It was a rainy morning. I went to the pod anyway. The sky cleared up on the way, but there was still a threat of rain. I got in the queue at about 2.30pm. It was pretty busy. I was getting a run in about every 30 minutes.
As the afternoon went by more and more people left. By quarter to 5 there were only about 12 cars left going down the strip. It was amazing - I was getting a run every 4 minutes right up to 5.30 when they closed. So I managed to get 17 runs in this afternoon.
I was getting beaten by loads of things. The biggest shaming was from a Saxo VTR. I messed up a change into 3rd on that run too. It seemed a bit fast for a VTR. I found out later that it was supercharged. I repaid the debt by leaving a VTS for dust a little later. I also outran a MK2 Golf and an Escort RS turbo.
I picked up all my times at the end. The worst was 16.2s ( missed gear), the average was 15.6s, the good ones were 15.35@91mph, 15.332@91.4mph, and 15.278@90.71mph. So I didn't beat my previous best of 15.16s@92.6mph. Looking at the details, my best start was within 0.05s of that, but I seemed to lose out at higher speeds. That suggests that I'm missing a bit of top end power, something that the rolling road data showed - about 5BHP missing. I suspect that this is due to a mishap with the Vernier pulley when changing the cambelt.
Quarter mile spreadsheet. | Quarter mile time graph.
This was a good excuse to play with the acceleration calculator.
Old power and weight: 147BHP, 925Kg inc 50Kg driver. 0-60: 7s, 0-100: 17.7s 1/4: 15.2s@92.8mph
Old power with weight loss: 147BHP, 900Kg inc 50Kg driver. 0-60: 6.84s, 0-100:17.3s, 1/4: 15.1s@93.6mph
New power with weight loss: 142BHP, 900Kg inc 50Kg driver. 0-60: 7.13s, 0-100: 17.94s, 1/4: 15.3@92.6.
So I reckon that I'm missing 5BHP at the top and this is enough to explain the slightly worse results. Notice that the trap speeds don't change that much, and the actual trap speed from the Pod seems a bit low. I think that this is unreliable data from Santa Pod again. I've seen this before.
| Standing quarter mile results summary. | ||
| Previous Best | Latest | |
| 60 ft: | 2.356s | 2.392s |
| 330 ft: | 6.493s | 6.521s |
| 1/8th mile: | 9.859s @ 73.31mph | 9.889 @ 72.09mph |
| 1/4 mile: | 15.163 @ 92.66 mph | 15.278s @ 90.71mph (maybe) |
| Torque: | 140 lb-ft | 144 lb-ft |
| Power: | 150 BHP | 142 BHP |
| Weight | 980 KG (including driver, estimated) | 930KG |
