1/4 mile battle of 2 S/Ced Marauders!

[BillyGman]

John("Jet") vs. BillyGman.....

John and I met at the track in Atco, NJ yesterday for a Superchaged Marauder showdown!!! We've been talking about meeting once again at the dragstrip w/our cars ever since I installed my Trilogy S/Cer back in the spring of this year.These two cars are so close as I knew they would be, however what made it such an intersting race was not only the fact that both cars are Marauders, and are also both equipped w/Trilogy Superchargers, but the fact of the different acceleration charactersitcs of these two cars.

Yes, they both have good torque down low in the RPM range as well as a powerful midrange punch along with better top end than they ever had when they weren't S/Ced, but John's car is pushing about 3 LBS more boost than mine is due to the smaller blower pulley he has chosen, and my car has the more extreme 4.56 gears along with a slightly higher stall speed. So my car launches harder, and runs a quicker initial 1/8 mile, however in the second half of the race (the second 1/8th mile) John's car comes on stronger because of the 3 LBS of extra boost pressure.

Below are the timeslips where John and I went head-to-head in two different races. The first race was very good, and we both got some good traction off the line. John won the race by literally 56 thousandths of a second!!! In other words by about 5 1/2 hundredths of a second. What a race!!!! You'll see that in the second race, he won by about one tenth of a second (still pretty close) however, it wasn't as good of a race, since both of our cars were spinning the tires pretty badly off the line. The track conditions were very inconsistent yesterday, and I've never seen them like that in Atco before.

You will also notice that my trap speed in the first race was 5 MPH faster than it was in the second race. That's because I left the O/D on in the second race.:rolleyes: However, it was an experiemnt on my part to see how it would effect my times.However, I wouldn't advise anyone to make that a common practice (leaving the O/D on while romping on your car I mean).John was using race gas while I was using pump gas like I always do (93 octane). But John is the clear winner, and my hat's off to him for a great race!! :banana2:

[BillyGman]

and below is my two best ET's of the day. This was accomplished during the few runs that I got in before John arrived at the track...... BTW, I wasn't planning on putting these times in the timeslips list page since they were accomplished in cold weather. However, it wasn't as cold there as I had hoped. the forcast had called for temperatures in the low 40's which would've been great. However it was in the 50's, and climbed to a high of 58 degrees during the race John and I had. So I guess since everyone else has listed their cold weather ET's in there, then I will do the same.

[CRUZTAKER]

Boy you two aren't kidding about traction.

I've hit 1.89 60' on slicks and I ain't pushin near the power you two are.
I love watching two similar cars race. Really cool eh? John is a blast to hang with as well.
Did he pull his headlight as I taught him?

John is also running the pro-maf...how about you?

[Tallboy]

wow! those are some awesome timeslips! i wish i could've been there to see you guys run.:( but, when two friends get together for an afternoon at the track, they're both winners! congratulations to john for what had to be a hard-fought victory! i tip my hat to billy, for running his car on the track in the same condition he runs it every day...:up:

[BillyGman]

Boy you two aren't kidding about traction.

I've hit 1.89 60' on slicks and I ain't pushin near the power you two are.
I love watching two similar cars race. Really cool eh? John is a blast to hang with as well.
Did he pull his headlight as I taught him?

John is also running the pro-maf...how about you?My car hooked good for two of my first four runs which were all done before John got there. If you look at my second post, you'll see two 1.6 second 60' times. That's as good as my car will do w/out slicks. And neither John nor I pulled the driver's side headlight out of our cars. Considering what you,ve told me about the results of you doing that, I'm sure that both John and I would've been in the 11 second bracket yesterday had we done that. But I always like to run my car at the track the way it is on the street. That's why I don't have a dual position chip for running race gas at the track like you and some others have chosen to do. I'm not talking right or wrongs here, but simply preferences. And no, I have the stock intake tube as well as the stock sensor. But yes, it was a cool race. I jumped out ahead and stayed there until the last part of the race when I looked over my shoulder and saw John's car slowly walking forward to finish slightly in front of my car. I think he had me by one car length if even that. Talk about competition.... It was great!!!

