Going Fast In An SC!

An image of my '92 SC on the playa in the Black Rock Desert, Gerlach, Nevada. (Where the world land speed record was set in 1997)

JUGGS gun had me at 131 mph when this image was shot. Notice how clean the dust is behind the car.

A friend had his 1999 Pontiac Grand Prix GTP there as well..as hard as he tried, 122 mph was tops for him and the dust behind him was very turbulent.

Says something for the air package on the SC!!!

MC
2004 Black Thunderbird
1992 Red Thunderbird SC
1971 Blue Thunderbird Landau Coupe
1965 White Thunderbird
1965 Black Falcon Sprint, Pro Street
1960 Green Sunbeam Alpine
1959 Blue Chevrolet Impala (Wife's car!!)

I wont say how fast I been in my sc then:O)

More boost and no speed limiter does wonders

Very nice! How far do you have to reach that speed? Sorry I don't know jack about high speed running. I bet it felt good to be able to tell your GTP buddy that his car was a 1/4 mile queen. lol Is your car stock?

Nice shot...Looks clean.....

Is your sunroof open?

Wonder what a Ford GT would have for a rooster tail at that place?? MM&FF have a shot of a GT at speed with the dust being blown out the backend at a strip.

the-big-e said:

Nice shot...Looks clean.....

Is your sunroof open?

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Heh...yes...never even thught to close it. Our car club took a cruise up to Bruno's in Gerlach for lunch, and then went out on the playa for some fun. One of the members is a high school baseball coach and just happened to have his JUGGS gun with him, so the conversation started, "I wonder if....." and ended with "I'll go out and drive fast and you see if it will pick up the car."

It did, and we all went fast that day! Even one of the members and his Hyundai Sante Fe! LOL...80 mph. Said it was real squirrely at that speed.

In truth, we were pretty stupid. The playa is very fine, silt and is generally pretty hard, but there are soft pockets that if a tire went into it, could cause the car to start lateral movement, which is guaranteed to initiate a roll. None of us had helmets, racing harnesses, or roll bars. It was a recipe for disaster. However, an uneventful, fun day was had by all, the local car washes got a lot of business, and we all had a great, area famous, Italian dinner at Bruno's.

Oh..yeah...the oil companies go rich off of us that day....220 mile round trip and gas up here was $2.75 to $3.25 a gallon.

Another image of the playa...a panorama shot, encompassing approx 270 degrees.

wow thats very awesume, good job! I have always thought about going out to the flats sometime and just see how fast I can go. Looks like you guys had tons of fun.

Shane

Cool pictures. You sure the GTP didn't do 126mph? That is the *limited* top speed of a GTP and I easily hit that in my 2001 GTP shortly after the "break-in" period on the car a few weeks after I purchased it in April 2001 ....it was floaty as hell at those speeds.


EDIT: Oh yeah, both cars have very similar reported cofficients of drag...the T-Bird being a little better at .31(1995..the older SC's may be a tad better, but I'm not sure) while the Grand Prix(1997-2003..the older 88-96 models are tad bit better with most being rated at .29)

good run. The moon roof being open will have had some effect on your top speed but how much is hard to guess.

If you do that again, it's important that rear tire diameter is very close to limit any diff action occuring in the rear gears. Then make sure you have a good fluid back there to limit the chance of overheating.

How did coolant temps do? Do you have the deflector under the front bumper to help with that?

Mike8675309 said:

good run. The moon roof being open will have had some effect on your top speed but how much is hard to guess.

If you do that again, it's important that rear tire diameter is very close to limit any diff action occuring in the rear gears. Then make sure you have a good fluid back there to limit the chance of overheating.

How did coolant temps do? Do you have the deflector under the front bumper to help with that?

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I service the car religiously. (There is that word again! LOL) All the correct friction modifiers, etc.

Rear end ratio is stock as are the tires, just high speed rated. In Nevada, there are miles and miles between cities, so 65 is not a reasonable speed to follow! (well, the NHP thinks so!) It is 425 miles from Reno to Las Vegas. 4 hour trips are not unheard of in the red 'Bird. That includes a stop in Tonopah for gas. As a note here..there are *maybe* 10 'towns' between Reno and L.V., most are "Blink and you will miss 'em" towns.

Yes, the engine coolant air flow system on the car is factory stock..everything is in place. Never had a problem with coolant temps until I replaced my head gaskets. (At 110K miles) Now it seems everything is starting to fail....first the DIS and now the IRCM has failed...no A/C and no low speed fan. Because it is so warm in the summer, I run a 185 degree Thermostat as a regular course of action. (Instead of the factory 195) Several years ago, the plastic topped radiator blew off so I found a metal SC radiator and put it in. (After installing a new core) BTW..the temp did not go up appreciably on the high speed runs...each of which, from start to finish, was only about 3 miles.

As for the sun roof..yeah...like I said earlier, we were all a wee bit (sic) brain dead that day.......(No alcohol involved either..we do not allow the consumption of alcohol [Or drugs] at any of our events or functions.)