[Formulajones]

I had a ball running my Formula. Got all the runs in I wanted. Raced my way into the semi finals only to be eliminated by the eventual winner of the event, Rick with his NHRA stock eliminator turbo bird.

Some in car video
https://youtu.be/8r8hzS-iZP0

https://youtu.be/bavv6KgUcmw

Left lane started going away by this time of day and peddled the car a couple of times trying to get a hold of the track.

https://youtu.be/ktwtd4i4P7U

Here's an outside view of a time trial run against a 455 lemans

https://youtu.be/LLCN8YH9eBs

Outside view of elimination rounds. 50 seconds in against a 455 powered wagon.
https://youtu.be/UTfQnoBR2Sg

Outside view of 2nd round eliminations. Rob bought his way back in and got paired with me again. I treed him badly in the first race so he tried to retaliate only to light the red bulb with a -.119 giving the second race to me.
https://youtu.be/8Lw7ttwAXxY

In the end, 3 of us left, and the other guy got the bi-run. So I had to race Rick who runs NHRA stock eliminator in this turbo bird. Neat car. Track official came over and told me my lights had been better and just do what I had been doing. But the left lane was horrible. Rick knew it too and asked what lane I wanted. I said right lane and he said that's what I want. So we flipped for it. As you can see I lost that coin toss, lol. Sure enough I spun enough to hurt my 60 foot a tenth and being cautious already, my reaction time wasn't what it had been most of the day, and I gave him another hundredth there. Pretty much handed him the race right as it started.

https://youtu.be/SyI3Z3UupwY

Had a good time though, car ran flawless. I played with timing, I hot lapped it, let it cool, tried several different things but the car didn't care. It ran the same no matter what. I even broke down and tuned the car up this time, with fresh plugs, cap, rotor, and replaced the 15 year old set of points with a fresh set. Car ran the same as it did earlier this year with all the old ignition parts in it, LOL.

Very consistent as long as I was in the right lane. Best pass early in the day was a 13.16 that corrected to a 12.88. DA was already over 1800 feet early, and climbed to over 2,000 later in the day where the car seemed to stick in the upper 20's and low 30's the rest of the day. Very happy for a stock RAIII with no rear gear that I drive every day. I'll take the car back in a couple months when they usually see DA's in the 200 foot range, that should get me a 12 second time on paper. The car scaled 3800 with me in it.

[Squidward]

Well done. Rick shot me down too. I gave him .3 at the tree, and another .2 worth of performance against index. So with a full half second to play with, all he had to do was tap the brakes at the finish line.

Yeah, neat car. Knows what he is doing.

[Formulajones]

Yeah he monkeyed with his dial in too. That car usually runs somewhere in the 12's, so he was giving himself a cushion with us street car guys.. But that's how you win those things, it's bracket racing.

Yeah giving him .3 at the tree and .2 on your dial, he can't be beat. I gave him a tenth at the tree and a tenth on my dial and he beat me easily. He was on and off the gas 4 times before the finish line on my race with him, LOL.

Matter of fact I have a video of your race with him (not sure if it's posted above) I'll find it because it was kind of funny. The announcer at the end was going....It's Rick, no it's Sean, it's Rick, it's Sean. LOL So he must have been playing with you at the finish line too.

Here it is... Go to 2:20 in the video, my son got you racing Rick, and the finish is funny. I was really hoping you would take him out, I didn't want to race him either, LOL.

https://youtu.be/UTfQnoBR2Sg

[Squidward]

I thought about a buy-back, but I didn't need to spend more money to embarrass myself! Your pass against Rob was my fave. An early 2nd gen Formula against a Lemans Sport wagon. I would trade for either of those!

Not kidding you, dude. Mike (AZBIRDS) gave me a ride in his T/A on the autocross course. I think I am done with drag racing after that! That was an awesome thrill ride!

[Formulajones]

I like the wagons too. If I had one of those I'd daily drive that and park the bird, lol.

The road course stuff is fun. My father got into something similar back in the 70's. Back then it wasn't called road course racing, I forget what it was called but it was maneuvering through hay bails and dropping balls in buckets, backing up, stopping, turning, basically an entire course that looked like a total blast. He and another friend (takes 2 people per car) won their class in a 56 Nomad if you can imagine that Scored on points (how many buckets you made) and time to complete the course. I never see this type of stuff anymore but if I did, I'd be in it faster than a fly on a turd. Problem is one person has to hang out a window while you fly around the course, and this day and age that's probably frowned upon.

Bondurant has a track day for street cars occasionally down there. I've always wanted to participate in that. I'd rather do a large road course like that, that mimics SCCA days as I'm a bit nostalgic. I'm not much of a fan of trying to drive through cones, I can't tell which way I need to go, LOL. I'd just make a bunch of wrong turns and drive over half of them I need an actual course with painted lines or I'm doomed from the start.

So are you turning your bird into a G-machine?

[Squidward]

Originally Posted by Formulajones

So are you turning your bird into a G-machine?

Nah. Not yet. But it has me thinking about the Lemans as I embark on a front suspension rebuild! 2nd Gens handle naturally. 1st gens need work. Lemans is heavier, but I am going to back off the drag stuff, and do more autocross stuff next year. Besides, a street car doesn't just go fast in a straight line. I feel I have neglected my cars while pursuing drag racing that I a) suck at, and b) don't get to do often enough.

Efi gives me great throttle response for road course stuff!

[Squidward]

I love the idea of an interactive course, too! Kinda like the biathlon Olympic events! Steel target engagement with 9mm AR'S at 40 mph? I am IN!

[Formulajones]

Originally Posted by Squidward

I love the idea of an interactive course, too! Kinda like the biathlon Olympic events! Steel target engagement with 9mm AR'S at 40 mph? I am IN!

Now your talkin'

That's two of us.

I have old glossy pics somewhere of that event with my dad hanging out the window while Jim flew around the course and made that bone stock nomad do things I never thought they could do.