[BillyGman]

wow! those are some awesome timeslips! i wish i could've been there to see you guys run.:( but, when two friends get together for an afternoon at the track, they're both winners! congratulations to john for what had to be a hard-fought victory! i tip my hat to billy, for running his car on the track in the same condition he runs it every day...:up:

I have just put the OEM stock size back tires on the front of my car last week(the P245/55 size), and so now the car sits a bit closer to being level than it came from the factory. And perhaps that causing a better weight transfer to the back of the car during the launch combined w/the cooler temperatures at the track yesterday, caused the follwing : During one of my best two runs yesterday, (the one where I ran a 1.65 second sixty foot time) my car launched so hard, that the front of the car lifted up so high that it seemed like I momentarily lost view of the track in front of me. I'm not gonna say that I got one of or both of the front tires off the ground since I'm skeptical about a 1.6 second 60' time being good enough to get the tires to lift off the ground. Especially because the long wheelbase of a Marauder.

But I must have come a whole lot closer to doing that than I ever have before. Usually the body just lifts up for a very short duration during the Launch. But that one time it felt like when I hit the gas (I don't load-up the converter before the green light) the body of the car just kept on lifting!!!! I was very surprised. It felt great!!! Talk about an adrenaline rush.......

[BillyGman]

Well, I just attempted to put one of those timeslips of mine in the "timeslip" part of this board, but after removing my old ones, it wouldn't let me post my new ones. It said that the image is too large. However, it's the same image as I've just posted in this thread. so I dunno what the deal is w/that.

[bigslim]

Good runs to both of you. I see you are flirting with 11's Billy. John is a great guy to hang with. Can't wait to see the burnout vidoes.

[mpearce]

Congrats, to the both of you for some late season drag racing fun! The comparison between both cars is very interesting. I like to see how different mods, and set ups react at the track, and on paper. Very cool.

Billy, 12.007 is about as close to 11 seconds as you can get. I bet you were really happy with that, but also happily frustrated at the same time! Sooo close!

Good job guys. :up:

-Mat

[THE_INTERCEPTOR]

Sounds like fun! Wish I could've seen that battle.

[BillyGman]

Yeah, it was great being out there again at the track, but since I had expected it to be atleast 10 degrees cooler, I had expected to be getting into the 11's that day. But as the day wore on, it got warmer and warmer. It was up to 58 degrees at one point. And the forcast had called for a high of 44. So I gotts admit that coming within seven thousandths of a second of the 11 second bracket was a little frustrating. But what are ya gonna do?


the funny thing was, I got there with a friend from Connecticut at 10:00am which was right when the track was open, and there were a number of other racers already there, and for the first hour, nobody was racing. It seemed that no one wanted to be the first to run, and everyone was standind around waiting for somebody else to go. I hadn't realized what was going on. I had thought that for some reason there was some type of delay, and the track personel weren't allowing anyone to race yet.

So then my friend Phil walked over to the staging lane workers and asked if the track was ready, and they told him that it was. So when I heard that I decided to put an end to this rediculous stand-off. So I drove to the staging lanes, did my burnout and ran a solo run. Which was terrible. My tires were spinning all over the place so badly that my 60' time was over 2 seconds!!! And I ended up trning a 12.8 ET. And then as soon as I made that first run, it opened up the flood gates and everyone started racing.I only wish that I did that right at 10:00 when we got there, because the temperature was in the upper 30's then, and I think I would've been in the 11's then.

After the first 20 cars the track got better. There was a lot of water all over the place at first, and I didn't think it had rained there, so I don't understand what was going on. I think the crew that they had out there weren't doing a good job at all, because the track was very inconsistent.I ran 7 times, and out of the seven, three of them had my tires hooking great, while the other four times I was doing a burnout when I got the green on the tree. That never happened to me before at this track. Maybe there were alot of cars leaking coolant all over the place at the starting line. I dunno. Because they were mopping the line atleast once every ten cars, and if you happened to be one of the first three or four cars that made a run after they had mopped it, your tires were spinning all over the place.And of you were the 7th, 8th, or 9th racer to run after the had mopped the line, your car hooked real good. But atleast I got three good runs in, and it was cool racing John and hangin' out with him afterwards at the resteraunt that we went to.

After the track had closed, John and I started horsin' around doing burnouts in the parking lot. And after we did two of them apeice, John said to me "Look over there" and some of the other racers started doing burnouts in the lot also. And one of them had a serious 10 second car too!!! John then said "Look, we started a trend here".....it was so cool being able to do all the burnouts you wanted, w/out having to worry about someone calling Law Enforcement or anything like that. So overall, it was a real fun day.

