Many Have Asked, So here it is - What its like to Pilot the Blackbird

[Reaper930]

Quite a few have asked about this so I figured I'd post my thoughts that I wrote the morning after I drove her for the first time and after being awake for almost 50 some hours before crashing out in my hotel room.

Thanks to Aaron, Keith and Jack for making it such a memorable experience - without the Zuffenhaus guys this whole thing would not have turned out anywhere near what it should have.

I don't plug vendors or shops much but there is a damned good reason as to why I wear a Zuffenhaus banner on my windshield.

The experience:
This morning as I watch the sun rise through the shrouded mist in betwixt various foliage and trees, I sip my bitter hotel coffee and try to recollect the events of yesterday evening but to my best efforts I simply cannot. A victim of sensory overload, my mind has been assaulted and overwhelmed with the rawness and unbridled viciousness of what has been created. Not a monster, not a beast but an intoxicating vixen who seduces and manipulates the very laws of physics, not to be underestimated.

It began with a door, a cold slate grey slab in front of me, opened forward with a clinical brushed nickel handle while a warm breeze greets my 32-hours-awake-8-thousand-miles-travelled-but-still-smiling face. With a half turn to the left I behold what looks to be a top secret government project in its final stages, where comic book logic and limitless imagination are employed to fit a form over such a vehicle of function and ultimate purpose. I am in awe.

With the lift bringing her down to a manageable height, I carefully review and catalogue each image in my brain – knowing that this moment must not be dismissed as simple excitement, this is the bonding moment between her and I, between the Blackbird and her pilot.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I stand before you and in complete and total disbelief confess that I have been shaken to my mortal core, my insignificance has been extrapolated in measures that are on a cosmic scale – I have seen the edge of the world, I have set foot on the sun, and I have tasted the very fabric of the universe…I have driven the Blackbird...

Like the defining jet that stormed the skies and blasted through barriers thought to be unbreakable, the Blackbird has amazed and captivated my very soul. Two screaming demons fueling 3.8 highly focused liters with white glowing exhaust headers have reduced tires two feet wide to mere molten rubber, wheel spin induced insanity at over 110 mph in a straight line as boost comes on in the higher RPM range. Just another day at the office for her.

With the dotted lines of the highway a single blur, passing the one or two cars that were on the road as if they were pegging their rev limiters in reverse we transcended into a higher plane – laughing and screaming expletives in utter disbelief and sheer bliss we continually tested to determine if the pressure plate was slipping under the incredible forces being issued by the motor or if indeed the gargantuan meats in the back were succumbing to an unmentionable power. Shortly our dyno run would conclude that it was indeed copious amounts of wheel spin at triple digit speeds, expect the unexpected.

Attempting to lope my demented and blood lusting mistress through the timid and unprepared fair towns on the way to the dyno just prior to the setting of the sun, she received her initial public reaction. Similar to the “Shock and Awe” campaign, everywhere you looked there were eyes focused on us, jaws agape some in confusion as to exactly what they were looking at, some in awe at the sheer growl and appearance that is packaged together in an unearthly sheen with uneven paint. But one thing was clear – everyone knew what they were witnessing was something very, very special. It was as if the SR-71 had been taxied downtown in 1962 on full afterburner to get to the gas station for some fuel.

To say that the fortunate patrons of the Exxon Mobile station were perplexed is an understatement – horn honks, thumbs-ups and salutes were shot in our direction, by passing traffic clearly inspiring those who had no earthly clue as to what they were looking at to have a similar emotion to the one I was having. It is clear that my lust for an uncompromising and terrifying steed has been not only met but surpassed by light years.

