Sleestack

On my way back from L.A. this weekend I stopped off at Buttonwillow Raceway to visit the guys from Evosport and check out the cars. I arrived just in time... there were a few hours between races and some advanced drivers were lining up to take their cars out on the track. Brad (from Evosport), who is BMW racer and Ferarri instructor, asked me if I wanted to take a spin.
Of course I said yes. Then he asked me if I wanted to take his car or mine... of course I jumped at the opportunity to take my car out on the track. We lined up around 10th on the grid next to a string of souped up BMW's, Porsches, Mustangs, VW GTIs and a Corvette Z06.

Buttonwillow is a short track with limited passing room and short straightaways... not exactly ideal for a CLK. Nevertheless, Brad had my car keeping up with the better handling cars through the turns and blew past cars on the short straightaways. Each driver we passed had the "WTF?" look on their face. The only car out there that posed a serious challenge was the Z06. It was handling better through the turns, however, we would close some distance on the straights.

Riding with Brad was like being in a video game... without the crashes. With a helmet on, much of the noise is muted so that some of the sensation of speed is lost. Nevertheless, I could hear my tires squealing through the turns as Brad was making use of every inch of the track. I could tell he was having some problems getting the tranny in the right gear, however, it didn't prevent us from catching the BMW that started first on the grid. We came off the track with the brakes smoking and the wonderful smell of burnt rubber in the air.

Anyway, the experience was awesome.. I can't wait to get my car on a faster track like Willow Springs. Riding with a professional driver was definitely an eye opening experience. On the downside it did make me realize that I need to get racing seats and that the CLK chassis needs some stiffening.

After the ride, numerous spectators came by to check out my car. Being around so many car enthusiasts and tricked out cars was a car lover's dream. Slowly driving my way out of the raceway, various people stopped me to say that my car looked awesome out on the track. I think the majority of people there were fascinated that a Mercedes could be so fast.

Thanks Evosport and Brad... most fun I've ever had in a car.

As a side note I was cruising at about 105 yesterday when I saw a C32 rapidly approaching. When it got around 5 car lengths behind me I began to accelerate. We both accelerated up to about 130 until traffic was on the horizon. I could tell that the C32 owner was eager to show me how fast his car was ( as he was severely tailgating me) so I decided to slow down to 80 and show him that his car really wasn't that fast. The lane opened up in front of me, I downshifted to 4th and kicked down into 3rd. Literally, the C32 became a dot in my rearview mirror. I slowed down to let him catch up... it seemed like an eternity. As I pulled of on the next exit, I could see the C32 following me. At the light I briefly spun my tires and gave him a bit of smoke to drive through. Anyway, the moral of the story is... don't friggen tailgate me.

JamE55

Great report Sleestack!! Wish i could have been there! Specially that last side note about the C32! :p :p

Safet

Sleestack,

Tsk tsk tsk, you should be ashamed.

I have only one thing to say to you,




Where can I get a Kleeman SC on the East Coast?

Safet

JamE55

Safet check your PM.

Howard

Sleestack,
I probably have as much experience as Brad on the track. I ran my CLK 430 with the Porsches last last year (instructor group) and ran with the 911's and 944 with no problems. The only shortcoming was my brakes!! I now have Brembos so that problem is solved.
If you learn how to downshift, the automatic is pretty decent on the track. I also run slicks which does make a difference.

Sleestack

Brad was toasting the Porsches out on the track... I wish I could have watched it from a 3rd party perspective. I think this car will shine on a faster course. I'm planning on getting a set of 18" BBS rims and slicks for track use.

Mach430

Richard,

I was wondering why everyone was eyeing my car on Sunday before it even went out on the track! Had a great weekend with you, especially by the airfield! Next time you're coming down, we've definitely got to do it again!

Samir

Question for you about your MKB setup...are you running the MKB cams with the kompressor?

Sleestack

Yes, MKB cams, headers, cats and 3.07 diff.

otoupalik

Sleestack,

Thank you for the chance to drive that thing on track. The timing was great when you showed up! It was so much fun giving that Racing 5.0 Mustang a chance to literally do a double take as we blew by him on the straight! Then as we passed three cars on the short straight out of the mole hill - too much fun! It was a blast to see how all of our work on the car really paid off!

Thanks again!

_______________

Safet,

Any Kleemann dealer can help you out, to find out which one is closest to you see the kleemannusa.com website.

