The Garage 419 team is anything but conventional, so when they say they're going to race a Nissan GT-R against a $500 competitor, you know it's going to be entertaining. Host Matt Farah had the easy task of rolling to the strip in the Godzilla of street racers, with 478 horsepower, all-wheel drive, and launch control at his beck and call. Editor Gene Sanchez had the tougher task of obtaining a $500 car to challenge his co-worker. Sanchez had a couple tricks up his sleeve, though, as he rented a $200-per-day LS3 Corvette from the Hertz Fun Collection and added a bargain-basement $300 nitrous system. Unfortunately, the 'Vette was burdened with lousy run-flat tires and a six-speed slush box, but at least the yellow underdog had the crowd on its side. Does a juiced up Corvette have a chance in Hell of besting a bone-stock GT-R on a one-eighth mile drag strip?
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We first told you about Ford's new Mustang Cobra Jet factory drag car in June of 2007 and last week Ford posted a video on YouTube of a test session with the new car showing its stuff at Milan DragWay. Now we've received some fresh high-res pics of the Cobra Jet in our inbox from Ford. Last we heard Ford is only building 50 of these drag race specials all of which are powered by a blown 5.4-liter 32-valve V8 based on the GT500 motor. This engine has been breathed on a little more heavily then the GT500 and the car looks like it's been stripped down. With the usual drag combo of skinny front and fat rear tires, this Cobra looks like it might be a contender.
The NHRA has acted very quickly in an effort to improve the safety of its Top Fuel and Funny Car races. Due to the tragic death recently of '94 and '95 Top Fuel champion Scott Kalitta, the drag strip for these two fastest classes will be shortened from the traditional 1,320 feet to 1,000 feet. Race officials and team managers believe that this compromise will continue to make for an entertaining race as the cars will still be hitting speeds of around 300 mph. This is an interim change as the sanctioning body investigates the crash and its causes, and will stay in effect until more definite changes can be made. The first race which will incorporate the new shorter track length will take place on July 11-13 at the Mopar Mile High Nationals in Denver, Colorado.
I went into the Ford Racing Racing Invitational drag race this weekend with only a cursory knowledge of drag racing. Sure I was aware of all the usual suspects like Garlits, Prudhomme, Force and other famous names over the years. I knew about the kind of speeds they reached and I had a vague awareness of bracket racing and the need for consistency. But I figured "How hard can it be to go from a starting line and traverse 1320 feet in the shortest possible time?" Well, it turns out that it's a lot harder than you might think. If nothing else, I came away from this experience with with a vastly increased respect for successful drag racers.
Let's start with a brief run down of the procedure. First up, before getting to the starting line you do a couple of burnouts to warm the tires in hope of getting some extra grip. On racing slicks this undoubtedly helps. Whether it actually helps with street tires is something about which we need to consult with some tire engineers. Once your tires are warm, you pull up to the line. This is where things start to get very complicated. Read on to learn more and check out the gallery below for shots from the day showing Autoblog and its peers doing their best on the quarter-mile.
Ford has a long history of creating factory-built racers based on its regular production cars. Over the past four decades, most of those have have been derived from the Mustang. Since the mid-90s, that has included several runs of Cobra Rs, and today, a couple of variants of the FR500. Later this summer, Ford will revive another Mustang variant from the first generation when the Cobra Jet is reborn. The original Cobra Jet was built as a drag racing special with a high-torque long-stroke 428 cu. in. V8. Forty years later, Ford will be building a new Cobra Jet this summer.
The new Cobra Jet will be powered by a supercharged 5.4L 32-valve V8 based on the GT500 engine. The Cobra Jet engine will be built on the same niche engine line as the GT500 and will have plenty of capacity for modifications by racers. (note: post edited at the request of the manufacturer) Ford is only planning to build 50 new Cobra Jets at the behest of a handful of dealers, who may end up buying all the cars and then re-selling them. The new drag racing specials are expected to be priced at $69,900.
