tracshun

Hello Everyone,

I am relatively new to the forums here, but have met many of you "on the track" as I have traveled to several dragstrips in the last few weeks.

This past week, I had my best showing yet a New England Dragway (NED) with my LET Stage 1 E55. My best timeslip is as follows:

R/T - .371
60' - 1.708
300 - 4.845
1/8 ET - 7.473
1/8 MPH - 92.96
1000 - 9.756
1/4 ET - 11.679
1/4 MPH - 117.84

Here is a link to the video of the run http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_h2-pWQLSo

Although I didn't have my best 60' or 1/8 mph, everything else seemed to be clicking with the car. The DA at the time of the run was about -350, and although the car was "warm" from the road trip earlier that day (about 310 miles) and a few runs before the sun went down, the heat exchanger and IC pump apparently worked their magic keeping the car running well. I met up with higginsbeach and zax63 at the track that evening and we had a great time.

For those who don't know, I picked up my E55 in March of this year and within weeks the IC pump failed causing "limp mode". I searched on the forums for the cause of the problem and quickly realized that the Johnson Pump was the solution. A little more research yielded a few more enhancements for the car (an ASP pulley and LET heat exchanger) and I was off on my quest. Prior to purchasing the car, I wanted a solid and consistent "11 second" sedan. I reached out to a few people who had run 11 second quarters in stock cars and received very positive feedback from Wayne (Chicago X) and Kenny (dwtboss). I followed up with Wayne quite frequently and learned of a track day in Indiana (US 41) earlier this month. I figured I would travel out, do the install on Thursday, dyno and tune on Friday and drag on Saturday. LET and CPT helped me in coordinating the ordering and shipping of all parts and everything with my trip went smooth as silk.

THE INSTALL:

Was performed by CPT (Chicago Performance and Tuning). These guys are awesome!! Very accomodating and caring of their customer's wishes. They welcomed me with open arms and even followed up a week later to make sure I was still happy with their services. It doesn't get any better than that. In fact, after the track event, Paul from CPT even followed me to the nearest gas station (since I was on fumes) and checked over my car to make sure it was ready for the 800 mile road trip home. Very pleased with them in every respect.

THE DYNO / CUSTOM LET TUNE:

Since I had all the parts put on together at CPT, I didn't have a baseline of my car's numbers. Therefore, we were sort of shooting blind and going from stock Mercedes numbers (469 hp and 516 lb/ft). We dynoed on a Dynojet with SAE correction and the car did suffer some heat soak during the several hour sesssion. However, after some amazing custom tuning by LET, the car still produced 442 rwhp and 532 rwtq. At the time, this was more than sufficient for me, since I was convinced this would yield a consistent "11 second sedan". Being from a distance, I spent hours on the phone with LET president Erick, who should have a degree in automotive psychotherapy for dealing with me and all my newbie questions. Not to mention, he did all this right after he and his wife had a child. He never cut me short and NEVER put me off. In fact, when I was driving to Chicago from New York, he even called me in the car at midnight to make sure I was awake enough and safe!! Are you kidding me??!! That gives "CUSTOMER SERVICE" new meaning. I NEVER hung up the phone with anyone from LET feeling anything but BETTER than I felt before I got on the phone with them. They walked me through every step of the tune and provided me with exactly what I requested which was a "conservatively aggressive" (albeit safe over all else) tune. They even told me that there is more to get (about 25 hp), but I wanted to see what the car did at the track first. The next day we went to the track to see if the proof was in the pudding and the results were astounding!! See below.

TRACK RESULTS:

My FIRST experience at the track in this car yielded 3 consecutive passes of 11.80, 11.82 and 11.87 (all with the DA between +2200 and +2400). On my 11.80 pass, I pulled a 1.65 60' which was VERY satisfying. These passes and slips were posted in another thread as well as on dragtimes.com. Since the weather conditions were so bad, I was convinced the car could do better. Therefore, I have taken it to 3 more tracks in 2 more states in the last few weeks to see what it could do. All of the tracks I have run at this year have actual elevations of between 80' and 650'. Essentially, my car has run about as consistent as one could hope for. If the temps were 70F to 80F, my car ran 11.8's. If the temps were 60F to 70F, my car ran 11.7s. If the temps were 50F to 60F, my car ran high 11.6s or low 11.7s. The traps have ranged from 115.XX (higher temps) to 117.XX (lower temps).

