05Ex60
New member
- Joined
- May 7, 2013
- Messages
- 19
WARNING: Long story ahead! Also, I lost the formatting when I copy/pasted from a different forum 
sorry!
Well, I had been planning to go to the annual Buick vs Ford Shootout event in Noble, Oklahoma to race the wife's '92 Mustang GT. I have been trying to get my '92 LX finished for the event, but it just wasn't happening. So, just to be able to have fun participating, I towed the "slow" Mustang down there from Wichita, KS. I wasn't expecting it to be fast (that's a relative term), but I was expecting 13 second quarters at least. The '92 GT has mild aluminum heads/cam/intake/gears/drag radials/and lightweight Bogart D10 wheels. I just had the 3.73 gears put in the week of the event, so I didn't get to test them ahead of time. So anyway, I used my 2005 Excursion Eddie Bauer 6.0 4wd to tow the car and trailer down there. We showed up for the test n tune the Friday night before the event (on Saturday 12 Oct 2013). We unloaded the car and got into the staging lanes. I made a pass, which felt great, only to get the "bitter beer face" when I looked at the timeslip at the end. It ran a whopping 15.5 second pass! I snuck the car back to my pit before anyone noticed, and quickly dug a hole and buried the car without giving it any recognition. My family was with me for support. We started brain-storming. My dad started talking about doing some "tuning" on the car, like adjusting timing/fuel pressure, but I wasn't interested. It seems to need a TON more timing. It crept into my head that I should try out the Gearhead SRL tune, AFE air filter, and 4" MBRP turbo-back that was in the Excursion. With my brother's support, and my parents reluctant support, I gave it the "go". We unhooked the trailer from the Excursion, and removed all of the loose junk in the back, like the tools. I bought another timecard and then went through a tech inspection. I am pretty sure that everyone thought we were joking. With my family watching on, I pulled around the burnout box and staged in 4Hi. I gave it a little throttle to build some boost, but without knowing how it would respond, I tried to take it easy on it. Afterall, it was my method of getting my car and trailer nearly 200 miles back home. The tree was setup for Sportsman .500 at this time, so I watched the bulbs come down. When the third amber bulb hit, I released the brake and thrust my foot through the floorboard. The Excursion lunged forward like a bull coming out of the shoot and pulled all of the way down the track. The First Gen Lightning that was in the opposing lane disappeared behind me in the black smoke. After I made it back up the return road, I grabbed my timeslip and said, "That's what I'm talking about!". I had improved in every area of the track over the '92 GT. The timeslip for the Excursion's maiden voyage was: R/T .141 60ft 2.08 1/8 9.2 MPH 74.9 1/4 14.41 MPH 94.6 Not too shabby for a nearly 8,000lb Excursion with driver! I know that it wasn't mind blowing, but it smoked the heck out of the '92 5.0 AOD that I had just driven. It was "tons" more fun! We loaded the car and trailer back onto the "race truck" and headed back to the hotel so that we could rest up for the next day. When Saturday rolled around, I was ready to hit the track again. We found a good pitstop and devised a game plan. I wanted to just disconnect the trailer and leave the Mustang on it. I had hopes to not get embarrassed in the 5.0 again. Against my Dad's advice, I decided to buy two tech cards again and try to qualify both the Excursion and the Mustang for the event. I got both cards filled out and then ran both vehicles through tech inspection again. I started out by running the Mustang through a round of time trials to see if I could better its time. I was happy that with a little bit more stall speed, I was able to drop the time a little to a miraculous 15.06 quarter mile at an amazing 90 mph. Sounds like a lot of fun, right? It was basically a Sunday drive with a cup of coffee in one hand. In fact, I waved to my family that was watching from the other side of the wall on the top end. It was about as boring as could be. I was ready to get back in to the Excursion. I ran it through tech real quick and headed to the staging lanes. I knew that the brakes would probably hold a little more boost on the line, so I planned to get it to launch as hard as possible. I once again drove around the water box, put the drive into 4Hi and bumped the first bulb (pre-stage). I pushed the footbrake in reasonably hard and steadily took the throttle to the floor. The boost started building quick and I bumped into the Stage bulb. I was ready to go! What I wasn't