With the revs barking at 6k RPM attempting to engage the triple disc tilton gate keeper of power and with a highly conscious effort to avoid riding a bucking bronco, the symphony of throttle and clutch began mildly but quickly turned violent with a futile protest from the rear tires - we were on our way. Once moving, gear changes are telepathic with the Hargett shifter in the perfect location – I felt like Hans Stuck attempting a Nordschliefe record and there was little to convince me otherwise save for a few stop signs and traffic circles of doom…

To say that she is unstreetable is a gross understatement, her demeanor is like that of a vampire having slept for millennia awaking and trying to restrain her thirst, no matter the gear or RPM she begs for throttle and not just for a little bit either. Off track driving can be described as being 17 and in bed with a sex crazed Angelina Jolie, Melissa Ford, Megan Fox and a host of Playboy Playmate twins with them begging you to give in to their wild temptations – while your parents are in the next room, eventually you start quoting Tom Cruise from Risky Business by finally learning when to “say f**k it”.

With the pagid orange signature sqeals at every middle pedal stab there isn’t a single thing a sane person would desire to partake in what this amazing beast has to offer…but then I’m not a sane, rational or even slightly reasonable member of society.

After our first drives together both the Blackbird and myself are becoming less nervous with each other, having racked up more than a few smoky launches and sideways adventures she is beginning to trust me, and I her. Showing me small secrets to yield a smoother cruise off boost, when and where she likes it if on a rare occasion I simply cannot in good judgment apply full throttle.

A few thousand miles and a few run in's with Johnny L. I know her inside and out but still learning something new everytime I look at her, but we're off to a good start. Pain is relative, comfort is a retarded luxury and hearing is over rated.

She is the culmination of everything badassed in this world – a spine chilling demonic howl – her appearance commanding respect and admiration – she is simply on a different level than anything I have ever had the pleasure of coming across. While in her current state many would scoff at her small scars and imperfections, but if you’re still reading this you’re not one of those people. She’s a proud but humble creature, with strength to pull Jupiter out of orbit and a delft suspension finesse to not be upset by a mid corner surface undulation she exhibits the spirit and embodiment of her famous elders that terrorized the IMSA tracks of old…she is an ancient spirit reborn, energized and begging for more.

[911nut]

Gabe, that is a nice piece of writing.
Your car is way cool!
Good luck with her; hope you never sell her.

[dewolf]

You need to crate that baby up and take her to Nurburgring....It would freak the sh$t out of some of those euro tuners.

[gsmith660]

When I read the first part of your write up I thought you were talking about the real blackbird (SR-71) LOL. Good write up awesome car, my little pissant car is a blast to drive I can only imagine what your beast is like!! Oh and the bat needs to be preserved thats way cool.

[juicersr]

Originally Posted by dewolf

You need to crate that baby up and take her to Nurburgring....It would freak the sh$t out of some of those euro tuners.

Gabe and i are planning a Euro-rampage at some time in the not-too-distant future. The problem is that the noise-nazi's are becoming more prevalent in Europe at both the tracks and in local municipalites, so we may get hasseled as these cars are not subtle.

Awesome write-up Gabe.

[lin7310948]

not to hijack the thread....but is there a hp posted for the turbopalooza guys...be interesting to see each car listed with the chp...whp in a common place...would not want to show up with a knife at a gunfight! especially interested in power of the blackbird! thanks

[Noah930]

I love that picture with the bat. Cracks me up every time.

[Reaper930]

Originally Posted by lin7310948

not to hijack the thread....but is there a hp posted for the turbopalooza guys...be interesting to see each car listed with the chp...whp in a common place...would not want to show up with a knife at a gunfight! especially interested in power of the blackbird! thanks

Simply put in the top picture we estimated the HP of the 5 930s and 1 bike at around 3,200 hp. Average HP on tap is about 500 at the wheels but there were some stockers that showed up and had a blast. We didn't get real crazy so everyone had a chance to keep up.

We're not a group concerned about who's faster or who's making what power though - its about the spirit each member brings and the fact that we'll slowen the pace every now and again so others (like myself) can catch up fast cars don't always mean fast drivers.

