New personal best at the track today!

[MikesMerc]

It was cool and dry today so Jerry Barnes and I took a trip to the local track....Milan Dragway. We got there a bit late, and it was crowded so we only had a chance to make one pass each. Temps were in the low 60s.

Traction was not great, but it was good enough. There were many street tired cars that ate up the track prep pretty quick. Still, the new heat cycled Nittos really made a difference. I hazed the tires through most of first gear, but still got a decent 60 foot anyway. It was hard modulating the pedal and not getting over excited knowing this was the one and only pass we were gonna make for the day. All said, I was happy with the run.

Anyway, the time slip says it all. A new personal best for me. :banana: The run was a crisp 11.53 @ 120 mph.
http://www.mercurymarauder.net/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=77 68&stc=1

With better traction (aka real track prep) and solid 1.6x sixty foot, low 11s should be possible just as the car sits. I'm looking forward to Smackdown at Norwalk in two weeks.

[MI2QWK4U]

Congrats Buddy!
That is awesum. Great weather for it too. Not gonna get much better than that. I am really sorry I couldnt join you, Lid tweaked it some more and he says its feeling as best as he has ever felt it. Nice 60 foot time too...New Nittos did the trick.

[AzMarauder]

Anyway, the time slip says it all. A new personal best for me. :banana: The run was a crisp 11.53 @ 120 mph.


Hey ! I cruised Woodward in this car ! :bows:

WTG Mike !

[Bigdogjim]

Nice job! :up:

[jdando]

:bows:

Wow, that is moving out! How do you have the NOS set up? Just in second and third or at WOT?

jeremy

[bigslim]

Way to go my race partner. That is truly a great run. :bows:

[martyo]

Holy Moly!

Nice job Mike!

[Tallboy]

Great job, Mike! I wish I could have been there with you, but I'll be back next summer! :beer:

[mpearce]

Holy Crap!! Looks like you had yourself a fantastic, no excuses run! Good for you Mike!

-Mat

p.s. Nice 8th mile ET!! Jeez!!

[Bradley G]

Thanks for the phone call today Mike!

I knew you had it in you.
You have the world record and third Too!:bows:
Way to represent!

[Smokie]

Mike, that is one hell of a fast run, you must feel real proud.:)

[glassman99]

Great run!!! Congratulations. :banana:

[MikesMerc]

Thanks for the kind replies :2thumbs:

Yes, I do feel pretty darn good about it. I've been chasing the right conditions all season and it came together today. Weather, traction, tune, and driving. LOL..."a good no excuses run" is a fitting description Mat.

The new Nittos certainly helped. I'll never run them as low as I did before.

Cruising home in a beastly yet sophisticated solid 11 second machine has always been a dream. Although I know at these power levels I'll be looking at a new short block soon, I can't help but think, "man, I love this car!"

Thanks again everyone :beer:

[MikesMerc]

:bows:

Wow, that is moving out! How do you have the NOS set up? Just in second and third or at WOT?

jeremy


WOT switch. I walk the car out of the hole by rolling into it and being wot at just before the 60 ft mark.

[MikesMerc]

I received a few inquiries as to Smackdown at Norwalk. Here's the poop.

Smackdown at Norwalk is nothing more than an all ford test n tune day organized by 5.0 & Superford magazines. There is no organized racing event. No points. No brackets. Just going up and running.

Smackdown used to be held on an odd day during the week. However, due to the popularity of the day, they moved it to a saturday (Oct 22). There is no friday or sunday portion...just saturday. It runs from 9 to 5.

The cold air and great traction usually produce many records and personal bests of the season. It also has a ton of media coverage.

Here's a link to more info:
Smackdown Info (http://www.modulardepot.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=66669)

Sorry for the of topic. I'll start another thread on this.

[tmac1337]

Excellent time Mike!

I'll make a trade with you, send down some 60 degree air and I'll send you up some 90 degree air :)

[MarauderMike]

Great run Mike. Glad to see you make the times you've been expecting all summer long. Keep up the great progress on your MM. :banana2:

[04funmerc]

Sweet! Glad it all came together for you.


JIM

[Big House]

Who in the world would have thought they would live to see the day a fullsize 4 door family sedan walk the quarter in 11 secs.

:awe: Just about sums it up.

[MikesMerc]

I'll make a trade with you, send down some 60 degree air and I'll send you up some 90 degree air :)

Not a chance! Since we get snow at least 3 months out of the year, just getting to enjoy some cool racing weather is only a small consolation:D

[Cobra25]

Great time 11.53 in the 1/4, Congrats! I wonder if we will ever get someone down here in our group into the 11's with all this heat we have.

[Petrograde]

great numbers man! :up: congrats!

