Couple of fun races to share today. The first is the most fun race I've ever had for the pure absurdity of it.
It'd been raining early that morning and the roads were still soaked. Furthermore I had a 1x3x96" whitewood stud in the car that stretched literally from the windshield, over the top of the dash, stick and center console through the back and out the hatch, meticulously bungee-chorded to limit any motion in any axis. See the image. I'm stopped at a light next to a 2nd-gen Chrysler 300C with flat-black wheels and a license plate that read "Shadow" or something like that. I caught this mid-30's to mid-40's aged guy and his wife in the passenger's seat checking out the car and/or the hauling arrangement which was clearly visible from the outside.
This stoplight is the last before the road merges from 2 to 1 lane for a much longer stretch so it's always a question whether the other guy is going to be trying to beat you to the merge or not. I didn't take off slowly or quickly, but I could tell the guy was pacing me exactly, bumper to bumper, so I steadily increased acceleration as I was comfortable considering the load. By 40 he and I were both full throttle. I could tell he was full throttle simply because I could hear V8 roars interrupted often by traction control. I, too, was simply a mix of spinning and traction control cutoff's until maybe 55, at which point he was at my passenger rear door and I, catching traction, took off ahead. By the time I let off the hatch was lifting due to the draft over the top of the car (maybe 70 or so) and the guy was slowing down to make a right off the road. He wasn't even trying to beat me to the merge! I was laughing hysterically the whole time though. Easily the most absurd, useless race in history. I got a taste for what my car smelled like at full throttle due to the open hatch. Not good - cats are there for a reason.
Second race was just a moment ago. C4 corvette, 30 to 90. No moisture on the road but the concrete surface gave me traction issues through 50. I started with my nose at his rear bumper and ended with his front bumper at my rear. First, I'm thinking he's definitely not stock. Second, I think I did pretty well considering I had 600lbs of human in my car and he was empty.
I'd seen this guy's C4 at work a lot and always wondered what was under the hood. It's just a yellow C4 targa with a couple black vinyl strips above the driver's front wheel on the fender. Tasteful IMO. I got a chance to talk with him afterwards - he's got a stroked LT1 cammed for fuel economy and low-end torque for autocross. 200hp over stock by his account. Sounded amazing. He says he's getting 30mpg, too! Those engines are a damned marvel.