[TechHeavy]

My car hooked good for two of my first four runs which were all done before John got there. if you look at my second post, you'll see two 1.6 second 60' times. that's as good as my car will do w/out slicks. And neither John nor I pulled the driver's side headlight out of our cars. In light of what you have told me about the results of you doing that, I'm sure that both John and I would've been in the 11 second bracket yestrerday.And no, I have the stock intake tube as well as the stock sensor. But yes, it was a cool race. I jumped out ahead and stayed there until the last part of the race when I looked over my shoulder and saw John's car slowly walking forward to finish slightly in front of my car. I think he had me by one car length if even that. Talk about competition.... It was great!!!
Great post Billy! It's just this kind of information I love to read about before I get to go to the track, (which will be in the Spring). Hey, I'm gonna have to start calling you 007 with respect to your time! Awesome job!:bows:

[BillyGman]

I'm gonna have to start calling you 007 with respect to your time! Awesome job!:bows:
LOL.....you're really rubbing it in.......I mean, I came so close to 11's, but no cigar!!!! :mad2:

[Hack Goby]

This reminds me of the old Match race days when I used to read SuperStock Mag.And they would have pics and storys of those great A/FX match races.Great times guys, Its great to see the both of you really stepping up.

[Mike Poore]

:high5: You and John must have had the time of your lives. I hope you can put that show on the road and come along with The FatBastad to Merc's Shootout at Mason Dixon, next fall. We got our copies of videos he produced, and by now I'm betting Jet has his. Again, congratulations on a great post, thanks for sharing. :woohoo:

A pair of guys almost into the 11’s in MMs …..fantastic!:burn:

[JET]

Sorry for not replying sooner I've been with the Fat Bastid all day & night backing up uninstalling & reloading my entire operating system. Yet the whole thing and all the additional programs to boot. He did al the work I just fed him.

I will post a real reply on tuesday.

Billy Gman has one fast car & he knows how to drive it! :beer:

[MikesMerc]

I'm late to the thread too, but

Congrats to both of you! Those are some awesome times. And the information from your runs is very helpful as well.

Billy, your analysis of the mods done to each car, and the results is dead on. And, I must admit, it certainly says a lot about the effectiveness of the 4.56 gears and 3000 rpm stall. They are indeed a key to your success.

If you notice my times, I trail both of you guys now by a hair. John's car and mine are most similar mod wise with the only difference being that he runs 1.5lbs more boost and has the throttle body. Those small but effective changes account for .1 in the 1/4 and 2.5mph at the trap over me.

On the other hand, your car makes 1.5lbs less boost, has the stock meter, but has the bigger gears and stall. Our trap speeds are just about identical, but you have superior 60 foot times which give you a .1 advantage in the 1/4.

I imagine a 3 way race would have you hole shotting both of us by a good margin, then john, having the most power, running you down at the very end. I would pull on you and close the hole shot gap with the middle amount of power, but we would run out of track before I could catch you.

I tell you. I was considering the throttle body and smaller pulley to get me into the 11s. Seeing John's awesome 117 trap speeds is what I would expect to have seen as well. But, the 11s are still eluding him even with all the power he is making. That really has me in a quandry!!

I'm real heisitent to go with the bigger gears and stall because I didn't really like the 4.10s when I got those, and the thought of loosing more highway ability and street manners has me concerned. BUT, I must admit, the amount of performance picked up by the gears in stall in damn impressive! Boy, I'd like to go for a ride in your car and see if I find the gears and stall to be something I'd like for day to day driving. I had a blown mustang set up this way and hated it. Maybe the merc would be different?

Well, it'll be a loooong winter trying to decide what to do as my next step. I'm thinking the pulley and TB just may not be enough now. You've proven the launch to be more effective than another 40+ rwhp!! That's something to think about.

Well Done gentlemen!!!!!

[martyo]

I imagine a 3 way race would have you hole shotting both of us by a good margin, then john, having the most power, running you down at the very end. I would pull on you and close the hole shot gap with the middle amount of power, but we would run out of track before I could catch you.



