Tupperware Party at New England Dragway
by Justin Hughes
From left to right: Justin Hughes (95 SC2), Cris Thomas (95 SC2), Bill Bennert (97 SL2), Gary "OldGoat" Brundrett (98 SC2), Matt Shoop (99 SC2).
I wonder if so many Saturns have ever descended upon New England Dragway in one night? On September 27, a total of 5 SPOC NE members came, saw, and conquered. Well, maybe we didn't conquer the 11 second Ferrari replica, but we tried, and had a great time doing it, as you can see from the smiles on our faces.
| Though none of us are die-hard, serious drag racers, we had a good time hanging out, chatting, meeting (in many cases for the first time), and checking out each other's cars. Though most of our races were lost to 14 and 13 second muscle cars, we did occasionally get a chance to go up against cars of our own kind. In my second race of the night I managed to beat out a highly modified WV Golf/GTI. |
The usual suspects (left to right): Gary, Cris, Matt, Justin, and Bill. |
I let someone go around me in line so that I could race my friend Allison and her VW Jetta GLX, with a VR6 engine that has two more cylinders than me. I red lighted the start, but had several tenths on her at the end. My Tupperware Saturn with a smaller engine is quicker than her VR6 V Dub! I was quite surprised.
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The Knight Rider lights in my grill drew plenty of attention. |
My final race of the
night was my favorite - me vs. a bright red Integra, with
big touring car style rims, various decals, and who knows
how many (or few) other mods. My 16.0 beat his 16.8 by a
couple of carlengths. Score one for the Saturn! Earlier in the night, we'd seen this Integra, as well as someone he came with - driving a 96 SL2! We found him, introduced ourselves, and he was psyched. So Jason, if you're out there, join the club and hang with us! I mean, it's free! :) |
Here's the timeslip info for the best runs of everyone I have info for:
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Gary, Matt, and Justin take a breather. |
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Much
to my surprise, I wound up being the fastest of the night! The early coupes
like mine have a 3" shorter wheelbase. Therefore they weigh less
than the sedans and later coupes that share its wheelbase. But Cris also
has a 95 SC2, with an exhaust, header, and true intake that I don't have.
He says he's run 15.9s before, and I expected him to beat me. But he has
17" rims that weigh a bit more than my stock 15" alloys, which
seemed to slow him down by half a second. I have no doubt that with similar
wheels to mine he'd probably beat me.
An interesting note: Car and Driver tested a 95 SC2 to run the 1/4 in 16.0. I beat that a little on three of my runs, indicating that my intake is doing something besides sounding cool. They tested a later coupe to run a 16.4, so the others really aren't off the pace at all, given their relatively minor mods (except for Cris).
What more can I say? It was a great time, and the biggest and best SPOC NE event yet!!!
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