Finally Broke into the 40’s! – 2020 Season Wrap Up
2020 was a decent year for Chris & I racing the Nova, besides all this Covid Crap we all want to forget about. We runnered up and won a race in go figure, Outlaw 10.5 this year. X275, well we didn't do so well in that class but I think we learned a few things and had a great time going to many tracks racing. This year we raced at HRP at Baytown, Texas, Tulsa Raceway Park, WWT / Gateway in Saint Louis, Ozark Raceway Park in Springfield MO, Mid America Dragway in Winfield, KS, MoKan Dragway in Asbury, MO and XRP in Ferris, Texas. That's not bad considering the first of the year we didn't know if we were going to get to race at all!
Last race of the year at the Titan's of 10.5 race at Ozark we ran a 4.49 in the final for the win in Outlaw 10.5. It was a great way to finish the season to finally break through that 4.40 barrier. We almost did it last year, and several times during the 2020 season, but could never quite get the front and back half to come together. It's pretty frustrating when you know the car can go a mid 4.40 based on it's best front and back splits but something always goes wrong. Speaking of that, the Nova went a wheels up 1.051 60' at Baytown, something I was a bit surprised it could do, but now I think we can go 1.04X with a little work and some good prep.
The biggest problem is we are just not able to keep up the pace in X275, we improve every year a little, but not as much as the fast guys. This year saw X275 with multiple cars in the 4 teens and a number of teams solidly in the 4.20's - yeah they are beating them up doing that, but that is what it takes to run those numbers. We're down to 15-20 passes before we kill the rings in the car as it is, and killing pistons from one thing or the other is starting to become common. Next year we have some changes to the engine we hope will help out, but not too many changes overall this winter.
That next step, running a 4.3X is our next goal, hopefully we can meet it in 2021!
2019 Season Wrap Up
First Race for 2019 Results
Our first race of the season at Texas Motorplex March 9th resulted in some good improvements and a new PB of 4.55@156.9 which we were happy to see. Winter chassis changes - new Larry Hunt modified Cal-Vert Split Mono Springs, Smith Assassin Bars and a TRZ Girth Brooks Anti-Roll Bar worked pretty good - well except during the $250 "Test" session which was more no-prep than a Radial Prep. When the track started to prep like they should the car came around and hooked, 4.70's, 4.60's then in Q3 it laid down a 4.55.
We made it to E2 before being stopped in our tracks by Shane Heckle who went on to win the race, but I was happy regardless. The changes we'd made didn't result in screwing the car up which is usually the case, and we went quicker than ever before. Unfortunately were fighting an issue with the nitrous solenoids not pulsing quite right with a big dip at launch, so I'm working to fix that issue now for the next race, but it still was laying down 1.11/1.10 60's pretty consistently once they prepped the track. Also have a few tuneup related adjustments that need made, I'm pretty sure we can get a few more numbers out of it once we get things adjusted / fixed, hoping to get in the .40's this season if possible.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.