Mike: It has been said that a tenth of a second reduction in 60 foot times is worth two tenths at the big end of the track. The "problem" with John's car (and perhaps mine as well) is that they are "mile per hour cars", making crazy trap speeds for the big sleds that we drive, but as strange as that sounds, it does not necessarily mean that you will have the low E/T car.

[Bradley G]

Great thread,I hear a lot of Hp talk, must mean "horse Play to a marauder"the torque is the key to 60' times,.. no?I really enjoyed reading the comments.I would love to see these battles,:banana2: no one (track)around here is open still:alone:

Bradley G

[MikesMerc]

Mike: It has been said that a tenth of a second reduction in 60 foot times is worth two tenths at the big end of the track. The "problem" with John's car (and perhaps mine as well) is that they are "mile per hour cars", making crazy trap speeds for the big sleds that we drive, but as strange as that sounds, it does not necessarily mean that you will have the low E/T car.

Very good point.

The truth is that there is far more to running a great 1/4 mile time than sheer power. Traction and launch play just as an important role. The 60 ft is critical.



Great thread,I hear a lot of Hp talk, must mean "horse Play to a marauder"the torque is the key to 60' times,.. no?

You are technically correct. Engine TQ is a very good idicator of 60 foot performance. However, there are other factors that can be even more important such as gearing and stall speed (which effect rear wheel TQ multiplication), chassis set up, and most important of all traction. I've seen "faster" cars beaten by "slower" cars plenty of times due to traction issues. Often too much power off the line is a killer without proper traction.

This brings up another important point. And that is that I already have HUGE traction issues. My sixty foot sucks for the power I am making. That is a combination of poor track prep and my own ability to pedal the car out of the hole. Every aggressive launch I make, even if I try to ease into the pedal, results in huge spin. The only time this did not happen was at Norwalk...which leads me to beleive that Milan track prep basically sucks.

Anyway, that said, the point I'm referring to is that a bigger gear and higher stall will only lead to great TQ multiplication and therefore just more wheel spin.

Perhaps just getting to a better track and/or working on my seat time is the answer. I dunno. The last thing I need at the track right now is more wheel spin. But, I can't help but think that gears and stall might leave more margin for error to shoe the car out of the hole. As it sits now, my car is either a soft weak launch, or massive wheel spin. Given the amount of track time I have had over my life, its not just inexperience at the track. Im sure I could do better, but I'm not a rookie either.

Last point is that 1/4 ET is not everything in life. If I want my best ETs, I would've have been draggin my old blown 91 mustang that ran 10s. Starting with the marauder is not exactly the best 1/4 mile platform:) And you have to ask yourself just how far you will go to give up the OEM ride quality and feel in the pursuit of 1/4 mile times. I'm not sure if it is wiser to just say I am "done" as far as 1/4 mile performance is concerned. Once you go too far with a car its over. I did that with my mustang and turned it into something I did not like driving every day.

Lots to think about:)

[Bradley G]

Thanks Mike,

Great reading again!I just posted about "launch techniques" Won't the Marauder launch different than a much lighter car.I am not experienced at the track ,so I'm only asking:bows: Maybe you can share with us how you do it?I am interested how members get thier cars to perform great launches.I understand that track conditions have a great deal to do with launches.But even streeters responces are welcome.If you know the track is poor what do you do different?Thanks for the great reading
Bradley G

[Eric Fischer]

I was at Atco that day running my 1998 Corvette. I wanted to talk to you guys but never got a chance. It was a great thrill watching the two "barges" click off low 12 second side-by-side runs!!! Good job, both of your cars are very impressive!
:beer:

A guy I work with is very interested in the Trilogy kit. He was wondering if there are any tuners local to NJ that could do the installation? Can you recommend anybody?

Thanks!

[BillyGman]

I was at Atco that day running my 1998 Corvette. I wanted to talk to you guys but never got a chance. It was a great thrill watching the two "barges" click off low 12 second side-by-side runs!!! Good job, both of your cars are very impressive!
:beer:

A guy I work with is very interested in the Trilogy kit. He was wondering if there are any tuners local to NJ that could do the installation? Can you recommend anybody?

