Well - the quest to crack the 10s with an SBE all motor stick car continues to be a long, winding road for me. After almost three years to the day, I finally made it back to the race-track this past weekend to try out the new Max Package combined with the 9" setup in the car now.
I have some mixed emotions about the day - I set the goal as "new PB", but I think in my mind I wanted a 10.99. I did manage to trim several tenths off my prior 11.67@119 - so I accomplished my goal, but that low 11s slip left me aching to make some more changes. I was really happy about how the car is launching and running the 60' - with a 3,970lbs race weight I think a 1.56 in a stick car is pretty good. No doubt the 4.63 gear is doing exactly what I wanted from it there.
I think there is probably at least another tenth or two in the car as it sits - the shifts were (deliberately) slow, and a I shorted the 1-2 shift all day, still getting used to how quick this thing comes up on that shift at the track. I don't think I'm gonna get a shot to run it again this year, unless I trek down to Fall Brawl - but that's a long haul, and 50/50 on we've seen snow and salt by then, which will make it a no-go.
So - what's next in 2023? Probably some weight reduction. The car has some obvious places to trim weight - I think the front sway bar, exhaust, and a light weight battery can probably get me close to 100lbs, and maybe the driver can try to drop 50lbs. Then, I need to do something with the rear diffuser - either close in the area back there, or get a rear bumper with no diffuser for the track, as the factory GFX diffuser is a bigger parachute than even the standard diffuser. I've heard 2-3mph and 1-2 tenths can be gained there, so I'd like to think those couple tweaks could have me right where I need to be.
Some folks are surprised that we only saw 124 mph out the back with 550whp. That dyno number was before the rock crawler gear ratio and 9" rear end, and I'd be willing to bet we probably ate up 10-20whp there. To me, that's worth it - I've tore up enough stock stuff to know that I'm never going back, even if it hurts power. I chalk the rest up to the aero situation above.