Fast sleeper

[JackDidley]

If you like drag racing at all and like low budget cars you have to like this.
This guy is semi famous for building big horsepower junk. Colorado with a junkyard 6.0 LS Chevy and a turbocharger.

[pwd72s]

Some video! Thanks!

[Sooner or later]

Originally Posted by afterburn 549

impressive ~!
Albeit I know nothing of 1/4 mile racing or why they throw you off or not let you race...Explain?

Most likely lack of safety equipment at the speeds he is running. Roll cage for one.

[wilnj]

Originally Posted by afterburn 549

why they throw you off or not let you race...Explain?

Because he hasn’t complied with any safety regulations.

https://www.racingjunk.com/news/2015/04/08/safety-regulations-for-nhra-classes-and-brackets/

Which is fine for him but not so fine for the guy who has to clean up the mess inside his cab if something goes wrong or the track that has to defend itself in a lawsuit from his family because the track allowed him to run with the gear their own rules require.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Sooner or later]

Originally Posted by wilnj

Because he hasn’t complied with any safety regulations.

https://www.racingjunk.com/news/2015/04/08/safety-regulations-for-nhra-classes-and-brackets/

Which is fine for him but not so fine for the guy who has to clean up the mess inside his cab if something goes wrong or the track that has to defend itself in a lawsuit from his family because the track allowed him to run with the gear their own rules require.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Or when he brakes an axle and crashes into the other guy.

[JackDidley]

Not safe but still impressive.The part that gets me is, I remember when it took a race car to go that quick. Light weight and a big motor. The old Colorado just hooks up and goes down the track. No wheelies, no big slicks, no big hood scoop. Aint technology grand ? If you look at youtube, he has done several builds along the same lines. Sloppy mechanics is his Youtube channel. Reuses head gaskets, rings and bearings usually. Just goes with a cam, springs and a turbo.

[HardDrive]

I enjoyed the video, the guys engineering prowess is impressive.

But the fact is, you're driving a pickup truck 140mph down a track. The NHRA didn't create the safety rules because they're a bunch of old fuddie duddies. The rules were created for the preservation of life, and the sport itself. He dies, you can been that track is getting sued, and those operations can be marginal. Does he even have a roll cage in it? Fuel cell?

[Tobra]

I saw a guy in a 3/4 ton 4X4 diesel Ford get kicked out like that, one run and done. I went and talked to him about it, had propane injection, which is apparently a thing. He would come off the line in 4 high and pop it into 2 wheel drive once he was moving. Astounding to see something that big leave that fast. He ran away from a ZO6 that was spraying nitrous. Both ran sub 11, which required rollover protection that neither had.

A half second is a long time in quarter mile race, or it sure seemed like it was, waiting for the Corvette's time to come up.

Best sleeper I ever saw was a Vega with a turbo V-8, not loud like a normal SBC. Did not look like much, but it was ridiculous.

[Jims5543]

I tried to run my RX7 at Palm Beach Raceway a couple of times. I had just swapped in the 13B-REW (3rd Gen RX7 ) motor we had it tuned somewhat but the tune was still really rough. I did not have a problem with anyone at the track, it ran a 12.64 with me short shifting because the motor was breaking up over 7K RPM's.

3 Weeks later we finally got it on the dyno, I had paid to fly in a guy from Texas to tune it. Initial pull was 280 to the wheels, when we were done it was making 390 to the wheels, that was how bad my tune was.

We decided to go back and run her again, pretty sure we would break into the 10's with the additional 110RWHP and being able to rev up to 9K RPM.

Never got past tech this time. I had my helmet that I wear for track days and Autocrosses on the front seat, expecting it to be inspected like the SCCA does. That triggered a red flag. The guy asked what I was expecting to run, I told him I had no idea. He asked why I had a helmet, I told him habit from running in the SCCA and doing track days with Chin Motorsports. Explaining it is more of an Autocross car than 1/4 mile car.

He looked under the car, saw no driveshaft hoop and booted me out.

