Well I took my '65 Lark Convert. out to the California Speedway Street Legal races on Sat. Was supposed to be a great time, So. Cal GS Club get together, pot luck, and Racing!! But the race turned out to be the biggest Cluster Fu#@ ever! Took 3 hour to get from the front gate to parking my car in a pit spot. My intentions were to make 3 motor passes and try and dial it in alittle more, then I had the 200 "shot" jets set up and ready to go, well I made 1 motor pass, with a pretty good head wind, car ran a 10.50 @127, alittle off the mark, then after waiting over 3 hours to run again, Screw it, lets just squeeze it!!! It will be my last pass here, then time to go, One thing I forgot to mention, these Street Legal Races Do Not want cars quicker then 10.0, well I'm about to break that rule! So now it's around 8pm and they call my group, had problems with the bottle heater so pressure was alittle lower than I'd have liked, took out 8 deg. of timing, and launching off the trans break at 3800, and shift light set at 6600rpm. I do my burn out, only to get a talking to after by the "track official" for doing it to early, whatever, I'm about to leave this crappy race in style!, Staged the car, set the trans break, and here we go!!!! I have NEVER been In a car that Launched as Hard as mine did off the break, and on the 200 shot, the race track disappeared for a split second, and I was off like a rocket, at least until I screwed up and went from 1st to 3rd.......I knew it was a good pass, but would have been better had I SHIFTED RIGHT. I got the time slip, WOW, I had a 1.35 60ft!!!!!! 6.2 at the 1/8, even with the screw up I ran a 9.76 @ 137mph, I'm pretty sure it would have been a 9.50 or better, as I drove thru the pits, people were chearing and clapping!! I'm sure I shocked them all, a BUICK Convertible running very strong!!!!! My friends in the stands said when I launched I pulled the front end about 3 feet, and carried it for like 10 feet!!! The crowd went wild!!!! They didn't even kick me out, but I figure if I had a chance to run again the Track Officials would have scolded me, again, then kick me out, so onto the trailer it went, and people worked there way back to my pit to see the BUICK that rans so well. I have a few more Nitrous Jets up my sleeve, and tuning with them, I can't wait for Las Vegas!!! When I built this motor, I thought that maybe, a Big maybe, I could get it in the 8s', but with the way things have been going I'm thinking it's very possible. Who's ever scene an 8 second Buick Convertible??? Hold on, I just had to go look in my garage, I see the potential!!! Had a great time with the So. Cal GS Guys too! Gary Giessen
You gotta do something about that shifter. Good to see that 60ft is coming down. What was the bottle pressure when you ran? I've seen a few cars loose second and it cost them about .2 in the 1/4 using just first and third. I was worried at first when I saw the post, i thought you hurt the conveter. How far off is Vegas? Have you gone to the 9psi fuel setting on your plate yet?
Gary your going to have to ratchet strap that top on cause you must be close to making it a parachute. :eek2: Congrat's on some super times :TU:
I add my congrats as I did at the track Gary. Just think what you might have run if you'd forgone those several sasuage dogs, cake, cookies, melon, sodas and that rest of the "stuff" available. Ya it was exciting to see you run. I too will never go back to Calif. Speedway. The tech inspector was looking at the right rear of my carb on the yellow car and said, "ya, gas lines O.K.". Hey, where'd you get your tech license? The white GS convert of Chucks or Ricks, can't remember which, ran a nice 13.5 some'n, with Scott's "driven all over this here United States and to Ohio" 72 lark with a 13.4 some'n. My yellow car, with a 60 foot time of 2.22, tires burning for a hundred feet or so, really wanted the drag radials on. Oh well. Again Gary, super time, great seeing you and meeting new friends, (Hey Alex was as excited as you were), Vegas should be a blast. Later.
Regarding the nitrous Rick, yes, NX said 10psi flowing, so I set it at 9 reading press. at the solenoid, flowing thru the new "required" jets. The top seems to be much better, I made these straps, I call them the Racing luggage rack option, 1/8 in by 1in wide aluminum strips that go across the top and attach thru the top into the stock top "bows", they actually blend in very well, and work great limiting the "balloon" factor down to a minimum. Len, Alex is Racing vicariously thru ME!And it was a pot luck.. The Vegas race is in about 2 weeks, Oct. 8th & 9th, I'll probably step up the motor fuel to 114 oct, and now I'm using VP c16 in the nitrous cell, and jet it for a safe (fuel press.) 300 shot. Should be fun. Got you attention with that "Took out the Convert." title, no I didn't "take out the 9in and put the 8 in. in........" Gary G.
