Another G3 Hemi Powered Dream in the Making
It was another great day at a great race track here in Norwalk, OH.
Met up with Mike Schaefer there at the big Mopar event, his first outing with his now G3 Hemi Blackbird Performance Race Spec 1,300+ powered, beautiful ‘68 Dart, essentially Super Stock car, weighing in at ~3,200 lbs and equipped with a glide. The goal was to begin dialing it in so he can go bracket racing, and ideally go faster than the 632 CID G2 Hemi fed by a billet tunnel ram and a couple healthy 4150 carbs (best run in the 8.6s @ 156, in much better air than this weekend)
The first easy pass netted a 5.66 @ 127 in the 1/8th mile Super Pro class, stepped it up a bit for the first 1/4 mile run of the event in the G3 Hemi class and well, we found a couple things to work on. On the 2nd pass, it did go a 5.50 @ 129, but as it progressed to the 1/4, first the intercooler pump / plumbing couldn’t quite keep up, so it pulled a bunch of timing and then as it crossed at 8.53 @ 162, the limit of the windshield retention rubber was met, and Mike ended up with a windshield in his helmet. He did a great job remaining calm and safely bringing it to a stop… so somewhere between 156 and 162, is a limit that needs to be moved, and it needs a revised intercooler setup.
You have a hard time stopping Mike, so as he and his friends reinstalled the windshield, I worked on a tune so we could learn a little more on one last easy 1/8th mile hit, before the windshield retention is further improved tomorrow.
On the last one, just now barely tickling the 1.2s in the 60’ with a super soft 1.287, zero drama launch, the Dart went a 5.44 @ 130. A chassis and tires that can clearly handle far more of the timing back in sooner.
Plenty left in the front half and out the back, like about 0.5 second, but he already has a faster car, that will print ET tickets and with his 0.035 RT, consistently improving, very hopeful he’ll go some rounds at a big Mopar event he’s often done well at.
The smile at the end of this first day is the real reason the Band of Hemi Brothers / Sisters at Blackbird Performance goes to work, another G3 Hemi powered dream in the making.