[JBL930]

Gabe, i haven't yet heard what power you were seeing on the dyno, and at what boost level, do tell

[MikeD930]

Gabriel,
Thanks for sharing your experiences. Well worth waiting to hear from you about your Blackbird. Super nice pics. The pics of your glowing headers shows what your car is capable of. I bet you're still learning to tame that beast. Just wow.

[JBL930]

Oh, and please post then graphs, cheers

[Reaper930]

Johnathan,

When we dyno'd we found a lean spot at 5k RPM and didn't push past that as we wanted to ensure we could run the full weekend. I am still waiting on the charts to be sent to me but she was pushing 576 torque at the wheels at just 4400 RPM. That was on the first run.

Wheelspin was a huge issue at everything past 3,000 RPM at about 3/4 throttle unless the tires were warm. Sadly the clutch let go totally 2 days after I made it down to Texas, she just couldn't hold it. The 345's break loose with ease and these are the Corsa Competition slicks, but that all took a toll on the clutch and PP setup i'm sure.

We dialed back the boost to 1.2 as thats where the fuel map seemed to be giving the most - but long story short we're going to retune the motor with MOTEC and get a EMS worthy of the motor.

But man-o-man does she pull like a freight train.

[Reaper930]

Here's the dyno sheet at 1 bar when I bought the motor:

[JBL930]

I thought you already had a Motec ECU i must have been mistaken. I'm told that Motec really is the best for your type of build, if I was in your shoes i wouldn't use anything else. What BHP were you seeing at 1.2bar? I'd love to know what it does 60-130mph in, do you have an AX22, driftbox or other device that measures performace data?

[Reaper930]

The motor was built and tuned with FAST EMS, which is an archaic 8X8 map with virtually no features. We're not running any other type of data box as we didn't have time to tear into the motor but this fall we're going to retune upgrade turbos, move to ITB's new equal length headers and a few other tricks.

When the motor goes back in we'll have a driftbox to analyze and diagnose performance to tell us what she's doing. We really need to setup for gear dependant boost to translate power to the ground. When I speak of wheelspin in the majority of the gear RPM range its very violent.

[JBL930]

The AX22 or Drifbox just sticks on your windscreen and plugs into your cigarette lighter http://www.driftbox.com/
http://www.race-technology.com/ax22_2_29.html
The AX22 is bulky, i have one and it works well but it is big. The driftbox is more widely used and it looks a lot sleeker, most use the driftbox for that reason.
You should get one on your car and do some runs, it'll be perfect for you as you can log acceleration data at different boost levels, long and latteral G to see whether any suspension tweeks make a difference. You can log lots of data as you are now, then compare it after you do more mods. As you know, each dyno will give different results, a good data logger will never lie to you, you have something you can always compare against, just remember to save the logs each time with a referrence to ambient temperature and maybe how much fuel you were carrying, and obviously what boost level.

My car is nowhere near your power level, and i know how violently mine pulls even with stock tires, yours must be real laugh to drive

[torresmd]

You have really built a special car. Congratulations! I am sure it was a ton of work that seems to never end. I am sure it was not cheap either.

[tarheelturbo]

gabe,

Awesome car, awesome write-up, awesome power!! i'm lost of words... i really hate that i wasn't able to share the turbopalooza experience with everyone.. hopefully an opportunity will arise that i'll be able to take a ride in that beautiful machine!
i can't imagine that you would need any more power on the street than she's pulling now, but hell i'm very excited to see what all the tweaks will produce.. what beast!!
Did you ever get a final weight on it? i know you had told me you were shooting for 2200 and one point?

[JohnJL]

Congratulations Gabe, great vision, fantastic execution and entertaining prose. Well done!

[Miguel Antonett]

Gabe, great write up!
To be honest with you, I was very concerned about the inpending encounter of you and the Blackbird, mainly after I learned that you had never driven a 911. Then, it was the rain... and you were able to stay calm and under control with such much power under the right foot. I'm really proud of you! Enjoy it and be safe!