I am always looking for new ways to test what I have built and some friends of mine with a 9-sec F-body (and they road race it!) suggested I enter the "True Street" competition at Maple Grove during the NMCA (National Muscle Car Assn) event ~ this is the national Hot Rod & Muscle car group.
We've been talkng about this for a few months and it finally happend yesterday.
The NMCA had a variety of classes and racing going and one in particular is really cool. The "True Street" class. What is required is that the car drives 30 miles (in a group with police escort) on public roads and returns to the staging lanes ... and does 3 back-to-back passes. The drivers "score" is the average of the 3 runs. If the driver fails to:
*keep pace with the group over the 30-mile cruise ... they are disqualified
*make all 3 passes ... they are disqualified
*keep his hood closed throughout the event (no changes can be made!) ... they are disqualified
*return immediately to the staging lanes afeter each run ... they are disqualified
Although this is a Hot Rod & Muscle Car event, the rules clearly state:
Quote:
|
True Street is a racing class for mildly modified to heavy modified high performance street vehicles that are street certified and able to drive over a 30-mile distance. All model years and engine types and power adders permitted. Class is designed for stock-chassis or back-half type vehicles running true 10.5" wide tires. Vehicles must be registered, licensed, and insured. There will be trophies and awards for not only the "King of True Street" (quickest average), and runner up but also for the following: Closest averaged ET that is not quicker than the following - 10.00, 11.00, 12.00, 13.00, 14.00, and 15.00. True Street racing will be conducted at a number of PRO drag racing events to be specified. PRO True Street does not have a points system. PRO True Street is not eligible for contingency.
|
There is nothing to rule an import out of the game ... so I entered.
I did call the lead tech (Ron) the other day on his cell and he said I am okay to run a Toyota. Actually he was very excited about me coming out.
When we first started talking about this event, my intention was to turn boost down and try to win the 12-second trophy (lowest 12 sec average).
After making 400+ on the dyno, I decided to go for it and shoot for the lowest 11 sec average.
So I roll into Maple Grove yesterday amongst a huge array of American iron.
Needless to say I got a lot of interesting reactions, but 99% of them were positive or curious. Only one person, sort of snubbed me (just happened to be an editor of a national hot rud publication
).
I actually failed tech for not having a horn (long story), but some extremely nice peope in a F-body Firebird offered to take their horn out of their tow vehicle. So they grabbed that and we wired it up to Hyde and I went up to tech .. "tooted" and got signed in. How's that for domestic/import relations!
There were 35 cars (a record for them) entered in this "True Street" class. At least two were in the 8s, two or three more were in the 9s and there was a pile in the 10s and a everyone else fell backward toward the 15s. The cars entered were camaros, firebirds, mustangs, montecarlos, gran nationals, chevelles, old street rods, a lightning, novas and
one Toyota MR2.
After the 30 mile cruise, we were down to 30 cars. We lost 5 cars that could not complete a 30 mile drive! One was last year's overall winner. He overheated 2 miles from Maple Grove's gate.
Rain delayed us going immediately into the staging lanes so they parked us out in a big field so they could watch us and make sure we made no changes to the car. We were only allowed to add fuel and change tires pressures. We were on a strict "no hoods" rule ... they had to be closed. Open your hood and you were out.
Two hours later we rolled up to the staging lanes ... 29 of us.
A grand national could not get started.
There was a leakdown on the track so we were held up another hour in the staging lanes. After that hour, one of older camaros had died in the lanes and could not start. He was forced to open his hood and was disqualified. So we were down ot 28 cars.
Another camaro was DQ'ed for having dealer tags and an old chevelle was DQ'ed for having tires on the front that were not "allowed for highway use" although they were DOT.
So we were down to 26 cars when we started our back-to-back runs with NO cool down time. I think we lost 2 or 3 more cars that failed to make all 3 passes in the allotted time. My time slips were posted at 6:51 pm, 7:01 pm and 7:16 pm. We were orginally scheduled to start our class at 2:30 *sigh* ... gotta love weather and break downs.
