bfnnrgn

You still going to come and bring the loaner?

SteveFox

I'm thinking about it.

Being 6'6" and about 270lbs is making me think hard about the 3 1/2 hour drive in the loaner C. Stuffing my GF and our 8 mos. old son in the back would be tough to.

Its so bad, when I drive around with my son, he kicks the back of my seat from his car seat(front facing)

If i do decide to go it'll be by myself. I'm 50/50 right now.

jtc55

patiently waiting for vids of tomorrow's extravaganza event

DFW01E55

Good hunting to the AMG guys, it's a sure bet that we will surprise some "sports cars" with our luxury cars.

Centurion

Very cool.
Looking forward to the vids.

I Like Soup

Dang, I used to live in Texas. Y'all have fun!

Improviz

....although it was, disappointingly, agonizingly slow between runs up until around 3PM, so I didn't get any near the number of runs in that I wanted to get in (nor did a lot of other folks, some of whom left early without getting any in). But it was a first time outing, so I'm sure there will be a "lessons learned" list & that it will go more smoothly the next time around.

BUT, despite that, a good time was definitely had by all, and it was a treat to see some killer rides in action. By far the fastest car there was the twin turbo Viper, which just pretty much assraped any and all comers (including the Carerra GT ); lone exception was his final run, where he lost to a modded Z06 (C5), but something seemed to be wrong on that run (he was obviously not trapping anywhere near his normal speed on that last one).

There were a few Rufs, a few Ford GTs, a twin turbo Lambo (only saw him run once, against I believe a Ford GT, he lost both runs), many others. One of the Rufs gave the CGT a few pretty good runs (i.e., it was very, very close), another pulled the red Ford GT twice... A brand new Porsche Turbo ragtop was amazingly quick, and, well....unfortunately, let's just say it wasn't a stellar day for the AMGs against the M5s (more on that in a moment) One M3 and a Z8 showed up, but left without making any runs.

The Audi S4 was quite quick, scored a few wins (and a few losses, but even then it was only a carlength) against E55(s, not sure, could have been the same car), and did pretty well against the Renntech C32 he ran (two there, both very quick), with one win, and afaik one loss as well (going by a fading memory here, so if anyone cares to correct me if I'm wrong, by all means do so!) There was a gorgeous red SLK55 there, but I only saw him run once, which I believe was against the orange Ruf (anyone care to guess at the outcome there?? ). I would liked to have run him, and the M3, and the Z8, and a (non-turbo ) Porsche, but the time issues (and M3/Z8 leaving early) prevented that...oh, well, next time...

OK, so now to the moment you've all been waiting for: the M5s that were there were definitely ultra-quick up high, although afaik all but one were modded (the quickest one was a beautiful reddish color with a 3.91 rearend (not sure about any other mods?) that pulled Darren twice, surprising). In most races it was pretty much as one would expect: the AMGs would make a pretty respectable showing up to what I would guess was approximately the 1/4 mile mark, at which point the M5s started walking pretty hard (the runs were about 2100 ft. in length). In some cases the pulling was even earlier. Even from a dig, the Ms still did pretty well, still pulling away at higher speeds, yes, even the stocker.

I did score four wins (one rolling and one dig against each) against two E39s, one stock, one w/chip and exhaust after botching the first one vs. the modded one where I managed not one, but TWO rev limiter hits, grrrr.... Both of those guys were super-nice, really great guys.

Anyway, a big thanks to Darren (who is a *super* nice guy, class act all the way), all of the volunteers, and everyone at the airport for setting this up....looking forward to doing it again! All of the M guys were really nice, as were the AMG guys, and it was a total blast.

More to follow later, gotta go to dinner!! (ended up having a few extra minutes to edit, so I did!)

JAYCL600

sounds like fun and alot of cool cars....what state of mods were the AMG's that showed up?

Improviz

Not sure, only spoke with two AMG guys, DFW01E55 and can drive 55. Of them, afaik only DFW01E55 ran against any Ms, but I'm pretty sure he's stock.