ready for, is the insanity that I unleashed when I released the brake to launch! All four wheels of the Excursion belted out a short bark and threw my helmet and noggin into the plush EB leather seats! It literally surprised me so much that I thought for a split second that I should let off the throttle, haha! Obviously I didn't, but it really surprised me that much. I have launched with the front tires off of the ground and have been 1.40's in the 60ft times, but in an 8,000lb beast, I had no idea I could have this much fun! After that, just like the previous pass, the Excursion proudly pulled all of the way down the quarter mile. To my exstatic surprise, I picked up my ticket at the end and saw this: R/T .226 60ft 1.90 1/8 8.96 MPH 75.14 1/4 14.15 MPH 94.49 Not too shabby, eh? This was my qualifying time. I had just one more pass to go, which would be in the final round (this race is based on a points system, not an individual win.) Ford vehicles are matched with Buick (all GMs basically) for the finals. The cars are matched with similar times and raced. The car that wins that match, wins a point for their team. It is tallied at the end, and the team with the most points wins bragging rights for the year. It is more fun than serious, and it a blast to attend. This was my third event that I have attended. So, anyway, later in the day, we started the team eliminations. My dad ended up driving the Mustang so that it wasn't a total waste of space. I went first with the Excursion. Team Ford had more cars there than Buick did, so the excess Fords (slower) were pitted against each other in matches. Each race still garnered a point for Team Ford, so it was all good. I normally like to race against GMs though. My matchup was against a Stg II Roush Mustang. I did my usual ritual and drove around the water box as to not drag water onto the track with my factory radial tires. I again switched my driveline to 4Hi and did my full throttle staging method. The tree had been switched to a .400 Pro tree. It basically lights the 3 amber lights simultaneously and then .400 seconds pass before the green light. Your reaction time is obviously measured from the time the green light activates til the time you break the beams with your front tire. Well, I am decent on the tree normally, but in this case... I was superb! I pretty much anticipated the light and nailed a .049 reaction! The announcer was stunned as I jumped out a bus length in front of the Mustang. He reeled me in about 150ft down the track, but I was no match for him anyway. He ran a 13.06 in the quarter, and I went 1.93 60ft, 14.19 1/4 and MPH 94.8. I backed up my previous run and was very, very happy! We had a good laugh at how much more fun the Excursion was to drive and watch. I had a bus load of fun and we packed up, loaded the trailer and watched the rest of the racing. Team Ford won in the end and we headed back to the hotel to clean up and have a good night of family time at the local Cracker Barrel. Nothing broke and noone got hurt, actually our sides were splitting from all of the laughter. We had a great time. I look forward to next year and hope to have my "fast" Mustang out there and maybe break the Excursion out to have some laughs, too. PS, my Dad would want me to mention that he beat my time in the Mustang when he drove it in the finals. He ran a 15.002 to my 15.06 that I made during qualifying. Here's to you, Dad! :-jammin Friday Night, Excursion (ran 14.4): Video Link: http://youtu.be/rqFVy6gg1GQ Friday Night, Excursion (same as above, different angle, ran 14.4): Video Link: http://youtu.be/KbOZF7vuITU Saturday Qualifying, Excursion (ran 14.15): Video Link: http://youtu.be/mVnDOBYrolw Saturday Qualifying, Mustang (ran 15.06): Video Link: http://youtu.be/h6tFUFjdZ3c Saturday Final, Excursion (ran 14.19) Video Link: http://youtu.be/fokQOdZMC2M
sorry!Well, I had been planning to go to the annual Buick vs Ford Shootout event in Noble, Oklahoma to race the wife's '92 Mustang GT. I have been trying to get my '92 LX finished for the event, but it just wasn't happening. So, just to be able to have fun participating, I towed the "slow" Mustang down there from Wichita, KS. I wasn't expecting it to be fast (that's a relative term), but I was expecting 13 second quarters at least. The '92 GT has mild aluminum heads/cam/intake/gears/drag radials/and lightweight Bogart D10 wheels. I just had the 3.73 gears put in the week of the event, so I didn't get to test them ahead of time. So anyway, I used my 2005 Excursion Eddie Bauer 6.0 4wd to tow the car and trailer down there. We showed up for the test n tune the Friday night before the event (on Saturday 12 Oct 2013). We unloaded