Now that I've had time to recover from an extremely long, but
extremely pleasurable and satisfying 3-day venture to Cecil,
here's some of the things that stand out in my memory.
9 or 10 Dakotas (that I was aware of) that made it to the track
on Sat. You Yanks must love the 5.9L as only 3 were 5.2L
and I was the only club cab.
2 of the Daks were supercharged and showed that bunch
(5?) of modified Lightnings what Daks can do when the playing
field is levelled.
The huge number of race cars that showed up for what was
essentially a time trials day.
The huge number of 8 to 10 sec. race cars. (We have only
a handful up here at the Cayuga track on t&t day).
The juiced Chevy that blew its hood off (not as high up in
the air as the one up here at Cayuga though) at the starting
line and was shooting flames up the carb.
The magnificent view of the whole track from the staging
lanes which are up on a small hill leading down to the starting
line, and the sight of the track that just seems to drop
out of sight right after the finish line.
The emphasis for helmets by the tech person. How did
Shane Baker run all those 13s without one :-)
Personal bests by Shane Baker in his unmodified 5.9 engine
and by Wayne Swanson in his supercharged 5.9. Maybe
others that I wasn't aware of?
Doug Myers giving his newly-transplanted, modified 5.9
its first baptism (14.3s, I think). Soon to be 13s, I'm sure.
[Thanks for the '96 5.9L heads ... very clean and smooth
ports!]
Thanks to Rich Wisotzkey who made the trip in his super
clean '96 and wisely decided not run with a soon-to-be replaced
tranny and clutch. BTW Rich, I've decided your diy, MAP
Adjuster (a very, professional-looking, pre-production unit #2)
will be tried on the '85 Shelby Intercooled Turbo Charger
first.
With all my gawking at the modded Daks and talking with owners,
I was able to get in only 7 runs.
Temps. started off at 52F and rose to 66F.
Humidity started at 63% and fell to 39%.
Wind start as 5 mph left to right crosswind and then
became a headwind on my last 3 runs.
Except for a far better baro. reading, conditions were close to those
at Cayuga on Sept. 15 when I ran a 14.70.
Unfortunately, I experienced shift problems (1st time in
a long time) and hit the rev limiter (many times) in 3
out of the 7 runs ... 1 via driver fault, 1 unknown reason,
1 because I went too far and unlit the pre-stage bulb,
put it in reverse, looked to see that it was in reverse,
glanced at the tree to see the bulbs lighting, slapped
gear into 1st and took floored it (rt .883).
On the clean runs:
14.452 @ 93.04
14.401 @ 93.88 probably a 14.3x run as I got a couple of
small misfires that noticeably "hiccupped"
the Dak just before crossing the
finish line
14.489 @ 93.07
14.403 @ 93.50
In 6 out of the 7 runs, I got 60' times ranging within .007 of
each other with a pb of 2.019 (great launch pad!!). One run
was a 2.159 60' time and that came on the run where I was
still in reverse when the ' flag man ' started the tree.
A 5.897 330' time was a pb. and I was extremely close on
my pb 1/8 time of those 4 runs. The biggest differences from
when I ran 14.313 on Oct. 28 at Cayuga was in the last
1/8 mile when it was 15F cooler and there was a 15 mph tailwind
at Cayuga. Any headwind is a killer when you're running
a 3900 lb brick (without driver).
Just a super day to end the track season for me ... good
company, good track, good times!
I would go back to Cecil at Rising Rev (uh, Sun) MD
in a heartbeat if I could ever find it again :-)
Bob Tom Burlington, Ont., Canada
'97 CC Dakota, 5.2L, 4x2, 44RE, 3.92SG, 4,075 lb (racing weight)
RW: 231.2 hp 340.0 torque PB: 14.313 95.05 mph
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