I went back there a month later with Chin Motorsports, and was running 165 MPH down the part of the track that is next to the 1/4 mile strip. I laughed at the irony of being kicked out of the 1/4 mile track. That was never the purpose of that car anyway.

I also was watching diesel trucks run down the track while I was being hassled and wondering why that was allowed. If one got out of shape I am sure it would make short work of those NJ Barriers that have running down the sides.

[DanielDudley]

With that much power a driveshaft hoop makes total sense.

[Jims5543]

Originally Posted by DanielDudley

With that much power a driveshaft hoop makes total sense.

Agreed, yet I made about 300 ft lbs of torque, the diesel trucks were running without driveshaft loops.

I am all for safety enforcement, I am not a fan of selective enforcement. That was my point.

[JackDidley]

Originally Posted by Jims5543

I also was watching diesel trucks run down the track while I was being hassled and wondering why that was allowed. If one got out of shape I am sure it would make short work of those NJ Barriers that have running down the sides.

I will guess you were running slicks. Slicks require a loop. Nothing to do with how fast or powerful the car is. A lot of the rules were written 50 years ago and things have changed a lot over the years.

[Jims5543]

Originally Posted by JackDidley

I will guess you were running slicks. Slicks require a loop. Nothing to do with how fast or powerful the car is. A lot of the rules were written 50 years ago and things have changed a lot over the years.

I drove 35 miles to the track, I was on street tires. Falken Azenis, IIRC.

As I said we were just curious, if the car was a 1/4 mile car all the rules would have been met. It was an AX car that met those rules.

[JackDidley]

Originally Posted by Jims5543

I drove 35 miles to the track, I was on street tires. Falken Azenis, IIRC.

As I said we were just curious, if the car was a 1/4 mile car all the rules would have been met. It was an AX car that met those rules.

Must have been a thing with that track. Maybe just a tech guy being a jerk. No reason for them to do that. The tracks I go to seldom even look at the cars. They will let nearly anyone to run because they can not afford to turn down an entry fee. Tracks around here are struggling to survive. In the 80s, NHRA division 3 had 26 tracks. Now they have 14.

[masraum]

Cool video. It's probably best that stuff wasn't around when I was young. I'm not sure how well we'd have made it through with that sort of power easily available.

[aschen]

Love sloppy mechanics

[Jims5543]

Originally Posted by JackDidley

Must have been a thing with that track. Maybe just a tech guy being a jerk. No reason for them to do that. The tracks I go to seldom even look at the cars. They will let nearly anyone to run because they can not afford to turn down an entry fee. Tracks around here are struggling to survive. In the 80s, NHRA division 3 had 26 tracks. Now they have 14.

The techs there was famous for hating Japanese cars I am sure that had a lot to do with the over the top inspection.

There used to be a event organizer called "Street Racing made safe" that was running there, it was a run what you brung type of thing. From 8-10 PM they did roll racing, then from 10-12 they prepped the track and did dig racing.

For whatever reason Palm Beach Raceway chased them away. Someone asked why they were not running there on Instagram, the organizer told them the only way they will run there again is when the management there is changed.

Awesome video. I ran brackets at Pacific Raceway (way back when it was Seattle International Raceway) all through the early 90s. Bracket racing is a lot of fun and there are all kinds of mind games that go on. I had a 1988 5.0 Fox Mustang notch that I converted to a C4 automatic with a high stall converter, steep gears, and heads I ported myself. That car won a lot of races.

This year, I'll take my E92 M3 and my daughter's Tesla dual motor Model 3 out a couple times. The M3 should be a high-12s car, and Tesla a low-12s car. The Tesla is just stupid fast, but I'll need to find a quarter mile-long extension cord.

[JackDidley]

I did a lot of bracket racing in the 80s, early 90s. Took my S10 to Bowling Green Ky last Sunday for test & tune. Best pass was a 13.69 spinning all through first gear. No plans for much racing but I did take out the 4.10 gears today and put in 3.23s. Just in case. Should help with MPGs anyway.