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August 30, 2000

I have always wanted to try this just to get some raw numbers, but I never really took much interest in it. There really isn’t too much skill involved, just get a decent launch, foot to the floor and hit the shifts. I figured I would give it a shot anyway. Originally it was going to be Justin and myself heading up there, but we managed to get two other cars to go up with us. Justin’s friend Brian came along in his 95 SL2, yes that makes three Saturn’s, and my friend Joe with his 98 Subaru Legacy 2.5GT. We all met at a Chili’s near where Justin works, had some food, and convoyed to the strip.

While we were unloading the cars, we happened to run into another Saturn owner. He was driving a nitrous equipped SW2. He was saying how all the Mustang owners’ laugh when they see a Saturn pull up to the line and a wagon no less. He said they don’t laugh anymore when he runs his low 14’s!!! He gave us some advise on what to do at the line and was on his way. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see him run because he was out of nitrous and was heading home.

Once I got my car teched (which turned out to be a pain because they didn’t give me a tech sheet, and I lost a run because I had to walk back and get one) I jumped in line and was ready for the race. I had read in a Car and Driver that a 97 SC2 would run the quarter mile in 16.4 seconds @ 84 mph, so my goal was to come near that time. I didn’t think I would be able to get it because I had my 17-inch rims on, only because I didn’t have time to change them.

On my first run I staged fine, and hit the gas when the third yellow light came on just like the guy in the SW2 said. Only I seemed to hit the gas a little much, can you say wheel hop boys and girls!!! The run was a little slow, but not too bad, the results are as follows:

My second and last run, I want to thank New England Dragway again for making tech a pain in my a$$, was a rather fun run. The fact that I was actually able to line up with my friend Joe and his Legacy might have played a role in that. Granted, its not like we have never lined them up before, but this time it was perfectly LEGAL!!!

I think we were both a little too excited of the fact that we were lined up next to each other and we both botched the take-off. I also over compensated for the wheel spin on the previous run and bogged it a little bit. It was a very close race, and the results are as follows:

Unfortunately, I was the only one that didn’t break into the 16’s, which I have two excuses for. First, I kept f*cking up the start. Second, I had those heavy 17’s on. I hadn’t realized how heavy they were until the next autocross when I swapped over to my 15’s; there is actually a big difference. Of the other guys, Justin was the fastest with a 16.358 @ 84.9 mph, Brian and his Saturn came close to Justin with a 16.4 and Joe in the Subbie was running high 16’s

Now you are asking, will I ever do this again? Yes, but I still would rather run autocrosses and driving schools.  Lessons learned, I need to calm down at the start, and get a better launch, everything after that was just fine, or so it seemed.  And next time I will make sure I get those 15’s on!!!