Thanks!Eric, thanks for your complimentary words about mine, and John's cars. What color is your Vette, and what ET's did that powerful LS1 engine under the hood yield? As for the Trilogy S/Cers, first I want to point out to you that Trilogy only makes these for Marauders right now, and within months they should be coming out w/the ones for the 2005 Mustang, as well as the Ford F150 trucks. I just wanted to be sure that you and your friend lnew that, and that it is infact a Marauder that he has. I installed the Trilogy kit myself, as did a few others, and since the kit comes with a chip that makes the right adjustments, then getting a custom dyno tune isn't mandatory. Infact, my car has never been dyno tuned (only dyno TESTED).

But if he wouldn't want to install the S/Cer kit himself, then he should just call Trilogy Motorsports, and ask to talk with Jerry Barnes. Perhaps Jerry can refer him to someone in his area. Jerry is a great guy, and he loves to talk about cars. Trilogy Motorsports not only has their own website, but also their own forum here on this board too. But here's their phone # (313) 582 6746

[BillyGman]

Mike & Brad, I am by no means an expert drag racer. However, what I've learned with my Marauder is that it's best NOT to load-up the torque converter. In other words, I don't brake torque it at all while waiting for the tree. I just let it idle, and punch it. The two times that I tried to brake torque it at the starting line on the track, (at only 2,000 RPM's) the tires wouldn't hook. I'm sure it would be different if you had slicks, or maybe even if you had a centrifugal S/Cer. But all I know is, that w/these roots type S/Cers, I haven't found it advantagous to load-up the converter. And the second thing is, that when you're brake torqing for the burnout, you have to let it get into second gear before you let off the brake pedal. if your burnout is only in first gear, and never gets into second, then your tires will not spin fast enough to get sufficiently heated, and therefore will not hook up as well. These are the things I've observed in order to obtain the four 1.6 second 60' times that I have so far. I hope this helps you.


And Mike, I wish you lived closer to me, because I'd luv to give you a ride in my car. Maybe we will have to meet up next spring at a halfway point. I agree w/you that anyone's quest for ET's has to be tempered w/the fact that this is the family sedan, and is for the street primarily. I've lost a little top end on the highway, but only above 100 MPH, and how often will you wantr to go that fast on the public roads? despite the 4.56's I have, the car still accelerates considerably better over 100MPH than it did before I S/Ced it. And that's with 9.5 PSI of boost. But I think that the 4.10's were the best compromise for the street (I had those before the 4.56's). BTW, I'm glad that you can relate to the comparisant observations that I've made concerning my car and John's. This is why I like to bring up timeslips, and post tyhem whenever I come back from racing. it isn't just to brag, but so that we can all make comparisants to see exactly where in the quartermile each one of our cars are the strongest, and that will help those who are still considering more modifications to their Marauders. Many people helped me when I was in that valley of decision, and so I'm determined to try and help others.

[Eric Fischer]

Eric, thanks for your complimentary words about mine, and John's cars. What color is your Vette, and what ET's did that powerful LS1 engine under the hood yield?

My Vette is Fairway Green in color, they only made about 400 in that color. Coincidentally, my Vette also runs 12.0's (just like your Marauder :coolman: ) and the best run of the day was 11.95. Mods are torque converter and a very mild cam....

Here's a pic: 1998 C5 (http://tinyurl.com/3txhp)



I just wanted to be sure that you and your friend lnew that, and that it is infact a Marauder that he has. I installed the Trilogy kit myself, as did a few others, and since the kit comes with a chip that makes the right adjustments, then getting a custom dyno tune isn't mandatory. Infact, my car has never been dyno tuned (only dyno TESTED).
Yes my friend does indeed have a Marauder. When I told him about the side-by-side 12.0 Marauders he was so intrigued that we was considering calling Atco to try and track you down to get the details of your setup! So I said, well maybe they posted the results on the forum and I was lucky enough to find this thread and your mods. He is mechanically inclined but is in a position where he would rather pay to have the work done. So I'll forward this link to him and he can give Jerry a call. Thanks!

[woaface]

Time to rewrite your profile Billy!

And if you're ever on vacation I'll babysit the Marauder for you...:D

[Paul T. Casey]

Hey, great times and good work Billy. Just one minor thing I noticed while reading the timeslips. The guy named "ME" seemed to be napping or something. Those rt's man, what's up with that? You getting enough sleep at night? Perhaps an interesting bird flew by while you were staged? lol It's all in fun my friend, just couldn't help myself, sorry. :rolleyes: :rofl:

[MikesMerc]

BTW, I'm glad that you can relate to the comparisant observations that I've made concerning my car and John's. This is why I like to bring up timeslips, and post tyhem whenever I come back from racing. it isn't just to brag, but so that we can all make comparisants to see exactly where in the quartermile each one of our cars are the strongest, and that will help those who are still considering more modifications to their Marauders.

