Effects of weight removal

[Jeff Lee]

I was talking to my buddy Don Kennedy yesterday. He just returned from the 2 races in Vegas. He played with the 4-link a lot as his car is still somewhat new. His car is a GT/AA Pontiac Jelly Bean car with a SD455. His 455 makes around 650 HP while his competitors there make in the 700 HP range. He had the second fastest 60' times (1.24 @ the altitude track). He has a new engine coming that will have him in the top tier of the GT/AA field. Your right, there's a lot to be found in the back end of a race car.

I learned a few lessons on the rear of my AMX. With the multi-spring The 60' times were constantly in the 1.52-1.55 range for a long time. I thought when I built the car 1.45 would be the norm. Based on what I know now, it was in a bind; too stiff. Now I realize how I could have fixed it. But just bolting on the Calvert springs sure made it easy. And that allowed more weight in the trunk.
60' times dropped to the 1.47-1.48 range and after learning more about clutches & more power from the engine I had it down to 1.40-1.42.
I believe 1.38's are not unconceivable but I then placed the car in SS/H. Automatic cars tend to have even quicker 60's.
Also, I constantly scaled the car when making changes. Scales are under used & are a great tool.

Also, not enough racers look at 330' times. I think that is more telling than anything else. There may be a 1-2 shift before the 60' clocks that can skew the data.