Drag racing results!

[Michael Gough]

Well first off, I had a hell of a lot of fun, and that's what matters anyway
right? :)
Second, I'm VERY skeptical of the 17.0 @ 79 mph that I read for a stock
Quantum syncro. Those results come from a website that quotes the Road and
Track September 1986 issue. I know my stock QSW wasn't ever that fast, maybe
18 seconds in the quarter mile, not 17.
Anyway, the first run I made was surely the most fun. I ran against nobody,
bogged the engine really bad (dropped down to 1k rpm...) and ran a 17.95 @
75 mph. The time sucked but the funny part was after the run. It was the
first run at that track, there didn't seem to be a finish line painted on
the track, and the turnout for the return road was barely visible. Anyway I
see the return road right before I pass it, hit the brakes they lock up on
the oily track (lots of leaky V8s) but I manage to get the car spun around
and onto the return road :)
Best run I did was 16.80 at 79.5. I was up against a white Civic hatchback
with a really obnoxious exhaust system, I just smiled as he dismissed my
wagon with a laugh. When the light turned green, I was ahead instantly and I
was ahead the whole time. Of all the cars I raced (Civic Si, Honda Prelude,
2 Civic hatchbacks) NOBODY beat me off the line. My enormous torque helped
me beat them all off the line, and most I beat the whole way down.
My worst run was a 25.86 @ 37 mph.......No I didn't keep it in first gear :)
I took off strong, got to about 50 in 3rd gear, a few car-lengths ahead of
the other guy, and then.....it wouldn't go. I thought OHHHH S#!t I have to
drive this 100 miles home tonight, and I don't want to walk! It barely ran
enough to get off the track and died completely on the return road. I got
out, and saw that my lower intercooler tube had blown off the turbo! I
honnestly don't know how it ran at all unless the amount of air being sucked
through the flow meter by the turbo was about the same as the amount of air
being sucked in by the engine.....
Anyway I had a great time. The one problem that plagued me, the problem I've
had all along, and I knew would hurt me, is the small downpipe (yes I still
haven't changed that) It's about 1 7/8" and seriously limits my top end. If
I had the extra 1000-1500 rpm that a larger downpipe would give me, it would
have helped a LOT, I was in 5th gear crossing the finish line....
Next time out I'll have a larger downpipe, and run low 16s or high 15s. In
another few months I'll have EFI and run in the low 15s high 14s, and then
with the bigger turbo I've got sitting next to me, It'll be low 14s to high
13s, with a new clutch anyway.
Mike