usafsniper
09-04-2005, 06:33 PM
:banana2: There was a GTO (all new makes) meet at the Cecil GA drag strip this past Friday so I took the wife up for a while to watch the "competition". Pretty interesting runs anywhere from around 14.5 to 12.1 times. The 12.1 was a jet black blown GTO that gave a hell of a show. A 350Z was in the mix too as well as a Mustang GT (2003). The 350Z really wasn't much of a match for the GTO's, sorry, but can't remember it's times, and I believe it was stock. I don't know what the Mustang had in it, but it ran some low 13's and was probably 3rd or 4th fastest of the bunch. Oh, and a new Corvette that cleaned the clock at 12.3 as well. The biggest thing I remember was how most of the drivers didn't seem to know anything about driving. There were more missed gears and sloppy shifting than at a high school drivers class! A major thing as well was that the GTOs had horrible wheel hop and due to the light weight were prone to spin out really easily. One poor GTO driver got about 100yds up the track and parts of his rear end started falling out...literally. I haven't run mine yet, but from what I've seen of the time slips here, I don't know that the GTO's are that big a threat if you've at least got a performance tune and some kind of air kit. But...the biggest factor as always, seems to be the driver. On the way out, one of the GTO drivers followed us to the lot to ask what my car was. When he realized it was a Marauder, we spent about 15 minutes discussing engines, etc. He thougt they were blown from the factory for some reason, which I corrected, and he ended up walking away with a healthy dose of respect and two thumbs up for our Mercurys.