Cool. :) Yes, these trucks take a steady hand, but the handling they posess
is almost uncanny! Thanks for the response :)
----- Original Message -----
From: Steven T. Ekstrand <cyberlaw@earthlink.net>
To: <dakota-truck@buffnet.net>
Sent: Tuesday, January 09, 2001 11:20 PM
Subject: DML: Re: Re: Re: y2k-hemi spanks Audi TT, ATTN STeve Ekstrand
> I have a 2000 Dakota Club Cab SLT+ luxo cruiser and towing beast.
>
> I needed a daily driver that I could tow a full 6500+ lbs with and haul
> 2000 lbs in the bed. I was looking for a Ram 1500 then my wife discovered
> a Dakota on the lot equipted right. I didn't realize you could get a Dak
> to tow 6700lbs and have a 2000lb payload capacity.
>
> Mine has the 4.7L with Multispeed Auto. 3.92 with sure grip (antispin)
and
> the handling package with rear sway bar. It also has a factory CLASS IV
> hitch and HD service group. Its a rough and tumble work truck (although I
> had to throw in trip computer, pwer everything, cruise, pwr seats, and cd
> with equalizer).
>
> I feel the handling is every bit on par with my old 5.0 mustang. The
stock
> tires suck, but so do most stock tires, especially on trucks. The stock
> shocks are a joke.
>
> Gary Pinkley of Hotchkis fame found out about my interest in racing and
> background and convinced me to come out for the local Cal Club Autocross
> last April. My truck was TOTALLY stock (I might have had the catback on
> then that's it). I was slow, but not embarrassingly so. The annoucer
kept
> making note of the fact that I was making it clean through a very tight
one
> mile course while sports car after sports car were spining out and
catching
> cones.
>
> As I got more seat time I became more aggressive in the truck and it
became
> fun to catch glimpses of scared corner workers backing up!!! Sometimes
> running for cover!!! It didn't take long till I was noting all the sports
> cars I was beating. A lot of it was is course dependent. Only so fast
you
> can go in a Dakota on a very tight course, but on a few open and fast
> courses I had times that were pretty impressive. I beat a majority of the
> non prepped/non regular street guys that come in to check things out.
> Last race at Hollywood park there was a brand new 330ci BMW with a guy
> driving really hard. I crushed him. I regularly beat the guys running
the
> stock pony car class except for the two cars that run at a national level
> (I can't touch them obviously). I am not particularly competitive in the
> sport truck class since it allows extensive mods. I just can't compete
> with a fully prepped truck on race tires with an experienced driver, but
> sometimes I surprise. At Buttonwillow Raceway we ran a track event. Very
> high speed compared with typical Solo2. I was close but finished second
on
> Saturday. We did fun runs in the afternoon and I got fast time of day for
> trucks. Didn't count for a trophy but it did in the pride column! Next
> day it rained. I had a 5 second lead over the lead guy in class who had
> one attempt left. Because of a wild series of events and sandbagging he
> was told to park it and the run group ended. He protested and was allowed
> to make one more run. Two hours later.... IN THE DRY. He beat me by less
> than three seconds when on average the dry groups ran 10 seconds faster.
> Oh well, my chance to win class fell by the wayside.
>
> I ran most of this year stock. All the stories about beating sports cars
> were as a totally stock vehicle. The last four races I have added tires
> and shocks. At the same time I also added a Quick D intake, a 180
> thermostat, and a Jet Chip II.
>
> The tires are totally wild 305-50-15 BFG Euro T/A's. They are a
> relatively hard compound. But they are over 12 inches wide. They do have
> a very stiff sidewall and they do add over 2 inches to my track width.
The
> change really helped with the sidewall rollover I was experiencing with
the
> 255-65-15 Badyears.
>
> The shocks are ProComp ES9000. I was afraid of topping out the Bilstein's
> with a stock height HD suspension. My truck sits pretty high. The
> ProComps came highly recommended and I'm thrilled with them (cheap
too!!!).
>
> So, yes a stock Dakota can do amazing things as long as you're willing to
> throw it around a little. As a drag racer, I'm comfortable with a little
> bit of lack of control. Racing a stock height Dakota around the course
> takes a bit of faith. Use the force, I say.... They want to push so
> badly that sometimes it helps to push'em hard and get'em loose with a
> little overzealous throttle, trailing throttle, and trail braking. Left
> foot braking is critical to getting the most out of it. Unfortunately, I
> have a split bench and its just too tough to left foot brake and stay in
> the seat. If I were to race this any longer I'd figure out a way to put a
> harness in, but I'll start racing a car in March. So, I'm not changing
the
> truck.
>
>
>
>
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