Lightning has 1000 miles on it and driver has never been to drag strip before, let alone drive. First run I was asleep at the line but ran a 13.974 in 50 degree weather. I'll take it. I beat a Nice Yellow Cobra Mustang by half a second.

Second run had wheel spin at line, but better reaction time ( a little ), Was racing a Horsepower challenged import ( Is that politically correct or what )
Both runs I was in right lane.
Had a great time. Have to go again some time
Camera battery was dead or I would have asked someone to take pictures.
Doug

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Got Silver 2000 Lightning 2/28/00!!
Doug
Carrollton TX
drbdkb@hotmail.com
Had 87 Turbo Coupe traded for
92 F150 XLT 302, Put K&N Filter, cat back and Chip on 92 Still not enough.
Silver 2000 Lightning, Valentine 1, Snuglid and Bedrug. K&N Filter as soon as I can find one.

[This message has been edited by Silver_2000_ ! (edited 03-18-2000).]

[This message has been edited by Silver_2000_ ! (edited 03-18-2000).]

[This message has been edited by Silver_2000_! (edited 03-18-2000).]

 

Righteous, Doug. Nice goin'.

------------------
I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy.

'92 Civic Si, Centerforce Dualfriction clutch, no front license plate.
"00 SVT Lightning, silver, G-tech Pro, no mods yet (JBA headers and Sal's filter kit on order)

alphadoggy@jetlink.net

 

hey doug,
cr1028's lil bro here. I tried to take pics of you on the strip, but had camera problems. Sorry, maybe next time.
Lee
"lil bro"

 

Doug -

Excellent time for a truck with only 1K miles. You'll be in the mid 13s before you know it (who said the 2000s are slower?). Sorry I couldn't make it. It would have been 7:45pm before I could have gotten away from Denton. I'd like to hear your first impressions of the Ennis facility. Was there a pretty good crowd?

http://www.zing.com/picture/p4a581d4...3.jpg.orig.jpg


[This message has been edited by sixpipes (edited 03-18-2000).]

 

Doug,

Awesome runs! Looks promising for us 2000's. My first run at the track w/250 miles gave me 14.3's and 14.4's w/little wheelspin. The truck did not seem to pull hard, but I've now got 800 miles on mine and it is completely different. I need to run to the track soon again.

Edited this to reflect correct times.

[This message has been edited by Peter B (edited 03-18-2000).]

 

Six Pipes,

Next time send me an email and we can caravan down.
The guy at the hamburger stand said the crowd was about half of what would have been there if it was 70 degrees. There was almost no one in the stands. About 40 people milling around in the pits right as you come through the start building to get staged. Probably about 200 people total. Lots of imports, F bodies, Mustangs a couple corvettes, a couple full on blown dragsters, 3 lightning’s including mine. A gen 1 black one driven by Terry who was VERY interested in the 13.9 I drove and a red 1999 that I never got a chance to talk to. A Dakota RT running in the 15’s and even an brand new Audi A6.

The average age of the crowd was 22 or so, I felt ancient. Cool part was everyone I met was friendly and laid back from the starter to the fans. My silver L made a decent impression, especially when I told them I left it in drive and punched it. I took me about 15-20 minutes to figure out where tech was and how the thing worked ( signs or instructions would have been great ). I will definitely go back. For 15 bucks I could have easily gotten in 7 or more runs if I was there at 7 and wanted to. It also wouldn’t be too hard to get lined up against a selected opponent. I got the impression no one wanted to run me, because the second time I lined up in staging lanes the car next to me in changed 3 times.

I knew when I was going down the track the first time that I had a terrible reaction time, and that the truck had hooked and launched pretty well, but I had no clue that I would break 14 seconds. The cars I had seen break 14 seconds were really hauling *** !!! I asked the guy that handed me the slip if it was a mistake, or if my terrible leave would have affected the ET. He just laughed and said no man you ran a 13.9 ! The acceleration and speed of this thing is very deceptive. That’s why I got right back in line to see if I could back it up. BIG GRINS !!!!

Sorry for the long Post

Doug

------------------
Got Silver 2000 Lightning 2/28/00!!
Doug
Carrollton TX
drbdkb@hotmail.com
Had 87 Turbo Coupe traded for
92 F150 XLT 302, Put K&N Filter, cat back and Chip on 92 Still not enough.
Silver 2000 Lightning, Valentine 1, Snuglid and Bedrug. K&N Filter as soon as I can find one

 

Great runs Silver!
It seems that you were so fast that you had a time warp(back to the future) Your timeslip said 9:08 PM 18/mar 2000 and your post was 3:57AM (central time) on 18/mar/2000 . Or maybe their clock didnt account for Leap year. Smile! (I dont know how to post the happy faces)

 

Removed

[This message has been edited by Silver_2000_! (edited 03-18-2000).]