My first run was against a white Mustang.
I tree'd him with a .4 to his .7 (we were on the Pro tree, not the Sportsman).
He 60'ed me with a 1.60 to my 1.64
He caught me at 1/2 track and then 3rd gear boost kicked in an I walked him.
I went 11.95@116 (21 psi) to his 12.1@106.
My second run was against the same white Mustang. The annoucer called my car and MRZ ?!
My 2-step did not start popping, so I was late on the R/T
He tree'd me with a .4 to my .7 (same as last time, just backwards!)
He 60'ed me again with a 1.63 to my 1.67
By 1/2 track he was a good 3-4 cars on me and then 3rd gear boost kicked in and I started reeling him in hard, by 4th gear I was consuming the ground between us and I took him be a few car lengths right at the finish.
I went 11.84@117.6 (22 psi) to his 12.2@106.
After this run, the mustang driver gave me a nod and a smile.
It felt really good to get props from him.
I am sure he was shocked when I went flying by him right before the finish.
Now I was faced with a dilemna. Hyde was really underperforming from our expecations and there was no way in hell I was going to get the low 11 sec ET trophy & prizes. So I made one of the worst decisions I have ever made. I decided that on run 3 I was going to hit the brakes at the 1000' mark to aim for a 12.2 ~ 12.3 to bring my average of the three runs to as close to 12.0 as I could get. In seemed more important to me to try to take a win in this event than to run my best possible time.
So onto run #3
I was racing Laura, the girl with the F-Body that let me use her tow vehicles horn. I raced her many times years ago when I was running 12.8-13.2 and seh was runing 13.5s. I beat up on her many times and it was time for her pay back. Her first two runs were 10.9 and 11.0. She was shooting for the low 11 sec trophy.
So I roll up and do one of my favorite sideways smokey burnouts and pull up to the line. I'm not sure why, but when Hyde gets sideways in the burnout, I always run good and get really pumped. Since I knew I was planning on hitting the brakes at the 1000', I decided to concentrate on the tree and the launch.
I tree'd her with a .28 to her .40
I devasted her with the fastest 60' of my life:
I hit a 1.56 to her 1.63 putting me .3 ahead of her.
She reeled in 1. by the 330 and 2 more by 1/2 track.
I had the best 1/8 of my life with a 7.4.
We were dead even at the 1/2 and in my mind I realized I was keeping pace with a 10.9/11.0 car, I
knew this was the best run of my life and like the stupid fool that I can be .... I still lifted when I saw the 1000' box and as I approached it I jumped on the brakes *sigh* and she went flying by.
On the tape you can hear the annoucer say, "And she has had enough of that little Toyota."
I rolled through at 11.84 @ 101.36. I am still shocked.
If my foot would have stayed down, that would have easily been an 11.3-11.4 @ 120 mph. She went 11.0 @ 124. I am 90% sure she won the low 11 second trophy and she deserves it! Truly an awesome competitor.
Back in the pits, I was shocked that I was given a lot of respect.
One of the camaro guys came over and seemed surprised that my car was just sitting their idling fine. lol.
Official Race Results are here:
http://fasteststreetcar.com/forums/s...?threadid=3096
I finished 18 out of 35 entries and 10 cars were DQ'ed.
I'm extremely annoyed at the fact that I have 90 more rwhp and 65 more rwtq than a year ago and I am not even trapping higher. How is that possible??!??!!
Forum for every generation Toyota MR2. Including the AW11 and SW20.
Hyde's tries something new ... and goes domestic racing.
I have noticed that the domestic car guys tend to give the 2 a little more respect than the average import. it may be because the car is an oddity or because it looks a little more like an italian than asian import. 
you always manage to put a vivid image of the event in my mind.
Linear Mode
