Thread: Street tires at the track

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Well, I made it out to the track in Fernley during Hot August Nights. This track is at 4400 feet elevation and believe it or not it runs up hill at a noticble grade. It's actually the straightaway for a road course, but ti has a nice concrete launch pad. It's straight heads up run what ya brung and hope you brought enough. I went out there with a friend who has a 68 Camaro with an LS7 crate motor in it with a 6 speed. BOttom line is I had a blast. Best run of the night was a 14.69 backed up by a 14.71. Mph of 93. Using NHRA correction for elevation that equates to 13.89 and 98.41. And remember this track runs up hill! It took me a couple runs to get things sorted out. Hooked pretty good with tires at 30 psi, leaving off a 12-1500 rpm and rolling into the throttle. Doing that I killed everyone I raced on the start including the LS7 Camaro and a Turbo 350Z. I had some trouble with my trans popping out of 3rd gear and ended up getting passed in the lights by the 350 Z and the LS7 caught up to me a little before half track and then got loose and had to pedal it, but ended up getting around me with a 110 mph speed. Now that car hauls butt! His best time was a 13.8. I figured out how to deal with the trans problem but then ended up paired agains a couple Hondas who I really killed. All of these times are street tires, (Wide Whites even, thanks Diamond Back) through the mufflers with some junk in the trunk. I will have some video to share eventually. Anyway, thanks everyone for the tips, they worked pretty darn well. I had some younger guys come up as we were getting ready to leave, asking "What the hell is that thing? It's damn fast! You are kicking everyone's butt." I was pleased to intorduce them to the Studebaker world. There are no announcers at this outlaw track and no score boards, so the fans do not know times or really who won unless they are on the top end. We had several folks tell us they thought it was great that a couple of "Pretty Cars" came out and ran 'em instead of just sitting in a parking lot. I may try again someday down at sea level if I can find a track that will let me run. I sure love the way this thing runs.

Pat

Good stuff Pat. Thanks for the update.