Results from Bradenton Test & Tune

[Smokie]

I'll start by thanking all the new friends that I met at the track and shared a great day with, Carfixer and his friend, Bootlegger, Cruztaker and his lovely bride and beautiful young son. Thank you Jessica for hanging out with my wife so she didn't feel like the only girl there! Back to the racing.... 3 Marauders ran today, one red brand new, 2 black 03's. I will let the individuals themselves post their times and relate their experiences. This is how it went for me. The first run was nearly my last, on take off the rears broke free refused to hook-up and I nearly hit the wall, the car shifted at about 6k to second and I was barely moving, 2nd gear failed to hook tires up so that's when I was headed toward the wall, took foot off gas hit brake and straightened car and ran 17+ sec. If you are wondering if I had engine revved up while holding the brake; the answer is no. That was lane 2, I did not return to that lane, ran 3 more times in the left lane, had problems with traction on every run. I hold the brake and other foot on the gas pedal without going past 900 RPM.

2nd run: 14.530 @ 96.80 mph
3rd run: 14.494 @ 97.51 mph
4th run: 14.760 @ 96.09 mph

[Paul T. Casey]

Way to go Smokie, wish I could have gone, but I had to keep the core protected today (a real big deal at a nuclear station). 14.4's in stock trim! Too cool! How's the old RT going, beating my 1.00+ second laughers?

[Smokie]

Hi Paul, This track uses a different tree from the one in Atlanta. So for several hours I didn't know what my RT. meant. Finally I asked, 0.000 is perfect
My R/T
1st: .290
2nd: .407
3rd: .335
4th: ..211

PS: Notice the better my R/T the worse my E/T.

[Paul T. Casey]

You finishing in front? Any Marauder vs ???? grudge matches?

[Smokie]

I lost every race, the 17+ run a boy in a bicycle beat me, the other 3 runs I lost to 12 sec. cars and a 13 sec. tiny 4 cylinder ricer running nitrous. The MM's never ran heads up, this event was not well organized, not many Impala's if any.

[sailsmen]

Nice trap speed, could you post your 60' time?

With a 97.51 trap you should be in the very low 14's, like 14.20 is possible if you can hook up!

Did you try 25psi in the rears?

[Smokie]

sailsmen The 60' time for my fastest run was 2.249. I had problems with traction on all 4 runs, 2 weeks ago in Atlanta I had no traction problems at all. The rears were 28 psi on first run, 26 psi on the other 3.

[carfixer]

Here is the reason I bought my MM, met some really nice people with the same love of a car that I have. Nice to have hung out with Smokey and his wife, Bootlegger, Cruztaker and his family. I look forward to meeting the rest!

Anyway, I took my '04 to get some #'s before I perform any mods. I made 4 passes but I won't post my R/T's :rolleyes:, kinda bad. I have 1650 miles on the car and the weather was great, 55-60 degrees and dry. I found the best way to launch is simply mash the gas, torquing it up only caused tire spin. The trans was very soft on the shifts and probably cost a good .2 seconds. I just put it in drive and let it shift on its own.

Run # 60' 1/8th ET MPH 1/4 MPH
1 2.202 9.754 73.97 14.963 94.13
2 2.257 9.757 75.07 14.900 95.31
3 2.253 9.771 74.25 14.976 93.92
4 2.250 9.789 74.20 14.988 94.27

My goal was to run 14.99 or better, I wasn't dissapointed.

I am still amazed at the how many people are unaware of this car. We must have answered the "what is it" question a dozen times.

[joflewbyu2]

Way to go carfixer !! You made me proud along with a lot others. I was hoping you would fall into the high 14s & you did. Wish I was there but I had to work which wasn't a bad move considering I sold 3 cars.

[CRUZTAKER]

This was a nice, smaller, down in the country kinda track. Very...florida...
Forgive me, I have only a few more days left in town, so I am reflecting.:P

First off let say...It was great meeting some of the folks. Claude, you have a great looking DTR that is already putting up good numbers.