 

Doug,

First off, congrats on making your first trip to the strip! Glad you had a good time, even though you only made 2 passes.

If there were less than 200 cars there, then that indeed was a VERY small crowd. After 8pm, it usually gets pretty full on Friday nights.

Also, a 13.9x/98 mph is good for such a new truck at THIS particular track. It is almost impossible to compare times to other vehicles at different tracks. Air conditions, altitude, track prep have a LOT to do with it. FWIW, my truck ran the same times bone stock, but the temps were a bit higher (less humidity then you had though), and we had a 10mph wind in our face (which is unusual since the Motorplex runs from west to east.

Anyway, you'll only get better from here!!

You may know this, but reaction time has absolutely nothing to do with your ET. The ET clock starts whenever you break the beams, not when the light turns green.

Also, it will take some practice to get good reaction times. Each vehicle is different, but if you practice over and over with one, you'll learn when to launch "on the tree". Since you got reaction times over 1.000 each time, I will guess that you took off when the light turned green. Actually you want to anticipate the light turning green, so you should launch _before_ you see the green bulb come on. With a heavy vehicle and an automatic trans, you have to leave a bit earlier than a lighter, stick shift car. I leave just after I see the 2nd yellow bulb go off when I'm in my Lightning. I also stage shallow to allow more rollout (meaning you actually move forward a bit before breaking the beam and starting the clock). But, I concentrate on that one bulb. Once the 2nd yellow goes off (meaning the 3rd one is now on and then the green light soon to follow), I let off the brake and hit the gas simultaneously. For _me_, this has given me consistent .5xx-.6xx reaction times. I haven't done much experimenting either, as I've only put 8 passes on my truck total. However, I assumed it would take more time for it to get moving (and thus break the beams) than my Mustangs which are lighter, stick cars. I leave on the 3rd yellow light in those (and typically still don't get consistent R/Ts).

If you'd cut an identical light to that yellow Cobra, you'd have seen how big a difference .5 seconds is...you'd have whipped him to the finish line. Instead, his huge advantage at the start allowed him to hold you off...even though I imagine you were pulling him in pretty good. Then again, it looks like he totally fried his tires as I see he ran a 2.5x 60'. D'oh! So, you probably made up the difference in reaction time within the first 60-100'.

------------------
Wes Tarbox
90 LX 5.0 (10.69 @ 134.7)--586rwhp/587rwtq
96 Cobra (12.63 @ 114.5)--390rwhp/441rwtq
97 SHO
99 Lightning (13.20 @ 103.3)--362rwhp/444rwtq http://members.aol.com/Wa2fsT/index.html



[This message has been edited by Wes Tarbox (edited 03-18-2000).]

 

Wes

Thanks for the tips.
From watching others run I tried to hit gas when I saw the second yellow but like anything you do the first time my head was a bit busy. All I did was let off the brake and tromp the gas. I didnt want to complicate things with 2 footing it. The kid in the Cobra didnt smoke he just cant drive it yet. Next time I will see if I can get a good launch with 2 footing it. The 2 or 3 times I have tried that on the street I boiled the tires. Have to learn to moderate it.
The part that really makes me smile is the truck is SO powerful and SO easy to drive that the first time down the track it pulls a 13.9 even though the driver doesnt have a clue.

Doug

------------------
Got Silver 2000 Lightning 2/28/00!!
Doug
Carrollton TX
drbdkb@hotmail.com
Had 87 Turbo Coupe traded for
92 F150 XLT 302, Put K&N Filter, cat back and Chip on 92 Still not enough.
Silver 2000 Lightning, Valentine 1, Snuglid and Bedrug. K&N Filter as soon as I can find one


[This message has been edited by Silver_2000_! (edited 03-18-2000).]

 

hey doug, couldn't tell in your post if you realize that reaction time has nothing to do with e.t. my reaction times are usually pretty bad because i'm more focused on getting a good launch. you could wait 10 seconds and your e. t. would be the same. of course a pinto would take you if you waited that long!! well...he might need more than a 10 second jump. john

 

Whow, Whow, I screwed up, my mistake. OOPS, I typed that wrong---should be 14.3's and 14.4's.