This story kind of goes back to April right after I got my Heads/Cam done. I raced a friend’s 2002 WS6 with Gears/Cat-back/Lid and a few other simple bolt-ons on the street. He had gone a best of 13.0 @ 108 in this car. We went from every conceivable speed (including a dig) and he beat me each time, and while I did hang in somewhat close, he pulled me in each gear and I was very disappointed. A month later I got my car on the dyno and found out my A/F ratio was over 16:1 and I was down about 35rwhp. I fixed all that and desperately wanted my rematch with him but unfortunately, he had already torn his motor down for a new combo and I never got the chance.
In the meantime, I’ve raced many other LS1’s at the track and beat most of them, but most were pretty much stock and I never really knew the person I was going against.
Fast forward to earlier this week. A guy I know who is on my softball team bought a 2000 WS6 at the beginning of this year. Before this he had a 97 WS6 LT1 car for many years. He knows how to drive a 6spd well and is an engineer, so he’s in too cars quite a bit. He has the following mods done to his LS1: Hooker Longtubes, Hi-Flow catted Y-pipe, Borla Cat-back, Granatelli MAF, K&N filter (not a lid). I believe that’s it. Has 3.42 gears and everything else the ram-air TA’s come with.
I viewed this car as almost the twin of my friend’s car that I never got the rematch with. Only difference is my buddy’s car had 4.10 gears and stock headers/y-pipe whereas this car has stock gears but longtubes and y-pipe. All summer long I’ve wanted to run him, but it had never worked out. Finally, here at the very end of summer…we bump into each other and get the perfect opportunity.
I’ll admit I was cocky and knowing he was on street tires to my drag radials, I let him get the jump out of the hole….mistake. He had a great launch somehow and immediately jumped out a car on me. I spun hard in first, caught traction a little at the top and then nailed 2nd. As I’m pulling through 2nd, I kept expecting my car to reel him in, but there I was…stuck about 6 feet off his rear bumper neither gaining or losing ground…I started getting nervous. As I hit 3rd, I thought I’d be in trouble, but once 3rd started winding out, the first movement from any car appeared as I started slowing inching back on his rear bumper. Once I hit 4th, I knew I had the momentum and was pulling him in pretty good….I came up on his door mid way through 4th and that was where he thought it’d be good to shut it down.
I was immediately pissed as the first thought that went through my head was I should never have given him the jump. I really thought I could pull him down low too, but that was not the case. We stopped afterwards and talked for awhile. I was afraid he’d be bragging since he was ahead most of the race and we’d been sh * t talking quite a bit through the whole summer about our cars. I immediately offered “good race” where the first thing that came out of his mouth was “Yeah…it was….but you were coming up on me hard at the end”. That made me feel good as I knew he realized that if we stayed in it, I would have passed him had I wound out 4th. I know had we gone from an even roll too, I would’ve most likely pulled him. Looking back, I shouldn’t be pissed, but I shouldn’t of been cocky either…I won’t make that mistake with an LS1 again…they just have too much torque to try to make up ground when I’m already down in engine size.
Condensed Version:
I raced a slightly modded 2000 WS6 LS1…he jumped out a car and it took me until 4th gear to catch him
In the meantime, I’ve raced many other LS1’s at the track and beat most of them, but most were pretty much stock and I never really knew the person I was going against.
Fast forward to earlier this week. A guy I know who is on my softball team bought a 2000 WS6 at the beginning of this year. Before this he had a 97 WS6 LT1 car for many years. He knows how to drive a 6spd well and is an engineer, so he’s in too cars quite a bit. He has the following mods done to his LS1: Hooker Longtubes, Hi-Flow catted Y-pipe, Borla Cat-back, Granatelli MAF, K&N filter (not a lid). I believe that’s it. Has 3.42 gears and everything else the ram-air TA’s come with.
I viewed this car as almost the twin of my friend’s car that I never got the rematch with. Only difference is my buddy’s car had 4.10 gears and stock headers/y-pipe whereas this car has stock gears but longtubes and y-pipe. All summer long I’ve wanted to run him, but it had never worked out. Finally, here at the very end of summer…we bump into each other and get the perfect opportunity.
I’ll admit I was cocky and knowing he was on street tires to my drag radials, I let him get the jump out of the hole….mistake. He had a great launch somehow and immediately jumped out a car on me. I spun hard in first, caught traction a little at the top and then nailed 2nd. As I’m pulling through 2nd, I kept expecting my car to reel him in, but there I was…stuck about 6 feet off his rear bumper neither gaining or losing ground…I started getting nervous. As I hit 3rd, I thought I’d be in trouble, but once 3rd started winding out, the first movement from any car appeared as I started slowing inching back on his rear bumper. Once I hit 4th, I knew I had the momentum and was pulling him in pretty good….I came up on his door mid way through 4th and that was where he thought it’d be good to shut it down.
I was immediately pissed as the first thought that went through my head was I should never have given him the jump. I really thought I could pull him down low too, but that was not the case. We stopped afterwards and talked for awhile. I was afraid he’d be bragging since he was ahead most of the race and we’d been sh * t talking quite a bit through the whole summer about our cars. I immediately offered “good race” where the first thing that came out of his mouth was “Yeah…it was….but you were coming up on me hard at the end”. That made me feel good as I knew he realized that if we stayed in it, I would have passed him had I wound out 4th. I know had we gone from an even roll too, I would’ve most likely pulled him. Looking back, I shouldn’t be pissed, but I shouldn’t of been cocky either…I won’t make that mistake with an LS1 again…they just have too much torque to try to make up ground when I’m already down in engine size.
Condensed Version:
I raced a slightly modded 2000 WS6 LS1…he jumped out a car and it took me until 4th gear to catch him
