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Track Days, Its Not Just Another GT "Red Hot Cherry"

*Barracuda_45*

Norhtern Michigan Dragway Mama
We would like to share our love and passion other than CP's with you all..
SMOKIN UM BABY!!!!!! Track days heres just a few pics of our pride and joy "Red Hot Cherry" our beloved Pontiac Grand Prix GT shes not just your ordinary car.. :banana2: She has along way to go and has come along way since the day we got her, she is just shy of being in the 8's on a 8th mile track, although alot of people spend there time drag racing on a quarter mile track we are devoted to our home track up here in Northern Michigan, its easier on your car, funer times, GREAT FOLKS and FANTASTIC memories. When we know what she can do after we get a few more mods done to her she will then move to a quarter mile track but we will continue to race at Northern Michigan Dragway. Trophey classes are comming up for us on the 28th since this past race was canceled do to rain. She is in the top 9 sec class. GP_Princess will be in the top 8 sec class.
She can light um up and smoke just as good as anyone else.. GO BABY!!! Just past races few weeks ago.. 9.1
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And this is last yrs "many 9 sec trophey winner" in his Mustang and Cherry beat him several times this day. Another 9.1 race for Cherry..
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and against a import back in spring and beat it...:boogie:
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Engine mod work being done..
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Last yr at the dragway.. And yes we do drag racing late at night under lights...
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and i will post more in a reply..
 
Smokey burnout contest..
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Convoy to the races.
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Hubby against GP_Princess... :-D
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and "Red Hot Cherry" her self...
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I will get new pics of the races on the 20th and 28th and i hope to have a video of her racing come then that i can post so you can see what she can really do... Im sure GP_Princess will chime in on this thread as soon as she gets home from Michigan International Speedway..

ENJOY!!!!!
 
That's a cool car. I had a grand prix many years ago.
 
Damn that thing is fast.
JW, but why would you make a drag car out of a FWD? I mean really...aren't your appropriate suspension options limited compared to RWD? Plus, is it not harder to get good traction, esp from a start? The only FWD drag cars I've seen have all been imports, which I've never really been impressed with. Actually the only drag imports I've found impressive are the AWD Subarus and Audis.
 
I've never had any interest in drag racing, but think it's awesome that you're into it and get involved. That do-it-yourself thing used to be the cornerstone of racing American cars, until NASCAR convinced racing fans to park their butts on couches or grandstands and root for a number or a focus group-tested driver personality.
 
I don't know anything about drag racing but, like Bruce said, really cool you have so much fun with it. Pretty car. :)
 
As soon as I can get some pics of my car at the track this year I will post them up. As far as making a drag car out of a FWD.....I am proof that it can be done....and done by a girl too! I have a 99' Grand Prix GT that has a supercharger, intercooler, race tranny, big cam, big injectors, slicks, and a few other things and I can run a 13.01 seconds in a quarter mile! I hit 8.3 seconds in an eighth mile. I also can get a 1.89 seconds 60 foot which is VERY respectable.....especially for a FWD. To top it all off this car was built and is driven by a girl! :)
 
As soon as I can get some pics of my car at the track this year I will post them up. As far as making a drag car out of a FWD.....I am proof that it can be done....and done by a girl too! I have a 99' Grand Prix GT that has a supercharger, intercooler, race tranny, big cam, big injectors, slicks, and a few other things and I can run a 13.01 seconds in a quarter mile! I hit 8.3 seconds in an eighth mile. I also can get a 1.89 seconds 60 foot which is VERY respectable.....especially for a FWD. To top it all off this car was built and is driven by a girl! :)

Thats right YOU GO GIRL!!!!! VERY PROUD OF YAZ Jen!!!! thats right she built her GP and can drive with the best of um. :boogie: People dont realize what the have when they buy a Grand Prix, the best yrs was 97 thru 2003. And thanks to GP_Princess our GP was modified the way we want her done. :banana2: Complete top swap/super charger, HD tranny, 1.9 roller rockers & pushrods, #105 springs, Cat/Ubend/Delete, Royal Purple Synthetic oil, Power log, reprogramed by ZZP, Cold air intake, 106 T stat, gona drop down to a 3.4 pulley and install a 3" down pipe and a few more mods.. :-D I will make sure to take plenty of pics at the up comming races. Jen you know dad and i love racing with you at NMD. Will have to get a little vid of you and dad racing against each other in "test and tune" and show um how you can LIGHT UM UP!!! As for FWD all ya need to do, get in that burn box and warm up them tires real good and make the right launch.
 
Who's saying anything about a girl?? The person with the quickest car wins, no matter the gender :p.

Maybe its just me, but if someone can explain the advantages of a FWD car with the above mods vs something RWD or especially AWD...then I'm all ears. I had a 68 Nova SS clone w/ a ton of mods, but unfortunately never got to turbo it (I was in HS = broke). A TT 350 is pretty beast, had I had idk..2 grand or so.
 
  • #10
Sweet car. way to go. My Brother in law used to race in my old Nissan pickup at the drag strip. Don't recall how good he did, but i am sure it was not like your car. He is now doing 4 cylinder oval tracks in Idaho and doing well I hear.

Keep up the good work and I look forward to seeing the pictures. I wish I didn't have a ton of other things I wanted to do. Then i might have the time to learn about that kind of stuff.
 
  • #11
Nice pics ladies ! I wouldn't want to get to close to you all at stop light.
 
  • #12
Who's saying anything about a girl?? The person with the quickest car wins, no matter the gender :p.

