outing, this launch style made me paranoid because it puts such a large
amount of power on a full-face clutch (Centerforce Dual Friction Ball
Bearing), and on top of that I slipped the clutch extra to prevent a
bog.. But as I found last time, kudos to the Centerforce, it held the
abuse and I got my first 1.6x 60-foot time as the car rocketed forward.

I was ready to finish racing after this, I figured I should quit while I
was ahead.. But I found that the SoCal DSM photographers had run out of
film & I still had no visual record of an 11-second run other than the
timeslip.. So what the hell, why not try one more run... Juan Laguna ran
to the store for more film, and he & Scot were prepared in case I could
repeat another 11..

--> Run 4: 11.95 @ 118.92 mph, 60 foot: 1.782
Almost 119mph! The only thing that separated this run from Run 3 was the
launch.. I launched approximately the same way, but this time all 4
wheels suddenly broke traction after the launch and spun towards the top
of 1st. The revs jumped from 6k straight to the 8.2k rev limit.. I
bounced off the rev limiter very briefly before shifting to 2nd.. The
rest of the run felt like Run 3. The tire slip/60-foot time prevented me
from getting a lower 1/4 mi time.
 

As for where the extra MPH came from this time at Pomona.. More boost! I
ran close to 23psi, on past days it was closer to 21psi. The car loved
the extra boost.. It barely impacted EGT's, if at all.. I crossed over
between 890 - 910 C for all runs except run 2.

Like usual, thanks to those who made all this possible, particularly
everyone at Road Race Engineering, the shop which has performed all the
work on this car and taken it to where it is now.

Hope I am not forgetting anyone/anything.. I am totally exhausted & am
heading to bed :).

Marc

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