All in all, my experiences with this car thusfar have been nothing short of amazing. I couldn't be happier with the mods I have chosen, the companies I have worked with or the overall experience with the car. Not to mention, the friendships formed on and off the track have made for some very fond memories.

The quest continues....

ChicagoX

Great job on some SICK times.

Not bad for a pulley, tune, and HE - one of the fastest to date, I believe.

oldgixxer

Excellent times,where in upstate NY are you? Orange County here

tracshun

Utica, NY (between Albany and Syracuse).

I live about 45 minutes from ESTA dragway and about 1 1/2 hours from Lebanon Valley. However, I would REALLY like to make a trip down in the fall to ATCO as I hear nothing but good things about the track, the people, etc. Any rentals coming up??

oldgixxer

As soon as the weather cools in october we will start the Atco rentals again.
There is a big AMG track rental for november at M.I.R.

hamann69

Nice run.

tracshun

I think I have read of this in another thread. Is there any formal sign up sheet yet? Who is coordinating it?

Thanks.

rflow306

Very good times, congrats

tracshun

Thanks man! This coming from you is a stellar compliment. After all, your amazing records in the E55 class (10.745 - NOS and 11.341 - All motor) are proving VERY difficult to beat. Not to mention, those records have stood for almost a year and a half. Although, I do think higginsbeach has a good chance for the all motor record. He has a VERY strong car! And I am speaking from experiencing it first hand the other night.

juicee63

Your 60 ft times are makingthe tuner look great!!

Your traps are typical of stage 1, but your ET due to your mastery of the "launch" is way above average.

Do you have alot of experience drag racing?

How the hell did you just buy and fly?

I wonder what Gixxer's E63 would have run with a 1.60 60 ft time???????


AWESOME RUN.

I think it is high time for a E55 fast list complete with a list of performance mods. Since it seems we have some real good driving going on.


I wish Zach let you launch his 63 , LOL maybe Gixxer would no longer be EL NUMERO UNO

tracshun

Thanks Juicee.

I have dragged quite a few cars, but NONE of them were automatics. I would not attribute all the credit to me. LET's custom tune got me "over" 100 lb/ft of torque over stock numbers. And, this is for a stage 1 car!!! I don't care what kind of driver you are, if you have that much torque off the line in an automatic, you will produce great times....at some point.

Zach is a good driver. He tried everything with that car the other night. I have been in his situation (high horsepower car that is difficult to get off the line) before and it is VERY frustrating. I believe it is just THAT much harder to lauch a 63. Therefore, kudos to gixxer and all those who have figured it out.

In the end, the E55 makes EVERYONE look good. Tuners, drivers, etc. It just has "that" much potential. This is exactly why I bought it.

psuball1

Erick at LET has also helped me with many issues that I have had with my E55. Erick is always going that extra step.

Good luck with your car!!

juicee63

Hats off to LET, for the impressive tune. I forget, How did you fare against Chicago's greatest E55 pilot?

How did you do Heads up vs other E55's? seems like your car and Zach's 63 were trapping similarly with you demolishing the 60 ft times. I saw a few of your runs on video but wondered your thoughts on how you would do against other cars specifically stock 55's stage 1 , stage 2, stage 3, stage 4, stage 9 etc.. LOL . Did Roland let you launch his 55? It would seem he must have more TQ than you so by your theory of TQ in the 55 a 1.5x 60 ft should be had by the stage 5 55's?

Rock on , wonder why Rock could never get a good 60ft time in his 55 with gobs of tq.

BTPower

Great times!

Your car is a beast.


Brian

mkonei

just about grew up at that track, 15 minute ride.

Jakpro1

I think the wildest part of this is that you are literally .2 secs away from Roland.

Couple quick questions as you obviously have the E launch down.

What is the your launch technique. Meaning do you launch from idle? annnnnd what type of tires were you running?

Congrats again from a guy who spent nearly 20K and pulled .2 secs faster than you. just kiddin

oldgixxer

How dare you!!
Stabbed in the back by Juicee

tracshun

Not sure who is Chicago's greatest E55 pilot...sorry If it is Chicago X, I did let him pilot my car a few times at the Indiana rental earlier this month and he pulled some decent times (I believe a 1.7X).