Well you've done a great service to me and the others here on the board by relating your experiences :beer: I never take it as bragging...although you certainly do have a lot to be proud of.

After discussing things with a few other folks, its being strongly suggested that I try things out on a much better track before making any major changes. Those who have witnessed my burnout like what they see. Lidio thinks that I have that down pat. My usual procedure is to break em loose in 1st, then manaully shift it into 2nd and let em roast at about 5000 rpm for 6 to 8 seconds. Then I lift off the break and roll out of the burnout. Pretty much text book stuff. I doubt I am overheating the tires although someone did accuse me of doing John Force burnouts:D I know at Norwalk I hardly had any tire spin at all, so there may be some validity to what some local guys are saying about Milan being poor traction wise. In fact, I am thinking of taking the car south durng the winter for some time on a quality track.

I'll be thinking long and hard about my next move mod wise. I may even choose to stop where I am at. But, no matter what I choose to do, I appreciate you sharing your experiences! There are only a handful of us really pushing these cars into the realm we are at, so information is hard to come by.

[stevengerard]

Congrats Billy oh soooooooo close to 11's, one day I'll be in the 14s!

[BillyGman]

My Vette is Fairway Green in color, they only made about 400 in that color. Coincidentally, my Vette also runs 12.0's (just like your Marauder :coolman: ) and the best run of the day was 11.95. Mods are torque converter and a very mild cam....


Wow Eric!! Those are great times you've accomplished w/just those two modifications. Good job. What were your 60' times and trap speeds? BTW, I saw your Vette there. One time you were a few cars ahead of me, and another time a few cars behind me in the staging lanes. Anyway, tell that guy that you work with to come on over here, and if he ever has anymore questions that he would like to ask a fellow Marauder owner, or a Trilogy customer, then he can feel free to write a PM to me.

[BillyGman]

Hey, great times and good work Billy. Just one minor thing I noticed while reading the timeslips. The guy named "ME" seemed to be napping or something. Those rt's man, what's up with that? You getting enough sleep at night? Perhaps an interesting bird flew by while you were staged? lol It's all in fun my friend, just couldn't help myself, sorry. :rolleyes: :rofl:
You'll get no argument from me about that Paul. I think my best R/T that day was .340+ seconds, and my worst was about .700+ seconds. not too great, I know.

[JET]

I tell you. I was considering the throttle body and smaller pulley to get me into the 11s. Seeing John's awesome 117 trap speeds is what I would expect to have seen as well. But, the 11s are still eluding him even with all the power he is making. That really has me in a quandry!!

It's all about hooking up & weather. I am positive my car will get there if I can get out of the hole without spinning. i ran 12.0something in warmer weather than this was. I only had 3 runs. I think if i would have made more runs there would be a very good chance i would have hit the 11 second mark even with the temp in the the high 50's low 60's. Billy had already been there for 2 hours when i arrived and he was done for the day after our last race so I suggested lunch and just assumed i would get more runs when we returned but when we got back the track was closed. Good thing for billy his car wasn't locked up in it.

I have no idea how to compute trap speed into potential ET but i believe that with my trap speed of 117 that i should be hitting 11's eventually. i look forward to reading everyone opinion on that this.

Billy is a super guy with a super car. I am pulling a lot more hp then him & running race fuel. (MY SIGNATURE IS NOT UP TO DATE) For him to come as close to me as he did is a testiment to him as driver.

It must have been awesome for the onlookers watching our 2 monsters tear down the track so close and so fast.

It's funny who would have thought 2 years ago that we would crying about the fact that we could only get our marauders to pull a 12.0 at the track. Whaa whaaa whaaaa poor me!! I sure all you stock guys must feel so bad for us.

We have to organize a track day were a bunch of Marauders get together. It is just way too much fun not to do it.

