Us. 41
This past Sunday (4/17/05), Zack and I wrote the final chapter in my winter MM project.
I have been testing my new engine and Vortech T-Trim blower in the great variety of ways I enjoy my Marauder, while monitoring the EEC. Stability in bumper to bumper rush hour traffic, dozens of hard "stop light" launches, OTR drives for overall MPG, as well as two 3 hour "Cannon Ball" like endurance runs, just top off the tank and drive non-stop until gasping on fumes. The EEC memory is a library of 411 useful in tuning, and my new engine, blower and MAF are a great combination. The final test, drag racing performance, left me waiting for local tracks to open for the season.
I tried Great Lakes Dragway in Union Grove, WI. back on 4/5/05, with disappointing results. I expected traction to be poor, but it was worse than I predicted. Too soon in the season I suppose, no wonder it was free. I ran a 15.6x, 14.4x and 13.4x on 285/45/18 Pirelli P-Zero street tires, and went up in smoke, but I did achieve 110 MPH in the traps and this promised better times ahead.
US. 41 is about 90 miles south of Chicago, in Morocco, Indiana. It's an IHRA sanctioned track with a lot of local...cough..."sportsmen", but not a lot of ricers. The ricers that do show are okay, they're doing the same thing the rest of us do there, they're just using the wrong end of the car.
The forecast predicted rain in Chicago, and it was raining as I met up with Zack. But, weather stations reported clear sky over Morocco, and predicted temps in the 50s as well. We hit the road around 7 AM, with one stop for 100 octane gas. When we arrived track side, it was raining, and we decided to wait it out and see what develops. We spent our time installing Zack's BFG drag radials in 275/35/18 (21 PSI), and building a few alternate SCT programs with the Pro Racer software. Zack had some ideas about adding more timing to the 16 degrees on board, and we were going to go exploring, if and when the weather improved.
Be advised that this tire size will set off alarms on the street. Both the ABS and Traction Control will respond to the shorter 26" height. You can shut off the T/C, and the ABS will go out when you restore your street tires.
Around 10:30 AM, the rain clouds moved out towards the East, and the Sun came out with revenge. Everything dried up fast, temps shot up to 80+ degrees while humidity hung at 90 percent. It would take a strong and colder wind to push this cloud of steam away from us, and that wasn't happening. So, we gave it out best shot, and our best run of the day was our first run. It's also the best run ever on record for the Kenny Brown Marauder S 1x.
Reaction...1.412
60 foot ET...1.725
330 foot ET...5.131
594 foot ET...7.445
1/8 mile ET...7.964
1/8 mile MPH...86.71
1000 foot ET...10.400
1/4 mile ET...12.456
1/4 mile MPH...110.29
For the record here, our slowest run of the day.
Reaction...2.338
60 foot ET...1.808
330 foot ET...5.215
594 foot ET...7.536
1/8 mile ET...8.064
1/8 mile MPH...85.22
1000 foot ET...10.526
1/4 mile ET...12.591
1/4 mile MPH...109.47
Those 60 foot times are sure pleasing to me, hook up has been a problem for the car, both on the street and at the race track. We left shortly after "high noon", when it was apparent that weather conditions were not going to improve until sundown. Nonetheless, it was a good race day, and I have an idea of how my 1x is going to run this season.
All in all, this is good, and I am very pleased with the performance gains from this project. 12.456/110.29 MPH is the quickest this Vortech powered MM has ever run, and it ran very consistent. My 1x could be a great bracket car. Potential for even greater performance remains on tap. I'm at 478 RWHP/434 RWTQ right now, and when I want more, all I'll need to do is add some bolt-on stuff, such as a smaller blower pulley (presently a 3.12"/12# pulley), an electric water pump (presently, OEM water pump, no underdrive pulleys either), Kook's headers (presently Cobra manifolds, with 2.5" OD and Magnaflo 18s), none of which I have considered yet.
Yes, I could do more, and deliver a lot more power to the ground, but I don't feel a need for it at the present time. The 1x is plenty fast as it sits today. Maybe I'll try some after sunset "test and tunes" and see what develops from cooler night racing? Everyone does better at night.
This post is most likely to be my last comment on this project, there isn't much more to add. I have to give my sincere "thank you" to those who helped me with my project. My good friend, Zack, and new friends Randy Crowley of PER (
www.per-race-engines.com) and Sutton Ford's Master Tech and SCT tuning specialist, Jerry VanDerlinde (
www.suttonhp.com). Thank you all for a job well done.
