So another reminder of how IMPRESSIVE the GRM challenge is- the Wheeler Dealer Barracuda drag racer.
Car is lightened, has a 5.7l Hemi, blower, and nitrous- and it did an impressive 11.2 1/4mi.
How many challenge cars has beaten this time? Seems like it happens more than once every year since 2004. At least.
Pretty darned amazing what can be done on a budget, but with huge creativity and experience.
$300 LS engines and cheap Chinese turbos go a long way in 2500# cars. Three cars beat 11.2 this last year alone and I expect more to come.
I'm going to be honest. If I was running two power adders on a car, I would be pretty disappointed if it only went an 11.2.
The challenge has been a lot of fun. Lots of great people. Lots of neat experiences.
Next year is going to good.
TheV8Kid said:I'm going to be honest. If I was running two power adders on a car, I would be pretty disappointed if it only went an 11.2.
The challenge has been a lot of fun. Lots of great people. Lots of neat experiences.
Next year is going to good.
I was even more surprised that when they put the pro into the car for a run, it appeared to just run an 11.16. And this would have been after Ant would have sorted the car someplace.
Given what you and your dad and all of the others have done, I expected that the car would have been in the 10's with a blower alone.
ON THE OTHER HAND.... watching the show did get me thinking some- not sure what kind of trans you guys use (other than it being an auto)- seems like there may be some left in the powertrain for the autocross. At least for the dreamers left (and, honestly, I'm a dreamer now, no longer a participant).
Anyway, it's always nice to have reminders how massively impressive challenge cars are. The drag racers are super, duper, awesome. The flip side, were someone takes a Challenge car, as is, to major autocrosses, and does really well, is pretty limited (IIRC, I can remember the FSP Corlolla as a highlight). And that aspect does keep my mind active WRT the challenge.
Heck, our ND V8 will do 11.7 on 245 street tires and an unprepared surface. By "street tires", I mean the same tires and tire pressures that it wears for cross-country drives, not a DOT legal slick running tuned pressures. That's a car with a leather interior, heated seats, AC, bluetooth, etc running on 91 octane pump gas and being driven by a journalist. I mean, I know that's nowhere near a Challenge car, but fundamentally it's just a Miata with an LS swap. Give me a blower and nitrous and tires and VHT, I'd hope it would go a little faster than 11.2.
Challenge cars - especially in the drags - show the difference between really knowing what you're doing and just spending money. The drag numbers are astounding.
I agree with you. We are probably giving up a bit in the autocross with an automatic (or "autotragic" as you guys call them
), but we are making that time up big time in the drags. Remember autocross and drag times are added together.
Does the cuda weigh 5 tons? The stock longblock v6 in my Corrado has gone mid/low 11s on the motor. I would be depressed that a two power adder v8 would barely hang. The difference between a 9s car and "9s capable" is that one runs 11.2
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