Did good at an "All Ford" Show & Drag Meet

[Wayne Maybury]

Montreal Mustang Car Club had an all Ford day at Sanair Dragway this past Saturday. I had been wanting to drag the Cobra to get an idea of what it would do in the quarter mile. I had always assumed that I could get into the 12s. I managed to borrow a pair of 8" slicks for the event. Here is an idea of how my day went.

Got the car on the trailer and headed off to a restaurant to meet several others going to the meet. It rained quite hard but only for a few minutes. Lets hope it clears up.

Had breakfast and we all head off to Sanair. Half hour later we are there, already lots of cars inside and quite a line waiting to get in. Pay, register, etc., then find our spot and get the Cobra off the trailer. They put me in "Special Interest" for the show, remember this is a Ford show but is primarily Mustangs.

I have never dragged this car and have never driven a car with slicks so the next part was quite interesting. I go through tech inspection get my number and pull out on the strip. A good friend of mine (who just happens to be the points leader at Sanair so far this year) was with me to help with the burn out and staging. I did the burnout, stage, etc., bring up the revs to 3000 and on the last yellow I dump the clutch. WOW do those slicks ever bite, time for second, now third, man this thing is really going, shift to forth then the fun begins. Remember I said I had never driven a car with slicks.........well I got into a "slick dance". The rear end of the car started to shift side to side which is quite common with slicks but I didn't know that. I got off the gas, back, then on, then off, then on, finally through the lights.

I get my ticket 13.16 Man so close to the 12s. By now I am all sweaty, and my mouth is really dry. I pull back in the pits and my buddy is laughing as he asks me how I enjoyed the slick dance. I told him I wanted more pressure in those slicks so he brought them up to 16 psi.

I try to calm down as I get ready to do my next burnout. Now my hands are really wet and my mouth is still dry. Off I go through the first 3 gears then I miss fourth. 13.4 this time. Back to the line for another run. Miss a shift again. This is getting bad but I'm getting used to the slicks.

Pull up to the line and I'm off. Through the lights in 12.73 at 103 MPH. That's enough for today. Put the car in it's spot, give it a quick wipe down and begin to relax. Oh, by the way, took first in class to boot. All in all it was a good day. I had lots of fun answering questions. I again did what I often do and that is to invite kids to sit in the Cobra. One dad looked like he was going to burst with pride as he was taking his son's picture strapped in my Johnex.

Wayne

[Dsprint2000]

Great post! Glad you had fun and did well.


David

[Carroll DeWeese]

You tell a story very well. Thanks for the post.

[750hp]

Wayne, the slick dance is even more pronounced if you keep your radial tires on the front. If you can get hold of some cross-ply tires for the front next time, you'll be amazed at how much nicer the car is to drive down the track.

Congrats on the trophy, and I'll guess a 12.8 next time.....

[Wayne Maybury]

Craig

I had my 245 45 17's radials on the front which are just about as wide as the 8" slicks. My buddy made a few suggestions. Try narrower front tires, lift slightly rather than completely off the gas, and most importantly, do not try to correct with the steering wheel, just hold it straight. We drive on ice and snow for several months every year and the first thing we learn is that you must keep the front wheels pointing straight ahead when the rear end begins to move. However this is the wrong thing to do with slicks since the soft side walls are simply letting the car move sideways a little bit but the contact with the road surface has not been broken so the slick is actually going straight forward. I found it tough to do but it did work.

12.73 was my best run but that was leaving the line at about 3000 RPM and I didn't power shift. Absolutely no adjustments were made to the car, not timing, carb, valves, nothing. This was "as is" off the street but with slicks and my shorty exhaust pipes. It was also a hot and very humid day resulting in many cars running 2 to 3 tenths slower than normal. My friend figures that coming off the line on the rev limiter, power shifting, and a cooler day would result in very low 12s, or possibly..........oh lets not go there. He was very impressed with the traction my Johnex exhibited, transferring the weight squarely on the slicks and forcing them to bite.

As far as the trophy goes, it was for the best in class in the show, in my case that was "Special Interest". There were at least 3 other Cobras in the class but I don't know how many other cars were also included.

As I said initially, all in all, it was a good day.

Wayne