I drove the ’70 Tempest to the F.A.S.T. Race at Martin US-131 Motorsports Park today 65 miles there, raced it, then drive back home. The last time I drove to a track and raced a car (my ’70 RAIV Judge), then drove back was in 1985 at the 1st Supercar Showdown at Beechbend Raceway near Bowling Green, Kentucky (1000 miles round trip). Dan trailered his ’71 401 Javelin but, unfortunately, it was plagued with Autolite 4100 carb gremlins (it typically runs in the 12.80 @ 106 mph range). The weather was cool (63) and dry, but with a headwind out of the north of 5 – 15 mph. This was a last minute decision to go, so we promptly forgot our carb kits with all the secondary metering rods & jets, spark plugs, and the corresponding 13/16” socket (could of sworn it was in there…!). So, the spark plugs (AC-R45S) that were in it for the dyno session back in 2019 stayed in it. I didn’t even touch the timing, but did check it…38 degrees, dwell was fine. The DA was around 1300’ despite the cool temps.
We were just there for the day and the Tempest ran a best of 13.15 at 102.79 mph into a 15 mph headwind. Ran a 13.20 earlier. It only turns 4800 rpm through the traps with the 3.42 gears. It really needs some 3.73’s or 3.90’s. The TH400 upshifts automatically at 5600 rpm.
Dennis
|