And Mr. X....may I call you X? That Reinhart flash must have did a number on your MM!! I have never seen a marauder get that loose on a launch. That was truley...scary wierd. Great numbers though. Jessica enjoyed Myra's (sp?) company as well.

BTW: I think the 5 second jet Kenworth did something to the right lane...and my eyes, and my ears...:flamer:

Bootlegger, it was a pleasure meeting you. Sorry we didn't have more time to talk. You were on the line alot, and I was chasing down my son.

My high point of the day was locking my rental car keys in the trunk....yes...while getting a cold one. RIGHT next to the cooler. I did have the beer though! I went to ask for advice at the tower, and what do they do? They PA the entire place ...a guy in a silver bonnyville has locked his keys in his car and desperately could use some help. Man, now I'm glad I DIDN'T have the MM. What an embarassment. Anyway, 10-15 minutes pass, the beer is empty, I need a cigar, Gage not only tells me he went poopy, but now HE'S hungry (makes sense)....this elderly lady, a blue hair as they are affectionatly refered to around here, walks up, takes one look at the car and says "I can open it". She is back in flash with leather case open and using an assortment of wedges and long a$$ed reach wire that would make a plumber proud, had that car open in all of about a minute. All she wanted was a hug! Now that's too funny.

Barry

[cruzer]

See, CRUZ, us old folks still come in handy---you can't beat life experience : ), Maury
PS Glad you and family are having such an interesting trip

[TripleTransAm]

Great job, Smokie! Man, I gotta get me some programming... in the other thread you said I'd probably be good for 2-3 tenths with some tuning, I'd gladly give up my 'stock' status for the opportunity to show some locals what this beast will do with a retune.

I'm not sure what the weather was like down there, but do you realize you'd probably be nudging the 13s if you'd be running up here with the air we got that fateful night I ran my 14.56? :up:

[Smokie]

TripleTransAm Thanks, I am surprised by what happened on the first run, like CRUZTAKER said...it was scary wierd I chose the reflash from Dennis because I was concerned about warranty denial issues and I figured if I don't change original parts the reflash is the most transparent change I can make and still improve the soft shifting the car had. What I don't understand is how the guys with gears & stock tires are hooking up, I had serious problems hooking up and I was not brake torquing.

[TripleTransAm]

Different tracks have different starting line behaviour. Barry mentioned it was kind of a backwoods type of track, we've got a few up here. Water box for burnouts, not much VHT at the starting line, so you get all sorts of water slicking down the concrete launch pad (if that's what you've got). I recall the days when our local track gets cheap with the grippy stuff... launching my WS6 is always an adventure, and when I finally hook somewhat, I bang off the 1-2 shift at exactly the spot where the concrete pad ends and the asphalt begins... WHAM, pretty brutal shift, I tell you.

So yeah I'd tend to say that the chances of wheelspin on a launch are much higher on a track, for some reason. Maybe the surface has become too smooth from countless launches over the years?

I washed my MM earlier this week and I was still coming up with rubber bits on my wash mitt!

One of these days I'm going to cave on a reflash, '04 PCM be damned. It's just that I can't stand the downtime, what with my relative location.

[BigMerc]

Hey Smokie, that picture of your car that neighborhood in the backround, is that Raintree? up around Wood duck?

[Bootlegger]

Hey it was great meeting everybody at Bradenton, and putting faces with names...Smokie, I thought you had bought the barn on your first run...I think i heard your pucker factor kick in. I guess i expected more from my MM with the Jet Chip installed. My best run was R/T .252, 60ft.2.264, 15.065@94.43, with no wheel spin..I guess its time to look at some other mods, after christmas that is... Lets do it again..

[Smokie]

Timeslips

[CRUZTAKER]

I found the lost roll of film:) Will be posting pics in the gallery...sorry so long to post :up: