Turbos, HP and Real World Experience at Blackhawk

[STEADIRIC@aol.com]

Just got back from the Quattro Club event at Blackhawk and wadded through all
of the post to the group and I need to through in my $.02 worth.

First off let me say I've driven LOTS of race cars and modified cars in my
life, I drive for several race teams as their test driver so a good
calibrated butt is a must as is the ability to identify the good and the bad
in the chassis and driveline.  At the Blackhawk event I had the oppurtinuity
to drive some really neat cars like: 2 UrQuattros, 2 V-8's, 2 S-4's, 1 S-6, 4
5KTQ's (1 Rock Stock 1 Suspension Only, 1 IA Stage 1 Only, 1 IA Stage 1 and
Suspension) 3 90 sports, 1 Subaru SVX (Pretty Fun Car!) and 1 Toyota Supra
Twin Turbo (Really, Really Fast!!) So I had a pretty good baseline to work
with.

I Rode with Ned Ritchie (Prolly THE most Knowledgable person about Audis and
turbos that I have ever met.)in his 420HP Monster and with PDQSHIP in his
5KTQRS2 (At least 350HP).  Ned's car has incredible top end HP.  When we went
for a ride (On wet streets no-less and 45 degrees air temp) I saw 75 inches
of Manifold pressure at 5K rpm. The pull at 100mph was unbeliveable.  The
downside of Neds car with the 956 turbo is there is very little low end
torque.  PDQSHIP's car on the other hand has boost RIGHT NOW,  will spin all
4 wheels off the line and EASILY take a S-4 in a stoplight drag race. To top
it off PDQSHIP will have prolly 400hp by the end of summer while keeping all
tha down low grunt. This guy has it figured out.  Hell he even gave me a
couple of good ideas.

Like  I said before I drove 2 S-4's and I was able to catch them off boost
more than once in some of the very tight micky mouse sections of Blackhawk.
 In PDQSHIP's car or mine ('87 5KCSTQ IA Stage 2) I would not be off boost in
that section.  One thing to ponder... the 10v motors control boost and the
wastegate differently than the 20v's, especialy during shifts.

Eric Fletcher
'87 5KCSTQ IA2