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Is it the car or is it the driver?

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  #1  
Old 10-25-2009 | 09:18 AM
JayC's Avatar
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Default Is it the car or is it the driver?

Just thought I'd let you in on a little observation I made at the track today. As some of you know I recently changed the clutch, transmission as well as the shifter in recent weeks. As a result I had to break things in on the way to the NMRA finals. At the finals I was very gentle (needed to make the 2.5 hour drive home) on the new set-up and ran 11.80's in the 1/4 and 7.60's 1/8 mile times.

So today at the local 1/8 I decided to step up the driving a bit and lean on the new combo hoping for a new best.
First pass off the street I launched at 4500 and more aggressively shifted while still lifting on each shift. Results was a 7.57@94 with a 1.64 60'. Knowing the car had more in it I made one more pass without changes to verify things and with the same 4500 launch ran a 7.56@94 with a slightly better 1.62 60'.
Since the track seemed to be coming around, I raised the launch to 5000 and although still lift shifting ran a 7.47@94 with a 1.58 60', good for a new season's best E.T.
For the last pass of the day I stuck with the 5000 launch but powershifted every gear and was rewarded with a another new best of 7.38@93 and a 1.57 60'. All these were ran with bottle pressure right on 1000psi with steady air temps. The only change was more aggressive driving......something a lot of people never figure out.
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  #2  
Old 10-25-2009 | 03:16 PM
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congrats, what clutch/tranny did you put in?
 
  #3  
Old 10-25-2009 | 04:11 PM
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Originally Posted by gotMACH04
congrats, what clutch/tranny did you put in?
Promotion Super King Cobra clutch, NCR built T-45, carbon syncros, billet 3-4 shift fork, billet shift keys, HD springs, bronze shift fork pads etc. MGW orange handle shifter. Everything worked great except I pulled the MGW and put my old UPR shifter back in. I never liked the feel of the MGW and was very comfortable with the UPR after having it 7 years.
 
  #4  
Old 10-25-2009 | 04:12 PM
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Good momento Jay. I'm not one to beat on my car, but occasionally I'll drive it like it's meant to be driven. Hell, I'm not the best driver I'm sure, but I'm better than most. There's no sense in putting money into your car and not knowing how to take advantage of it.

And +1 on the question as to what clutch/transmission work you did.
 
  #5  
Old 10-25-2009 | 04:13 PM
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Looks like you beat me by a minute lol. But damn, I guess if you're going to redo the transmission, do it right! Impressive
 
  #6  
Old 10-25-2009 | 05:36 PM
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Driver Mod FTW, Lol.

Nice Job.
 
  #7  
Old 10-27-2009 | 09:39 PM
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Thanks everyone.
 
  #8  
Old 10-28-2009 | 07:30 AM
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For just changing the rpm's 500 and powershifting that is a nice drop in ET.
 
  #9  
Old 10-28-2009 | 07:57 AM
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Driving an Xterra...
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Wanna drive mine for me?
 
  #10  
Old 10-28-2009 | 09:20 PM
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Originally Posted by Mr. Zip
Wanna drive mine for me?
I'm not comfortable breaking other people's stuff
 
  #11  
Old 10-29-2009 | 07:52 PM
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Yeah, breakin' your ****'s bad enough, but breakin'other peoples is a lot worse

How much stuff have you broke on your car?
 
  #12  
Old 10-30-2009 | 07:55 PM
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Originally Posted by TUFF 4.6
Yeah, breakin' your ****'s bad enough, but breakin'other peoples is a lot worse

How much stuff have you broke on your car?
Two T-Loks, finally got a Detroit True-trac. Three clutches, three 3-4 shift forks, one 1-2 shift plate. Not bad actually for over 7 years and more than 400 track passes, probably 100 of them with a 150 shot.
 

Last edited by JayC; 10-30-2009 at 08:01 PM.
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