As far as the others, I'll let them chime in, 'cause I've got no idea!

bfnnrgn

Actually that was my brother that ran against Darren's M5 in my E55. According to him and the pictures he was ahead early on but was overtaken near the end. Darrens M5 definatly has more top end. It wasn't a total loss, my brother got revenge on a Porsche later on...

The red SLK55 was also mine, I got pitted agasint a blue Ford GT. What was that all about?

The S4 was very quick, besting many cars. It was quite a suprise.

Here are some pics, we took a bunch but here's some teasers.

It was a fantastic event and had a lot of fun. We had some hiccups early on with getting the cars out onto the field but it was the first time and we learned a lot and the next one will be darn near perfect. Really looking forward to going again and it was great meeting everyone. Big props to Darren for putting this together, it was a blast. See you all next time.

SLK55 vs Ford GT???


S4 vs E55


E55 vs Porsche


E55 vs Darren's M5

bfnnrgn

Here's two of the Ford GT vs the Diablo

bfnnrgn

Couple more

Improviz

Oh, didn't see Darren catch up at the end....when they ran I was kind of far back from the runway, and once they passed the cameras my view was kind of obscured by the weeds. Makes sense, though; his car definitely has a much freer-flowing exhaust!

EDIT: damn, I totally misconstrued what you wrote; I thought you were saying it was your brother who was driving the red M5 I was referring to, totally off base there....must've been the heat stroke!! Actually, from the pics your brother did make a pretty respectable showing against Darren's M, and his M is quick!

L8Apex

Any vids? Looks like fun. Was Gustav there?

Can Drive 55

I talked to the driver and he said that when he shifted to 3rd he lost so much traction that he almost went sideways. He let off and hit the gas again and it still broke loose and began to slide sideways the other direction. He had a female passenger in the car and he did not know how she was taking it, so he decided to back off of it and just cruise the rest of the way.

Can Drive 55

I think vids are coming from other people. There was a camera crew there and they are going to produce a DVD. More to come on that subject.

Gustav must have been held up at the border. He didn't make it.

Can Drive 55

Here are a few photos that I captured.

The line up early in the day before some of the guided missiles arrived.



Some of the guided missiles and their respective power plants.




The owner said this twin turbo engine dynoed at about 1,300 HP at the wheel. It turned an 8.75 with slicks and skinny front tires.

















Automotive art at it's finest.

Can Drive 55

Check this out. It looks like Daren did some catching up and then some. BTW, those cars are doing about 140 MPH. A 1,000th shutter speed stops action quite nicely.

Can Drive 55

Here are some more results.

The bone stock GT had a decisive win over the 700 HP twin turbo Diablo. I was impressed. Thes were going nearly 150 MPH in these photos.





This viper is totally insane. He clocked over 160 MPH by a radar gun in an earlier run and he appeared to be going every bit as fast during this one.

Can Drive 55

One final thought, I would like to express my thanks to Darren and everyone else who played a part in making this "performance demonstration" event happen. They did a great job and the food marvelous. I am looking forward to more events like this in the future.

The one obvious absence was the 63 community. There wasn’t a single 63 AMG there today. I heard juicee63 was going to make the 1,800 mile trip and join us, but had scheduling problems. Maybe next time.

Thanks again Darren and company for a great event.

DFW01E55

Ditto Billy.
It was great of Darren to organize the event and thanks to Dritan for the food.


Dritan had a 997TT Cab Tip with 200 miles on it and he hammered the daylights out of Darrens M5, which has an intake, headers, exhaust (what a sound!) and I think the ecu has been tuned. Darren didn't spray today because he just installed it and isn't tuned for that.

Oops, back to the subject, Thank you guys!

Improviz

Yeah, that TT Cab is *quick*....didn't he pull one of the Rufs? Or was that a different Turbo? Damn memory....I should've taped more of those runs!!

SteveFox

Sounds like it was fun.

Can't wait for the vids.

DFW01E55, do you have any cooling mods?

DFW01E55

Phenolic spacers and now that I think about it, heat reflective tape under the airbox and intake tubes which is good for ... oh probably nothing.

blackbenzz

That Viper is sick!!!