I (Rex Weatherford) went to Silver Dollar Raceway with Barry Stubbs to get some 1/4 mile times on my GTZ. Barry took his 88 Cavalier Z24 to do the same. Barry was letting me borrow his 14 inch Hoosier DOT Road Race tires to use in place of my 15 inch Toyo DOT Road Race tires. Both were used and hard but better than burning up our street tires.

At tech inspection we both weighed our cars. Mine was still at 2800 lbs even. This was with me in the car (160 lbs) and all the seats removed except the drivers, nothing in the trunk, and less than a 1/4 tank of gas. Barry's car was lighter than mine with a full interior! Man these Beretta's are heavy! Must be the doors. <grinn> They gave us our car numbers at tech. I was #12 and Barry was #15. You can see these #'s on the time slips. That is how you can tell who ran what.

Our first run was like most first runs. Slow and awkward. Neither of us was quite ready for the light and I left the light with my emergency brake still on! DOH! I got it down about half way through 1st gear. Barry jumped out to an early lead. I shifted to 2nd and reeled him in. As you can see from the time slip we were both kinda slow.

Time Slip:

The second run was better, but I still hadn't gotten the launch or the tree down. I ran about the same as the first run.

The third run was better. Launched better and went though the gears better. After a few more runs the cars were getting hot so we decided to let them cool off.

Barry decided that he was ready first and pulled out his air filter (K&N replacement) to see if that would net him some more speed. Did it! He came back with a 15.9! I recorded this run which was a 15.9@84 mph! Still good for an old 2.8 Z24! His best run of the night was a 15.879@84.99 mph.

Time Slip:
Video: here

Seeing the results from Barry's runs made me make some changes. I pulled my filter, turned the tube so that it pointed in front of the battery, removed my headlight for some fresh air, and removed my AC / alternator belt. I can do that since the water pump on the Quad4 runs off the timing chain. I had been icing down the intake so things were nice and cool. The air was probably still over 80 degrees and there was a bit of a headwind (look at the flag in Barry's movie). I pulled up, burned the dirt off the tires and pulled up to the lights. I think I launched at 4000 RPM's but I am not sure. I pedaled the gas trying to get grip after I dropped the clutch. The car took off like a rocket and before I knew it I was in second gear. I have a bit more time in 2nd so I relax and get ready for the next shift. Bam, in 3rd.. Waiting for the RPM 's to climb to 7000 RPM at my shift. Don't lift all the way off the gas and shift to 4th..... I'm in 4th quite a bit before the traps with these tires. I didn't know what my time was but I figured it was pretty good. It WAS! A 14.807 @ 91.79 MPH! I was very happy and just hoped that Barry had gotten it on tape. He did!

Time Slip:
Video: here

The rest of the night was more of the same. I pulled some 14.9's and Barry pulled several low 16 second runs.

Here are some more pictures of my GTZ from that night.

Here are the rest of the Videos.

Video of Barry: here
Video of Rex: here
Video of Barry: here
Video of Rex: here
Video of Barry: here
Video of Rex: here

We had a great time and I hope to do it again. Perhaps more of you will join us?