Thanks for all your possitive post

Best
JET

[BillyGman]

Yes, I agree w/everything John has said above^

And yes, I'm not overly worried about not getting into the 11's, nor about John's Marauder beating mine by 56/1,000 of a second. No matter who won, i still would've stated what a great race it was because of how close it was, and because of how the lead was exchanged back and forth during the race by starting out in my hand, and finishing in John's. It was a spectator's delight. One that would've had any one of you on the edge of your seat, and you cannot ask for a better race than that. I think the fact that it was so close proves that the only things that will make your car fast don't always have to do with increasing HP. John's car is putting a respectable 50 or 60 HP more to the wheels than my car is, and yet because of the my choice of gears, as well as the higher stall speed I'm running, I can get my car to run so close to his, that in some instances, it might be a tough race to call.

And I'm very content w/simply coming that close to John's car w/mine because his car is certainly no slouch. He let me drive it on our way to the resteraunt, abd back too, and not only does it have some serious throttle response because of the aftermraket throttle body he's put in it, but it has brakes that are waaaaaaay better than my stock ones are. So overall, I had a great time racing him, and even though I haven't any intention of changing anything else on my car, I'd be perfectly willing to run John again, since I know that such a race would be a crowd pleaser again if he kept his car the way it is also, because of how close the race would be again. I think it was the most fun I've ever had racing anyone!!!!

[Eric Fischer]

Wow Eric!! Those are great times you've accomplished w/just those two modifications. Good job. What were your 60' times and trap speeds?
Thanks for the compliments, Billy! The LS1 is a great motor and responds well to mods. My best 60' of the day was 1.696 and the MPH was 114.42. Oh yeah, that's on 18" Drag radials.



Anyway, tell that guy that you work with to come on over here, and if he ever has anymore questions that he would like to ask a fellow Marauder owner, or a Trilogy customer, then he can feel free to write a PM to me.
Thanks! You guys are great! I'll forward this link to him.

[BillyGman]

Thanks for the compliments, Billy! The LS1 is a great motor and responds well to mods.Yes, I agree w/you on that Eric. I've heard and read nothing but good things about the LS1 engine. It's strongest point seems to be that the cylinder heads flow as well as our 32 valve heads do on our cars evn though they're 16 valve heads. This is due to the superior intake port design of the LS1 heads. But I'm sure that I don't have to tell you any of that. My best 60' of the day was 1.696 and the MPH was 114.42. Oh yeah, that's on 18" Drag radials. Hmmm, I ran a 1.65, and a 1.66 60' also, and I too ran a trap speed of 114 MPH. I wish that I raced you, because I'm sure that it would also be as close of a race as mine and John's was.



Thanks! You guys are great! I'll forward this link to him.
You're very welcome Eric. Anytime.

[MarauderMark]

Sounds and looks like you guys had a great time. :2thumbs: Billy maybe some high oct and lower tire pressure may just put you over the mark.i mean soooo close. :D

[MikesMerc]

It's all about hooking up & weather. I am positive my car will get there if I can get out of the hole without spinning.

I have no idea how to compute trap speed into potential ET but i believe that with my trap speed of 117 that i should be hitting 11's eventually. i look forward to reading everyone opinion on that this.



Rule of thumb would have you well into the 11s at 117. I'd say an 11.8 or so.

The thing to look at is your 60 ft which, like mine, is kinda poor given your power output. Most cars that hit 117 on the big end usually are putting 1.6 to 1.7 60 fts. It all boils down to getting that huge sled moving out of the hole and the outstanding track conditions, weather, and driver skill it takes to do it.

I have no doubt you'll get into the 11s with your current set up Jet!

BTW, I don't want anyone to think my discussions and analysis here are driven by competition with anyone else. I love drag racing and always have. The challenge to take things to "the next level" is a lot of fun and quite addicting:D

[martyo]

I love drag racing and always have. The challenge to take things to "the next level" is a lot of fun and quite addicting:D

I feel your pain brother!

[DL04]

Billy I was talking to a co-worker today,he said he was out at Atco this weekend and there were 2 Marauders there -he didn't get to see them run but he said they did AWESOME burnouts after the races.Said he did a few right after you.He's been trying to talk me into going out there to race him since I got my Marauder, he has a white GS Buick 6 cyl. said he got there late the track was crappy all he could do was a 12.6 I guess I wont be racing him anytime soon unless of course I win that S/C from Logan!Maybe you can post your next trip to Atco I'm sure we can get a couple of spectators from here. :burnout: :burnout: