DoctorV8

Well, I was able to finally get to Lonestar raceway, a new track west of Houston. Temp was in the upper 60s. Unfortunately, upon pulling up after teching the the car, I realized that they didn't have a dry area to avoid the burnout box, so I had to drive through the water. I was running stock 19" Pilots at 32 PSI.

I did a short burnout to get rid of as much water as possible off the tires, but was still unable to better a 2.2 sec 60 ft. ESP was intervening until about 60 mph. I ran consistent 12.6s at 119.5 MPH. The car is clearly making the power....I just need to get it to the pavement. Despite the burnout, I am sure there was some water in the tread.

Nothing that drag radials (and maybe an LSD) couldn't fix. ;-)

DFW01E55

Wow!
Very good results.

Temps in the 60's? It's never like that at Texas Motorplex (Ennis) when I go!

SebaCL600

That's not good at all. I just raced my stock 03 CL600 with stock 18" wheels, temp was in mid 50s and I got a best time of 12.107 @117.27 mph. My 60' times were 1.883. I guess with all that extra power comes traction problems. I'm sure the CL65 is faster than the CL600 off the roll but when it comes head to head from start with both cars being stock the CL600 might pull ahead a little because of better traction being that it has less hp and then the CL65 migh catch up. On a 1/4 mile race the CL600 has a very high chance of winning but anything longer than that it will have broblems with the CL65.

blackbenzz

I had the same problem at test and tune last friday. There was no way around the water. I just half throttled it til past the 60 foot marker and then punche dit. Still broke loose a little and managed a 12.4 @ 118 with a 2.15 60'. I'm going again on friday but this time I'm going prepared (Getting d/r's tomorrow!). I fully expect to get 1.7 60' or better which will put me at mid to high 11's. I've seen a SL65 run 11.7 on stock tires so the 65 is definitely no joke!

DFW01E55

I disagree.
It's good because a correction to normal in his 60' will lead to 11.9.
The speed will improve with a better 60' so he's got all kinds of potential.

SebaCL600

With so much power difference between the two the CL65 should do low to mid 11s but it's never going to happen with stock wheels and tires because there is no traction. I'm not saying that the 65 is not fast but for the huge difference in price it's not worth to buy the CL65. My reaction time was really bad when I raced and my traction wasn't the greatest, but if I'll fix all of those problems I too will be at about 11.9 to 12.0. Also I haven't seen a stock CL65 go faster than 11.8 with a great driver. If I had enough money to but the CL65 I would rather buy the CL600 and buy an ML or another vehicle as a daily driver for the extra $50,000 left over.

DoctorV8

Seba,

Those are great times. I had an S600 before my CL, and it didn't feel noticeably slower than the CL below 80 mph.

What kind of tires were you running? Sounds like you had a well prepped track.

BTW....I waited to get my CL65 until the price was in the five figures. ;-)

SebaCL600

Thanks, I was running stock 18" Michelin Pilots.

DoctorV8

Also, on these forced induction motors, engine temps can cause wide variations in performance from one run to the next. I picked up a mph by just waiting with the hood up for 20 minutes, but the coolant temp gauge was still around 85 deg C.

How long did your car cool before your 117 mph run?

SebaCL600

I got to the track late so once I got there I run right away and I did a 1/4 mile at 12.129 @118.01. After that I cooled my car for about 1 hr because there was an accident at the track and they had to clean it off and the time was very similar because it took about 5 minutes to get from the staging area to the racing lane my car warmed up again. Our engines are made to run at a certain temperature so if it's too cold it warmes up and if it's too hot it cools down. If you want the car to stay cool you have to change the thermostat to a lower temperature, that's what I did when I had a Corvette.