Maybe its just me, but if someone can explain the advantages of a FWD car with the above mods vs something RWD or especially AWD...then I'm all ears. I had a 68 Nova SS clone w/ a ton of mods, but unfortunately never got to turbo it (I was in HS = broke). A TT 350 is pretty beast, had I had idk..2 grand or so.

Some of the advantages of a FWD vs. RWD is that I am pulling as opposed to pushing. It is easier to get traction in a FWD because all the weight of the motor is over the drive tires. The advantage of RWD over FWD is that when the car launches, the weight distribution goes to the back as the car rocks backwards off the launch. As far as AWD, they get good traction because they have all 4 tires to do it with instead of just 2. However they are slower in the top end because they have to distribute power to all 4 tires when I just have to distribute power to 2 tires.

I understand what you are saying about the gender thing, but most people look at a female in a car and automatically assumes that they can't drive it just because they are a female. I am loving, breathing proof that it is not always true!
 
  • #13
I used to work with a lady who's family used to race a lot. They had a 30something Chevy (can't remember exactly) that ran low 8's that they made her drive, because she had a faster reflex than her brother, lol!

I never took my Nova to the track. Probably ran like a 12 though. I stripped everything off it that wasn't absolutely necessary. Friends didn't like no AC, no radio, and only 2 seats :D. I wasn't too popular in the neighborhood the time I ran open headers either lol.

Also in regards to FWD, don't you have not such a diverse range of options for suspension? When I drove w/ the leaf springs, traction was almost nonexistent, but when I converted to Chris Alston Chassisworks ladderbars + coilovers, it was immensely more awesome.
 
  • #14
I used to work with a lady who's family used to race a lot. They had a 30something Chevy (can't remember exactly) that ran low 8's that they made her drive, because she had a faster reflex than her brother, lol!

I never took my Nova to the track. Probably ran like a 12 though. I stripped everything off it that wasn't absolutely necessary. Friends didn't like no AC, no radio, and only 2 seats :D. I wasn't too popular in the neighborhood the time I ran open headers either lol.

Also in regards to FWD, don't you have not such a diverse range of options for suspension? When I drove w/ the leaf springs, traction was almost nonexistent, but when I converted to Chris Alston Chassisworks ladderbars + coilovers, it was immensely more awesome.

To a point we have a choice for suspension, but not a wide selection like a lot of RWD cars. They do make a performance suspension kit for our cars from GMPP (General Motors Performance Parts) that stiffens up the struts, has larger diameter sway bars and meatier trailing arms. Other than that, at least for the Grand Prix's, we don't have a lot of choices. They do make an adjustable strut for our cars so you can adjust how firm it is for the track and for the street. There are also people that put blocks between the rungs of the spring to hold the rear end in the air to help with weight distribution. Hope this answers your questions a little. :grin:
 
  • #15
Yes it does, thanks.
I guess you don't have much room for tubbing though :-D
 
  • #17
Very nice pictures, and nice car to boot. My uncle loves those cars. In you engin mods pics is your car stock with the EDIS-6? or is that part of the upgrade? I've been looking for a factory EDIS-6 ssytem I could canibilize and if GM makes it I coudl easily use that....hmmm

its not easier to get traction in FF just because the engin is over the front wheels, as soon as you launch alot of the weight is transfered to the rear....hmm I've never heard anyone claim that, and alot of my friends race FF

I've dragged FR, FF, and RR (dads porsche). And the FF was the hardest to regulate traction even with the micky tomps...

I'm actually not too into dragging but do it ocasionally, I do more autox and fwd in an autox actually can be very good those mini coopers tear it up at the BMWCCA events. My whole family race such as yourself, Myself with a turbo e30, my sister with an M3 and my dad with a porsche 930 (turbo 911). Its a great family hobby and its always great to see fellow racers....

I wish I had some recent pictures of my car but here are some fairly old ones

I actually went back to a less agressive looking bumper....


and my stroked 2.8 liter turbo motor mid install, and very dirty....... 1.3 bar = lots of fun....
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older pic with old bumper next to my cars archnemisis, my dads 930....

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  • #18
Very nice pictures, and nice car to boot. My uncle loves those cars. In you engin mods pics is your car stock with the EDIS-6? or is that part of the upgrade? I've been looking for a factory EDIS-6 ssytem I could canibilize and if GM makes it I coudl easily use that....hmmm

its not easier to get traction in FF just because the engin is over the front wheels, as soon as you launch alot of the weight is transfered to the rear....hmm I've never heard anyone claim that, and alot of my friends race FF

I've dragged FR, FF, and RR (dads porsche). And the FF was the hardest to regulate traction even with the micky tomps...

I'm actually not too into dragging but do it ocasionally, I do more autox and fwd in an autox actually can be very good those mini coopers tear it up at the BMWCCA events. My whole family race such as yourself, Myself with a turbo e30, my sister with an M3 and my dad with a porsche 930 (turbo 911). Its a great family hobby and its always great to see fellow racers....

I am not sure what you mean by a EDIS-6 system as I do not know anything about BMW's or Porsche's. I know that the Pontiac Grand Prix GT and GTP comes stock with a 3800 V6 as the power plant.

If you read the post that I made on the traction issue I did not say that it easier to get traction in a FWD "just because" the engine is over the front wheels....I said that it helps. I know that when you launch the weight distribution shifts towards the rear. That is our downfall as a FWD. I have found though that it is a little easier as a FWD because you are biting into the pavement with your tires as opposed to trying to push the whole car in a RWD. I have not had an issue with traction in my car since getting my Hoosier slicks. I can hit a 1.8 60' with little effort on my part. As long as you heat them up good and do not peel the tires after you burn them you can get a good launch. I have launched my car so hard that it actually snaps my head back!
 
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