[BillyGman]

congrats Mike. WTG........ I see that you haven't beaten my 60' times, but what's real interesting is that already by the 330' mark your car is running a little quicker with a 4.8 second time, to my 4.9 second 330' times, and your 1/8th mile being 7.4 sec to my 7.6 seconds. But at that halfway point, your car is already traveling 5 MPH faster than mine does. Thanks for posting your timeslip. I LUV digesting all that info that they provide.

[MikesMerc]

Yes, reading these slips is a lot of fun. I really enjoy it too.

[martyo]

Yes, reading these slips is a lot of fun. I really enjoy it too.


You guys seriously need a hobby.

Oh wait, this is a hobby....

Wait, with all the animosity that flies around here, this can't be a hobby.

:help:

[David Morton]

Mike, I can't help but dream I'm gonna open this forum one of these days and see a timeslip in the 10s. Maybe it'll be you. Maybe it'll be me. :D

Sombody's gonna take notice of what you and some other guys have done and put it all together, it's just a matter of time. 10 second Marauder. Mustang boys are saying, "Say it ain't so ma!" We :cool: .
You guys are giving us all a great show. Keep up the good work. :banana2:

[GreekGod]

Would 60' traction on this setup be increased by more weight transfer? It appears to be a stock suspention so I'm wondering about disconnection of the front swaybar for more lift/weight transfer? I understand traction is mostly limited by tires, especially with the NOS and supercharging-so to my way of thinking, wouldn't slicks and more frontend lift get you into the 10's? I appreciate the drive-to-the-track and streetability, I'm just wondering about an easy way to the 10's.

[MikesMerc]

IMOHO the quickest way into the 10s is simply a bigger gear, higher stall converter, and true slicks. That alone would do it. BillyG's car is a testament to the effectiveness of a big gear and high stall on a heavy car. For me, I just won't go this route. I've had big gears and higher stalls on other cars and grew tired of it. Not that its bad...its just not for me.

The next easiest way into the 10s is weight reduction. Many of us are making enough power to put most mustangs into the 10s easy. Moving 4400 lbs is another matter. But, again, I'm not going to gut my car for the sake of an et slip. I'm sure someone will eventually though:)

That all said, a little more weight tranfer wouldn't hurt. But, you'd need to put on some front struts that were in the 90/10 range. If you didn't, and only removed the sway bar, what would happen is that the weight would shift on launch for a milisecond, then the back end would "unload", the weight would come back forward, and you'd end up loosing even more traction.

The drag struts (in a typical 90/10 valve) allow the front end to rise easily, but allow the drop back down to go more slowly. This keeps some of the weight shifted longer.

The use of 50/50 drag shocks in the rear would allow for the same thing, but in reverse. The rear end would squat, and stay squat longer keeping the weight back.

I think the sway bar alone on such a nose heavy car would yield minimal gain traction wise. But, that's just my guess. I could be wrong...I frequently am:)

[Hack Goby]

IMOHO the quickest way into the 10s is simply a bigger gear, higher stall converter, and true slicks. That alone would do it. BillyG's car is a testament to the effectiveness of a big gear and high stall on a heavy car. For me, I just won't go this route. I've had big gears and higher stalls on other cars and grew tired of it. Not that its bad...its just not for me.

The next easiest way into the 10s is weight reduction. Many of us are making enough power to put most mustangs into the 10s easy. Moving 4400 lbs is another matter. But, again, I'm not going to gut my car for the sake of an et slip. I'm sure someone will eventually though:)

That all said, a little more weight tranfer wouldn't hurt. But, you'd need to put on some front struts that were in the 90/10 range. If you didn't, and only removed the sway bar, what would happen is that the weight would shift on launch for a milisecond, then the back end would "unload", the weight would come back forward, and you'd end up loosing even more traction.

The drag struts (in a typical 90/10 valve) allow the front end to rise easily, but allow the drop back down to go more slowly. This keeps some of the weight shifted longer.

The use of 50/50 drag shocks in the rear would allow for the same thing, but in reverse. The rear end would squat, and stay squat longer keeping the weight back.

I think the sway bar alone on such a nose heavy car would yield minimal gain traction wise. But, that's just my guess. I could be wrong...I frequently am:)
I agree with Mike on weight loss.The Impala guys have been gutting there cars for a while now and it helps.But with most of us still making payments on our cars who`s going to do that.A junkyard Marauder would be good project car.Someone will do this.When? who knows.

[mpearce]

I'm speaking from a bit of knowledge of what the Turbo Buick folks do to help weight transfer on launch. They do remove the front sway bar, they use airbags as well (at least we do, and our friends do) we load the right air bag with a higher PSI than the bag on the other side, and they also transfer the battery to the trunk on the right hand side I believe. It might not be much...but it's you're looking for something to get you from a 12.0 to an 11.9, this might be the key. As far as drag shocks go...see above...Mike Z looks like he knows what he's talking about when it comes to launching the MM!

-Mat