_______________

Howard,

The main problem with Sleestack's car is the trani. The transmission software has a hard time keeping up with the power of the Kleemann. This is something we are working on!

BTW, anytime you want to travel out west, I am sure we can find a car for you to share or use and you can come instruct with us. We will be having our own MBWorld/Evosport track events coming up real soon!

Also, be really cautious with slicks on your car. You can actually rip the entire rear suspension out of the car and cause a lot of chassis damage if you create too much of a g load and do not reinforce the welds and mounting points. Just an FYI.

_______________

Samir,

Yes, we are running his car with the Hypertune kit and the Kleemann.

Thanks

Brad

Samir

Be interesting to see the shape of the power curve due to the increased overlap of the natural aspiration cam. Have you had the car dyno'd yet?

dj-po

Ask and ye shall recieve





John.

c32k

Just reading Sleestack post put the biggest on my face.
To much fun.

Samir

Thanks for the dyno chart...490 to the crank...not too shabby

Fast Eddy

And how would you know that it was C32 if he never got ahead of you and the closest he was is 5 car lenghts behind you. How would you know that it was not C220 with a body kit and bigger wheels?

Fast Eddy

. The only car out there that posed a serious challenge was the Z06. It was handling better through the turns, however, we would close some distance on the straights.


Posed a serious chellenge to you? Sounds like you were able to pose a chellenge to him. Z06 was handling better and you were only able to close "some distance" obviously never be able to pass or even catch up. YOu posed challenge to him and not hte other way around, friend.

byip25

all this super charger kleeman talk is making me jealous... i want to play too!!! great track story and kill on a c32!


B

Lucas

Fat Eddy

Now you are here again !!!!!

Please give all of us, some of your kill stories with your " Smart Car ", with KLEEMANN shocks ( which do not exicists ).

Find a board where you belong ( My 3 year old son have a Gaucho
electrical jeep ) mabye drivers of such fine automobiles, will listen to you. ( I doubt it )

:o :o :o

jswedberg

From Fast Eddy -
And how would you know that it was C32 if he never got ahead of you and the closest he was is 5 car lenghts behind you. How would you know that it was not C220 with a body kit and bigger wheels?

Believe me, with almost 500 hp Sleestack would make mincemeat out of any C32. And I own one!

That kind of power must be an incredible sensation!

A few nights ago a modded Chevy pickup was bothering me on the highway (no real competition, fer shur) - he pulled up beside me at 90 mph - I downshifted and floored it - Woo Hoo! Most cars don't have that kind of power from a standing start!

And you have almost half again the hp! Whew! Glad it wasn't me you humbled so well!

Sleestack

What, you think I'm lying... geez. What would be the point of that? The reason I know it was a C32 is that after we got off the exit and I left a cloud of smoke for him to drive through, I ended up making a left turn and the C32 went straight... unless he had fake badges and a fake bodykit I'm pretty sure it was a C32.

By the way I'm not trying to diss the C32. It's a nice car... I just don't like people who tailgate me at 120 mph.

Sleestack

What's with the semantics? My point was that the Z06 was the only car out there that we didn't blow by. I have raced a Z06 from 0-120 before (starting behind him) and passed the Z06 from 80-120. The Z06 is a fast car that handles better than the CLK. I was surprised that on the type of track we were on that we were able to keep up with him.

Sleestack

The dyno posted is not even the best dyno I have seen on my car. When I looked at a dyno of my car against a stock 430 (both prior to Kleemann installation) it appeared to me that where the stock car's curve dropped at about 4500 rpms, my car's power curve continued to ascend. I'm not sure how the two curves would compare after the Kleemann installation.

dj-po

Sorry, it was the only one I know of.


John.

Sleestack

It's the only one that was posted so it's not your fault. The other one is only marginally higher (5hp at the wheel) so it's not really significant. I'm getting my car dyno'd again this Thursday at a place that uses a chassis dyno. I'll post the results.

Bux

sleestack ..have you ran your car at a 1/4track? im guessing you run around 12.6?!?! i love my c32 but the clk is so much more sexier and i was lookin at the clk55+kleeman sc but that was just too much $$$ ...how much are these individually?
MKB 55 Hypertune Kit (cams/headers/etc)
MKB 3.07 Differential Software
Kleemann Supercharger

thanks..

can someone supply me with MKB's/kleemans #?.. anyone know of a good place in Houston for a place to install?