Well yesterday I went to Santa Pod as part of a Redline magazine feature. They are re-launching with a new look this month trying to capture a more mature, performance/tuner based market. The premise of the day was to get some 1/4 mile times, 0-60 and 0-100

Well I have to be honest and say I was a little out of my depth There were only 7 cars there but they were all, shall we say, drag specialists and I am... well, not

The line up...

Evo 9 (Norris Designs)
Skyline R32 GTR (Japcar4u)
Skyline R33 GTR
VW Corrado
VW Golf
Renault 5 GT
Fiat Coupé 20vt

So we have the fastest Evo in Europe, one of the fastest Skylines, the Golf (fastest FWD car) followed closely by the Renault, and the only AWD Corrado all doing 9s,10s and low 11s… f*ck!

I have to say it is a revelation being at a deserted Santa Pod with just seven cars to play with The magazine feature cars were the Golf, Corrado and Renault although all seven cars should hopefully make an appearance with their times. As well as the normal strip times, each car was hooked up with Datron timing gear (what all the car mags, top gear etc use). This was for recording 0-60 and 0-100 times

¼ Results:

Evo 9 (Norris Designs) – 9.1 @ 160mph
Skyline R32 GTR (Japcar4u) – 10.4 @ 136mph
VW Golf – 10.9 @ 127mph
VW Corrado – 10.9 @ 126mph
Skyline R33 GTR – 11.1 @ 125mph
Fiat Coupé 20vt – 12.6 @ 116mph
Renault 5 GT - didn't run

*click links for videos

Simon Norris set a new Evo record with his 9.1 which was truly astonishing to watch!! It doesn’t get off the line too well considering but once it’s going it’s like an F1 car The other miracle is the FWD Golf… his best time is a 10.8 so a 10.9 on the day was very good. It weighs 800kg, just an engine and a seat, but with the special drag tyres it gets full traction… incredible! He told me they give him an extra 1 second over normal tyres which just goes to show what traction does on the ¼ mile with 1.7 60ft times.

As for the coupe, well I was pretty pleased with a 12.6 given it’s not a drag car but an all rounder That time is now the UK’s fastest coupé without race fuel, nitrous and zero weight saving coupled with a pretty poor 2.2 60ft There is plenty more left in her though as I was only able to run 1.4bar instead of 1.6 as the engine was missing badly at higher boost. If I can get back the lost power then a low 12s will happen, with race fuel and better tyres mid 11s are on the card

However, the most interesting part of the day for me was the Datron timing which was used on my 12.6 drag run:

0-60mph – 4.9
0-100mph – 9.7
60-100mph – 4.8

Not bad for a road going FWD car If you compare that to some exotica (see Torque Stats ) then the 0-100mph is pretty darn impressive but it’s the 60-100mph time which really shows how quick the car is once rolling! Getting a sub 5 second 0-60 is also pretty cool

Great fun seeing all the beasts in action close up I can't say it was easy trying to put in a good performance for the coupé but I can't complain Not sure when the magazine article comes out but hopefully it will feature the coupe mixing it up with some monster ¼ mile cars

Flea

Thanks for being able to attend this at short notice, and i would have probably popped up if i had not been at a conference

Great vids - The Evo9 & Golf vids don't link though

They were MP4 files but have changed them to avi (divx)

Nice to put figures to the feeling

not long for someone to get some footage up of the day

Hmmm, good spot there That was the first run of the day at 1 bar but the timing lights weren't on... it was a 13.2 irc Horrific launch

I think you did superbly, how many of those other cars car be used as an everyday car without having to swap loads of bits around? That says a lot.

Nicely done Flea - a really good result.

Mark

Well done Flea. I bet you were the only one with leather seats

hehee, looks like you are having a lot of fun there!!

That golf reminds me of Muncies Golf I raced a few years ago? do you know what the chaps name was?

Joe

ps what tyres did you run on the day, a good time!

Truly awesome Flea. Hearing the guys praise the coop was nice as well.

How evil does that Evo sound though

nice one!!

I can't remember the chaps name but he works at JabbaSports, the VAG specialists. I can imagine on the road it will be a stupidly good sleeper but for the fact you can probably tell that it has been totally stripped out. The exterior looks like a 1.6 from the '90s

As for tyres, I used my Dunlops although they have seen better days after 18 months of punishment In fact I think a decent road tyre would be better as the side walls are too stiff on the Dunlops so dropping the pressures doesn't do too much. I could only manage a 2.2 60ft which is about what you would get on a road tyre. To put that into perspective the golf was getting a 1.7 60ft and irc Mavric managed a 1.8 on his 11.9 run 1/10th on a 60ft equates to around 2 or 3/10ths at the line so hopefully I can do a little better Plus I haven't managed to run full power yet

Edit: Joe, the Golf was owned by a James Hodson??

Great stuff and excellent results with the Coupe considering you were to all extents and purposes, running full road spec.

For the Norris Evo to pull a 9.1 is truly impressive, expecially with a reletively soft launch. iirc the best the car did at TOTB IV was a 9.6 so they've clearly done some good development since then.

there are 2 drag skylines that have done a 8.5 and 8.3, vids are on youtube if you can find them

TOTB is held on a concrete strip. It actually isn't as grippy as an ordinary road and isn't glued like Santa Pod is so it's harder to get a decent time, and not necessarily possible to get such a good time

Like the commentary when you launch it Flea

"f ing hell!"