A truly epic car day! Mazda show, first dyno pulls, girlfriend drag racing for the first time!

Yesterday the GF and I took the Mazda5 and the Cobra out all day for car events. First up was the CorkSport Mazda Showdown, a car meet at CorkSport's HQ in Vancouver, WA for a celebration of all things Mazda:

Then they started the dyno challenge, where we saw not one, but two 500+ whp Mazdaspeed3's lay down numbers!

We were invited to have the Cobra make a run at the end to give all of the MS3's a measuring stick. We kept the RPM's down because I was a little nervbous, and the dyno has a harder time with high MPH (3.55 gear, 4th gear, 7200 RPMs is like 135...) but the Cobra still made 285 whp @6250, whicj for a 160K mile NA 4.^ isn't bad at all!

After that it was time to head to Portland International Raceway for the second event of the day, the Streetcar Syndicate Instant Green List Race:

We lost first round, which was just fine as they were running 1/8 mile and Suzi wanted to drag race for the first time, so I sent her out:

She got better and better as she made passes and ended up with this gem of a 14.64@98:

I had my turns as well and ended up with my new personal best in the Cobra, a 13.399@103.0 with a 1.86 60'! For a road race/autocross car, that's pretty dang good! I also chopped the tree down all night (every run was a .0xx reaction time) and won a couple of grudge races.

The best part is, both cars drove home great and the GF had an awesome time. It was the best car day I think I've ever had. 

In reply to Javelin :

From a 14.64 to a 13.399 is a HUGE improvement. Sweet

Nice!

At least your GF didn't run a lower ET than you did!

My wife has the best time in the RX-7, although I did manage the best 60'.  Haven't run it at the strip in like 8 years.

Indy-Guy said:

In reply to Javelin :

From a 14.64 to a 13.399 is a HUGE improvement. Sweet

Driver mod 

It was Suzi's first time ever drag racing. She went from a 15.3 to the 14.6. She was launching softer (2.2-2.3 60's versus my 1.8's) and short-shifting at 6K RPM's.

I've been drag racing since 2001 and have won a track championship before. I normally am in the 13.5-13.6 range in the Cobra. Changing the rear gears from 3.23 to 3.55 got me to the 13.39.

In reply to Javelin :

Very similar times to what my 97 ran at PR and Bremerton when I was in the Navy.  I think my first ever pass was 14.5ish with a passenger.  Once I learned to drive it without caring mid 13s at 102 were the norm.  

In reply to AnthonyGS :

Mine runs better the more you beat it like a rented mule. I think I can hit the 13.2's as is with adjustments, and 12.9's with tires/wheels.