Callaway tripping the lights!

[Aurora40]

I got to meet Eric yesterday at Raceway Park in Englishtown, NJ. Our cars, along with several other cool 80's/90's stock GM cars will be featured in the December issue of GM High-Tech Performance.

Eric's car sounded awesome going down the track. However, his early runs were in the low 14's. He mentioned having some issues as the rpm's rose. Here's one of his first runs @ about 14.1 I believe:

http://members.aol.com/corvettezr11990/gmhtp/clips/callaway1.mpg

And here he was short-shifting to see if that would work around the high-rpm hesitation (excuse my wife's comments... I think he did a 14.3):

http://members.aol.com/corvettezr11990/gmhtp/clips/callaway2.mpg

He must have gotten it figured out, though, as his times soon dropped into the 13's. I saw him do a 13.8 run, and then he later did a 13.2 that I missed. I don't have any videos of those runs, though.

I had a lot of fun that day, it was the first time with the ZR-1 at the track, and my first time with any manual-trannied car at the track. My initial times were in the 13.4-13.5 range, then I started playing with how I launched, and tended to bog it or smoke them. One run I slid easily past the 60' mark (once I blew the launch, I figured I may as well enjoy it) and ran like a 14.5 @ 105mph or so! When Eric told me of his 13.2 run, it definitely got my attention, so I thankfully was able to squeeze out a 13.2 run of my own in my last attempt.

I thought of all the cars there, the C4's were the coolest. Eric and I had the prettiest engines there too. Those turbo 3.8's and 4.3's are cool, but pop the hood and they aren't much to look at. Neither was the engine bay of the 2003 Z06 that took us all to school with a 12.06@116mph run. Technically he wasn't stock, he had an aftermarket airbox, but he would have been laying the smack down no matter what.

Eric, PM me with your email address and I'll send you all the picts and videos I've got of your car.

P.S. I apologize for the lack of zooming in on the car as it ran. Our Sony digicam won't zoom on video anymore. It may be something is set wrong, or it may be typical of my Sony ownership experiences where it has crapped out. Fortunately my wife read off the times pretty well for most of the runs.

 

[TurboLuigi]

Eric took me for a ride in his Callaway during Carlisle 2003, it is a sweet ride

Glad to see that he is doing well.

-Luigi
:cool

 

[Aquaman]

what did you trap at compared to the Callaway? I too heard he was short shifting the entire day.

 

[Aurora40]

what did you trap at compared to the Callaway? I too heard he was short shifting the entire day.

Well, we never really got slips back for each run. But on the 13.2 runs, I believe he trapped at 106.7? I trapped at 108.1mph. Eric might know better. And I'm hoping we get info on our runs at some point. It sort of sucked to have to ask people what you ran after you got back. And intermediate times, forget it...

 

[Aurora40]

Heheh, man, I thought people would be a little more excited! I eat up any of the videos of Callaways posted here, even though many are just the car driving around a parking lot or easing out on a road. Seeing one gun it down the 1320 to 100+mph was awesome!

Maybe it's because you all get to hear them whenever you want, whereas I have to scrounge whatever B2K experiences I can get...


Maybe I should post the video of the GNX making his run... :eek

 

[turbocat]

what did you trap at compared to the Callaway? I too heard he was short shifting the entire day.

13.2 to 13.5 at 105 to 109 is pretty standard faire for a stock callaway. Shifting these cars at 4500 to 4700 will give you your best et and speed.

 

[Aquaman]

I sent Eric an email and he sent me this photo and I also called him and told him to get his azz in here to post. It was ~80 degrees that day and 75% RH from what he was saying. And, I think he said that 108mph was his best mph. Something in the ignition of the car is goofed up though and he felt there was much more mph in the car. It just wasn't running right all day. But I'll let him talk about it. He was disappointed he didn't get the car out earlier and ring it out a bit before the shootout but then again that's being a waxer

 

[*89x2*]

Jeremy, nice pic - two of my favorite car lines/shapes - the Callaway AeroBody and the third Gen Trans Am (GTA style mono paint) :cool


Looks like some serious fun was had

 

[Aquaman]

13.2 to 13.5 at 105 to 109 is pretty standard faire for a stock callaway. Shifting these cars at 4500 to 4700 will give you your best et and speed.

Sorry I missed this when I posted yesterday.

Maybe, however when my C5 was trapping 113 Eric and I were pretty damn even and I know for damn certain he is stock. I know the cars get a bit weezy above 5K but he said he had to shift at 4K meaning lots left on the table. But it is what it is. Glad everyone had a good time once the rain stopped. Very cool to see so many of my favorite GM cars out there.

oh and looks like the real king of the hill is the Z06

 

[Aurora40]

It was ~80 degrees that day and 75% RH from what he was saying. And, I think he said that 108mph was his best mph.

...

oh and looks like the real king of the hill is the Z06

Yes, it was fairly warm, but moreso it was super humid. It had rained a lot that day, and there was a chance we wouldn't be able to use the track at all. I'd think it was at least 75% RH. It was really really punchy weather.

Also possible he trapped higher than I said. Like I mentioned, we got basically no feedback on our runs. The only reason I know some of my runs is that my wife taped them and read off the lights to the camera. On the final printout (that didn't identify any cars that made each run) it seemed like his best run (going from memory) was a 13.26 at 106.7mph. He certainly may have trapped higher on other runs, or my memory could also be incorrect. I saw a few of his and he was in the 104-5mph range, but that was when he was turning low 14's and high 13's.

That Z06 was definitely taking us all to school. Though, his car wasn't quite stock, and of course he didn't mind beating on it all day long. But the margin he had over everyone else was significant. The Callaway drew the biggest crowd, though. Everyone wanted to check that thing out!

Chris, I have a video or two of that Turbo T/A. I'll email them to you. Meanwhile, here's another pict:

 

[Aurora40]

Oh, I realize it's not a Callaway, but if you are curious, here is my car going down the track:

http://members.aol.com/corvettezr11990/gmhtp/clips/zr12.mpg

And my best run. Unfortunately my wife had gone inside to escape the incredible humidity:

http://members.aol.com/corvettezr11990/gmhtp/clips/zr13.mpg

 

[*89x2*]

Great picture :cool


Thanks for the video links - esp the second one w/ Darth Vader sneaking into the image in the end :cool

Looks like fun!

 

[Aurora40]

I put up a couple other vids online, so I figured you all might be interested. Not of the Callaway, but they are of other GM TT cars:

1989 Turbo TA

1987 Buick GNX

 

[TurboLuigi]

Very Nice Vids!....

Thanks,

-Luigi
:cool

 

[MoeJr]

108 for your ZR1 is good for mid 12's. That is so cool.

 

[MoeJr]

Do u remember what the MPH was on the 89 TTA? Your wife said all the times and mph which was wicked cool. The video cut on the TTA before she could get the MPH out.

 

[Aurora40]

Unfortunately, no. I didn't get to see that run, and I'm sure my wife won't remember. But hopefully a lot of the info will be in the December GM High Tech Performance magazine. They weren't real good about giving feedback on runs. There were no timeslips handed out, you had to be paying attention.