It was a very sunny day for the Performance Vauxhall Show 2003. There were only three runs for £12, so the queues weren't too bad.
I was hoping to get closer to 15.0s dead. My previous best was 15.16s. The best I managed on my last visit was 15.278 and that was with less weight on board. This time I kept the seats in the car. I had replaced the rotor arm and distributer cap, a move that always makes the car feel faster.
Videos (Courtesy of Andy Kirwan): pod1.mov pod2.mov
The runs are shown below:
| Run | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| Time | 11:03 | 11:20 | 11:38 | 16:01 | 16:08 | 16:13 |
| Reaction (s) | 1.292 | 1.465 | 1.223 | 1.134 | 1.168 | 1.157 |
| 60 ft (s) | 2.448 | 2.597 | 2.588 | 2.464 | 2.489 | 2.452 |
| 330 ft (s) | 6.614 | 6.934 | 6.932 | 6.688 | 6.750 | 6.669 |
| 1/8 time (s) | 9.983 | 10.352 | 10.355 | 10.057 | 10.144 | 10.056 |
| 1/8 speed (mph) | 73.29 | 72.40 | 72.41 | 73.12 | 72.03 | 72.89 |
| 1/4 time (s) | 15.309 | 15.793 | 15.795 | 15.401 | 15.538 | 15.407 |
| 1/4 speed (mph) | 91.89 | 90.58 | 90.77 | 91.75 | 91.15 | 91.83 |
The best time is compared with the best of the previous two runs below:
| Date | 15/09/02 | 27/04/03 | 13/06/03 | ||
| Time | Results | Results | Compared to best | Results | Compared to best |
| 60 ft (s) | 2.356 | 2.392 | +0.036 | 2.448 | +0.092 |
| 330 ft (s) | 6.493 | 6.521 | +0.028 | 6.614 | +0.121 |
| 1/8 time (s) | 9.859 | 9.889 | +0.030 | 9.983 | +0.124 |
| 1/8 speed (mph) | 73.31 | 72.09 | -1.22 | 73.29 | -0.02 |
| 1/4 time (s) | 15.163 | 15.278 | +0.115 | 15.309 | +0.146 |
| 1/4 speed (mph) | 92.66 | 90.71 | -1.95 | 91.89 | -0.77 |
It can be seen that the latest run is 0.121s behind by 60ft, rising to 0.124s by 330ft and it then stays about that far behind for the rest of the run. Therefore the launch is to blame for the slower time when compared with the previous best. In fact, the latest run is more promising than the results from 27/04/03 where despite a launch only lagging behind by 0.03s, there is a loss of time at higher speeds, suggesting a power loss or head wind. If the launch of the run from 27/04/03 was combined with the high speed part of the latest run then the time would be about 0.05s worse than the best, giving about 15.21s.
With these results I came to the conclusion that I wasn't going to break the 15s barrier unless I added some more power. According to the acceleration model, an extra 15BHP would get me close, but even that might not be enough.