Project T-top Coupe leaves...
Project T-top Coupe leaves the starting line at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and effectively ends the Las Vegas curse that has plagued our project cars for two years.
"If it weren't for bad luck, I wouldn't have any luck at all." Believe it or not, your tech editor was starting to feel that way about racing at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Luck had been nothing but bad in two previous attempts to compete at the PSCA's Street Car Super Nationals—broken T-top Coupe engine in 2009/broken '02 GT rearend in 2010—and apprehension about the third try was at an all-time high. Despite this, and with Big Steve along for the ride, we journeyed back to Vegas for SCSN7 in November of 2011, hoping the mechanical demons of the past would not play any role in this attempt.
We would love to tell you that SCSN7 was a picture-perfect experience for the 5.0&SF team and the other participants (including NMRA Hot Street racers such as Robbie Blankenship, Don Bowles, Ben Mens, and Mike DeMayo), who traveled from far and wide for the race. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. Despite great weather throughout the weekend, carnage (mainly engine failures/oil leakage) wreaked havoc on the event's schedule.
Our dragstrip test was performed...
Our dragstrip test was performed at the PSCA’s 7th Annual Street Car Super Nationals event, where we competed in the Ford-powered\Stang-only Mustang Maddness eliminator. A stout field of 23 ’Stangbangers made up the category, which was won by local racer Justen Spencer in his low-10-second, supercharged ’00 Roush Mustang.
Breakage of all sorts has...
Breakage of all sorts has been our nemesis at Street Car Super Nationals, usually in the first round of qualifying. (We lost T-top Coupe’s engine on the first hit in 2009, and a 4.10 ring gear in our New Edge project Pony the following year.) It appeared we could be on the same path at the 2011 event when the blower belt snapped just beyond the 60-foot mark (1.54 e.t.) and ended the run. For the record, yes, it is difficult to simply break a cog belt. Further investigation found a loose bolt in the head unit, which caused the breakage.
With Ford Racing Mustang Maddness...
With Ford Racing Mustang Maddness run as an Open Comp-style eliminator (qualifies on reaction time), and without having any on-track data other than the 60-foot info from our one aborted qualifying attempt, your tech editor was permitted to select an index for eliminations. After phone consultation with noted bracket-racing expert Bret Kepner, the decision was made to dial in at 11.00, to collect much-needed data and possibly go a few rounds.
Adjustments in the schedule and minor gremlins with our Mustang (a grounded kill switch and broken blower belt) forced us to abort our two attempts at qualifying, leaving us with limited data going into the first round of eliminations in the Ford Racing Mustang Maddness class (an Open Comp-format category for Ford-powered Mustangs). Since we didn't have an e.t. recorded from a full qualifying pass, PSCA officials allowed us to select an index to use throughout eliminations. After deliberating over a full-out pass or actually trying to race and win one or more rounds, we chose the latter option and elected to run against an 11.00 index. In most instances, running an 11.01 on an 11.00 index is a package that's difficult to beat. However, with a 0.541 reaction time (to Kevin St. Clair's 0.067 light), T-top coupe hit the trailer after the first round.
How did the project car do on the track? Despite the lack of making a full run, excellent, mainly because we brought it back from Las Vegas without experiencing any catastrophic breakage.
A review of the car's XFI 2.0 datalog and the incremental data from the 11.01 run show that the coupe was on its way to a mid-10-second e.t. in its only round of competition despite horrendous inconsistencies in throttle and rpm (driver off-and-on the gas). The e.t. and mph at the eighth-mile were 6.808/100.97. When we look at the 6.80 time plot on the datalog, throttle position is barely over 42 percent, and never reaches a full 100 percent until 8.80--2 full seconds later--and rpm is barely 5,000-5,300. Add to that the revelation that--despite "thinking" the pedal was slammed wide open all the way through the run--the throttle blade actually was slammed shut from 1,000 feet through the end of the quarter-mile (the datalogger doesn't lie). The numbers show that Project T-top Coupe, with its 3,610 pounds (w/driver), 908 rear-wheel horsepower, and 700 lb-ft of torque, is by all means an animal that should run low 9s, or maybe even high-8 seconds.
We're definitely excited about getting Couptie back to the track and making a full pass in 2012. However, until that time comes, the 'Stang once again will see fairly regular cruise duty on the streets of SoCal's San Fernando Valley. After all, it is a street car.
This is the timeslip from...
This is the timeslip from our first-round race with Kevin St. Clair. An abysmal reaction time led to T-top Coupe finishing on the losing side, despite KJ running an 11.01 on the 11.00 index.
As we mentioned earlier, we...
As we mentioned earlier, we really wanted to acquire data from a full run on the dragstrip to determine where our setup's XFI 2.0 calibration needed tweaking. The traces in this image represent all of the engine's vital signs that were monitored during our race with Kevin. Yes, deciphering a datalog can be confusing…
To alleviate that confusion,...
To alleviate that confusion, Brian Macy of Horsepower Connection showed us this cool display trick, where engine speed/rpm (bottom trace) and throttle position (top trace) are the only traces presented in the graph, and the numeric values for other vitals are followed below during playback of the run. Analyzing data this way clearly shows that after 60 feet, rpm and throttle position were erratic (to say the least) for the remainder of the run. More importantly, when sync'd with the coupe's 8.95 e.t. at 1,000 feet, the log shows KJ was completely off the gas at that point, and the car literally coasted the remaining 320 feet to the stripe.