The only other E55s I have run against heads up are higginsbeach and my friend with a stock E55 (which just went into limp mode). The stock E55 is no longer a match (although our cars were dead even when we pulled them against each other stock). Roland's car on the other hand is an ABSOLUTE MONSTER. On one of our runs, I got him off the tree (barely), had him at the 60' (barely) and he just started to pull away from me after the 1/8. The entire night, his trap was "on average" 4 to 5 mph faster at the quarter. Very nice top end on his car (probably those cams hard at work) . We considered "swapping" drivers in our cars for the last run of the night, but we barely pulled the final run in under the wire (9:59 p.m.), so there was no time to REALLY consider it. I am very confident that Roland's car could pull a 1.5X 60'. If he does, it will DEMOLISH the current record. I have said it before that these cars are definitely capable of 1.5X 60's with the right setup, launch and track prep. I also believe that the torque plays a huge role in this, but not sure to what extent. Of course, at the end of the day, it all comes down to the driver.....

juicee63

Do not use a hatchet to remove a fly from your friend's forehead.

Sorry buddy!!

juicee63

I look forward to watching this , I dunno man a 1.5X could definately leave the axle on the ground. You are correct however in the fact the very best 60 ft times are produced by the V12 MB's. what is it 1.58?

Great job again. Rob calm down. @ MIR IMA run ya for swaddlers.

tracshun

Yah, I was VERY happy to "hang" with Roland's car. Watching him DEMOLISH everything else out on the track when he was running solo was intimidating, but he is such a good guy that we decided to just have fun running them against each other back to back at the end of the night. When my car "stuck" with him, I didn't feel totally out of place.

My launch technique is simple. Car raised. ESP off the entire time. Heavy burnout. Slight pre-load (about 1200 rpms) and mat it with the "slightest" of hesitations. If the car hooks, you're set for at least high 1.6s or low 1.7s. If not, you still will hit high 1.7s or low 1.8s.

My tires are 275x35x18 BFGs. Nothing special. On replica rims and set at 26 psi. Although I pulled my best 60' of 1.658 at 28 psi in Indiana. Go figure?

I have always believed that "bang-for-the-buck", a solid stage 1 car with a good custom tune was the way to go in these cars. I'm sure I will strongly reconsider that once a few of these all motor beasts (yours included) get close to breakin' into the 10's.

tracshun

Yes, Lou pulled a 1.583 in a SL65 with "only" a 124.XX trap. The key is he didn't spin off the line AT ALL. I have watched that video several times as I am on the market for a SL65 too and I wanted to know its "potential" with light mods (ie a good tune and some sticky tires).

In addition, JWade has pulled a 1.612 in a CL600 with a trap of 123.420 which is almost identical to the trap pulled by higginsbeach the other night.

I realize the above cars have different dynamics (weight, etc.), but the torque and hook off the line for all of them are similar.

For E55s, Derrick DJE55 has pulled a 1.610 with a stage II (???) and the narrator on his dragtimes video even commented, "didn't make a sound" off the line. This is CURRENTLY the record for an E55, but I think it is one of the ones to beat. Derrick's run was flawless, but he was only producing 502 rwtq. He was also running at a track with 41 feet actual elevation on a day with temp at 53F, so he was solidly in negative DAs. Therefore, if someone like higginsbeach (or someone with a similar setup car) gets to a well prepped track on a negative DA night and launches his car with "no spin" at the line, he will likely see 1.5X and break the record IMO.

ChicagoX

Ouch.

No, really. Ouch.

tracshun

You got me on that one Wayne. I never like to be presumptuous....

You are pretty bada$$ behind the wheel of these cars man.

In fact, for all those who don't know, I studied Chicago X's drag racing basics like it was the bible before I first dragged this car. I have spent countless hours with him on the phone and he has given me "pep talks" before races at different tracks. After all, you need these types of tips when you are known to start off your burnout in reverse like I did at NED last Wednesday night. Thank God that one wasn't on video. Just imagine what the guy behind me was thinking.

In fact, when it really comes right down to it, Wayne is LARGELY responsible for my decisions on mods and the actual performance of my car. And, for that, he deserves all the credit in the world.

JAYCL600

I am hosting the track rental at MIR in Nov. and Id love to have you down to make some runs. My best 60 is a 1.581 and best trap is 125.94