I took the car yesterday to a private track rental at Maryland International Raceway. Even though I had the slowest car out there, I was grinning ear-to-ear by the time I went through the traps. This was the first time that car has been to the track. Keep in mind the car is basically stock, except for the 3.90:1 GT rear, duals (which add nothing), and some suspension goodies. Here's a cruddy cell-phone shot -
The rear rims are new, which I bought from another racer at the event (planned ahead of time). The wheels are S197 17x8" silver Bullitts, shod with 325/45R17 M&H drag radials. They have a diameter of 28", which is a TALL tire, so I figure this combination has a corrected gear ratio of 3.65:1. The wider 2000 GT rear-end, combined with the offset of the S197 wheels, placed the DR's perfectly in the wheelwells.
I shaved 4/10ths over the course of the day, having made 8 passes total. I ended up with a best of:
60'... 2.158
1/8.. 10.302 @ 67.56mph
1/4.. 16.208 @ 83.44mph
I'll admit to having trouble working the pedals to do a proper burnout, as I kept rolling up to the line or killing it entirely. At the line I was actually spinning the DR's. So line-locks will allow me to heat up those DR's and lower my 60' time. I changed my shift points during the day, but generally I was shifting around 4800. My final time down the track was a 16.232, so I was able to back-up my super impressive runs.
But at least we have a baseline before tearing into the motor this winter.