I am soooooo evil

[Venom Lover]

Good for you, Ben. Frankly, I've had exactly the same experience. I see many posts on the various message boards about Viper kills, but I've never seen faster than an upper-12-sec Supra at Pomona, and most are running in the 13's. In all fairness, the Supra guys at Pomona seemed very decent, so I doubt they are the ones talking all this smack.

Yes, I believe there really are 500+ rwhp Supras out there, but I bet there aren't that many. Even so, how do they deliver the power to the ground through those skinny tires? We all have enough trouble on 335 street tires delivering 400+ rwhp and 430+ rwft-lbs....That's why the Supra guys don't like to drag race, but prefer street racing from a 70 mph roll. That's not my cup of tea, just because of the danger factor.

Let us know what happens on the 21st!

 

[Supercharged Vipermad]

Traction is indeed the problem. My old '97 Supra dyno'd at 619 HP at the rear wheels (actual HP, not some correction factor oddity) but couldn't get traction below 75 MPH. It was an absolute monster from 75-150mph, and was loads of fun on a roadracing circuit, but not a very good drag race machine dispite all the HP.

I'll certainly post results when I go back. The mods this week will pretty much assure victory, although I'll be kicked off the track until I get my roll bar if I break into the 11s.

 

[Venom Lover]

Ben,

I don't know how strict they are at Sears Point, but I had three or four 11-sec runs at Carlsbad before they gave me the boot for no roll cage. At Pomona, I had two 11-sec runs before they double-checked that I had a fire jacket (which I did), though they didn't say anything about a roll cage. (Even though they looked in the car.)

P.S., I would think a massive single turbo Supra (which I assume is what you had running 619 rwhp) could be a b**** to control road racing. That sudden transition giving you 300+ additional rwhp when the turbo kicks in would be tricky to modulate, I would think.

 

[treynor]

The tech inspector at Sears Point complemented me on the car the first time I showed up, then immediately related a story about someone who'd shown up in a Viper, run an 11.6 on NOS, and was immediately banned from both Sears and Sacramento until he showed back up with the NHRA-mandated safety equip. I got the message

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Besides, I want to stay on their good side, since even after I have the rollbar I won't have a transmission shield or driveshaft loop, both of which they could technically demand...

The Supra actually used twin HKS 2835GT ball-bearing turbos, and the powerband was relatively easy to control -- they took the better part of a second to spool up to full boost. It was certainly not a car for the club-footed, however, and is one of the reasons I find the Viper so very *easy* to drive.

 

[Y2K5SRT]

We have a couple mid-11 second Supras here in Kansas City, both of which are pretty regular at the local drag strip. While they can be a little cocky at times (James, did you REALLY have to say "I got smoked" by that Mustang?

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), they can generally back it up. I saw one run an 11.67 and was told the faster one can pull low 11's. I don't plan any major mods for a while on my Viper, but can still pull very low 12's (12.04 @ 121 mph) on a crappy track with street tires. Fun stuff indeed!

Chris

 

[Supercharged Vipermad]

Posted this AM to the California Supras mail list:
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Well well... since last Wednesday I've seen quite a bit of talk about 11-sec Supras, 12-sec Supras and so on. However, when the light turned green up at the dragstrip, the fastest Supras were turning low 13s, and the fastest Viper was turning low 12s. My car's going to be in the shop this week for *ahem* some minor tweaking, but I'll be back to Sears Point on Wednesday, 3/21 for another round of drag racing. I'd love some real competition this time!

How about it? Any Supras out there willing to come defend the marque? I *know* some of you are fast enough to beat my Viper (Jhun? Are you listening, Jhun??), but so far it's been all talk and 13-sec timeslips

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I'll even leave my street tires on, so you won't have to worry about the 1.7 sec 60' times I'd get with M/Ts...

Fair warning: after the 3/21 drag night I'm installing an NHRA roll bar, and I make no promises about tires when I go back in early April. I'll also have the "package from Texas" installed at that point. March 21 may be your last chance to chalk up a Treynor Viper kill!

Cheers,
Ben "The Instigator" Treynor