As the skies finally cleared this morning, us hacks finally managed to get in a single practice run here at Milan Dragway for the Ford Racing Invitational. Ford invited some media out to race race some Mustangs as part of the NMRA Ford Nationals weekend. In my first-ever run on a dragstrip, I managed to not embarrass myself and get decent time in my Shelby GT500. My reaction time was a bit on the slow side at 0.6149s as I was seeing the tree for the first time. Once I hooked up, the car flew down the strip before I backed off just a bit too soon, not knowing where the finish line was. I still ended up with 12.8692 ET at 106.56. At the 1,000 ft mark I was at 103.70mph and 10.875 sec. Now that I know where I'm going hopefully I can do a little better this afternoon. Oh, the guy in the orange convertible? Ehh, not so fast, better luck next time.
Fans of going as fast as possible in a straight line, which includes some of us at Autoblog, have reason to rejoice. Chrysler has officially announced that the drag package for its upcoming Challenger, initially shown at SEMA in late 2006, will be released on an unsuspecting public. Previous rumors have the drag pack getting hi-po versions of the 5.9-liter Magnum and Hemi V8's, while jettisoning around eight-hundred pounds of dead weight unnecessary for mass-acceleration. The National Hot Rod Association is said to be going through the package as we speak in order to certify it for racing duty. After all of the necessary paperwork is complete, the Challenger is expected to race in the Stock Eliminator class. According to Chrysler spokeswoman Patricia Georgevich, Chrysler is looking at a possible introduction in July.
It's not easy to describe the rapidity at which Krug's green Caravan explodes off the line and down the track. It's seriously disconcerting to watch almost two tons of toddler-hauling mediocrity running an 11.17-second quarter mile with flames shooting out the back hatch. The black and white soccer ball sticker on the liftgate only further cements the surreal feeling that this van is just not right.
The turbine is government surplus and the flames are courtesy of judicious use of fuel sprayed into the helicopter engine's exhaust. Though the pyrotechnics make for a good show, Krug says they provide no boost in acceleration. The whole thing only cost about $17,000 to build. Krug says his Vanzilla tops out at only 113 mph because he still needs to do some work on the rear axle ratio. If it were us, we'd see about getting some wider rubber on those back wheels, too.
After you've watched the video above several times, click through to the jump for even more footage of this unholy amalgam of military might and mom-approved mobility.
It's a well hidden secret here in the States, but in Eastern Europe, Poland is a street racing Mecca. Concrete contests of speed are so prevalent in the land of the prior Pope and origin of the pirogi, that police in Lodz are conceding certain streets to rebellious racers. The goal is to concentrate racing to a speed limit-free zone, with hopes that racing-related accidents will plummet in other areas of town. Both police and the Lodz motor club will supervise the action on closed streets to ensure that complete lawlessness doesn't commence.
It seems everybody wins thanks to this unorthodox solution, with dragsters getting a place to hang and innocent drivers and bystanders having a better chance of not becoming collateral damage, like what happened last week in Maryland. Such a compromise would never happen in the US, however, as police (and insurance companies) would sooner take your license than leave speed limits to the ego of the driver and power of the car.
Just like in the '60s, some people will take their new 2008 Dodge Challengers to the drags. Chrysler is reportedly ready to make this very easy for new Challenger owners. Allpar is reporting that within a few weeks, there will issue forth from Chrysler a Super Stock special version of the Challenger. The intended application is Stock Eliminator drag racing, and the cars get their own VINs and lots of lightening. Powering drivers down the strip will be versions of the Hemi and 5.9 liter Magnum V8s, twisting through manual or automatic boxes.
Jettisoning things like wipers, HVAC, sound deadening and seats make for a Challenger that's definitely not road-ready, but much lighter for track applications. 800 pounds have reportedly been trimmed out of the car through the omission of equipment and special composite body parts. Mechanicals have been modified to better suit the use, too. The main body unit gets tweaks, and the front crossmember is modified to a drop-out unit. Front brakes are largely unnecessary when the nose is in the air for part of the run, so lightweight units have been fitted. The fascia support and cooling system also get the slim-fast treatment. More information will supposedly arrive soon, but a 1,320-pounding neo-E body pony car appears close at hand.