the car and got into the staging lanes. I made a pass, which felt great, only to get the "bitter beer face" when I looked at the timeslip at the end. It ran a whopping 15.5 second pass! I snuck the car back to my pit before anyone noticed, and quickly dug a hole and buried the car without giving it any recognition. My family was with me for support. We started brain-storming. My dad started talking about doing some "tuning" on the car, like adjusting timing/fuel pressure, but I wasn't interested. It seems to need a TON more timing. It crept into my head that I should try out the Gearhead SRL tune, AFE air filter, and 4" MBRP turbo-back that was in the Excursion. With my brother's support, and my parents reluctant support, I gave it the "go". We unhooked the trailer from the Excursion, and removed all of the loose junk in the back, like the tools. I bought another timecard and then went through a tech inspection. I am pretty sure that everyone thought we were joking. With my family watching on, I pulled around the burnout box and staged in 4Hi. I gave it a little throttle to build some boost, but without knowing how it would respond, I tried to take it easy on it. Afterall, it was my method of getting my car and trailer nearly 200 miles back home. The tree was setup for Sportsman .500 at this time, so I watched the bulbs come down. When the third amber bulb hit, I released the brake and thrust my foot through the floorboard. The Excursion lunged forward like a bull coming out of the shoot and pulled all of the way down the track. The First Gen Lightning that was in the opposing lane disappeared behind me in the black smoke. After I made it back up the return road, I grabbed my timeslip and said, "That's what I'm talking about!". I had improved in every area of the track over the '92 GT. The timeslip for the Excursion's maiden voyage was: R/T .141 60ft 2.08 1/8 9.2 MPH 74.9 1/4 14.41 MPH 94.6 Not too shabby for a nearly 8,000lb Excursion with driver! I know that it wasn't mind blowing, but it smoked the heck out of the '92 5.0 AOD that I had just driven. It was "tons" more fun! We loaded the car and trailer back onto the "race truck" and headed back to the hotel so that we could rest up for the next day. When Saturday rolled around, I was ready to hit the track again. We found a good pitstop and devised a game plan. I wanted to just disconnect the trailer and leave the Mustang on it. I had hopes to not get embarrassed in the 5.0 again. Against my Dad's advice, I decided to buy two tech cards again and try to qualify both the Excursion and the Mustang for the event. I got both cards filled out and then ran both vehicles through tech inspection again. I started out by running the Mustang through a round of time trials to see if I could better its time. I was happy that with a little bit more stall speed, I was able to drop the time a little to a miraculous 15.06 quarter mile at an amazing 90 mph. Sounds like a lot of fun, right? It was basically a Sunday drive with a cup of coffee in one hand. In fact, I waved to my family that was watching from the other side of the wall on the top end. It was about as boring as could be. I was ready to get back in to the Excursion. I ran it through tech real quick and headed to the staging lanes. I knew that the brakes would probably hold a little more boost on the line, so I planned to get it to launch as hard as possible. I once again drove around the water box, put the drive into 4Hi and bumped the first bulb (pre-stage). I pushed the footbrake in reasonably hard and steadily took the throttle to the floor. The boost started building quick and I bumped into the Stage bulb. I was ready to go! What I wasn't ready for, is the insanity that I unleashed when I released the brake to launch! All four wheels of the Excursion belted out a short bark and threw my helmet and noggin into the plush EB leather seats! It literally surprised me so much that I thought for a split second that I should let off the throttle, haha! Obviously I didn't, but it really surprised me that much. I have launched with the front tires off of the ground and have been 1.40's in the 60ft times, but in an 8,000lb beast, I had no idea I could have this much fun! After that, just like the previous pass, the Excursion proudly pulled all of the way down the quarter mile. To my exstatic surprise, I picked up my ticket at the end and saw this: R/T .226 60ft 1.90 1/8 8.96 MPH 75.14 1/4 14.15 MPH 94.49 Not too shabby, eh? This was my qualifying time. I had just one more pass to go, which would be in the final round (this race is based on a points system, not an individual win.) Ford vehicles are matched with Buick (all GMs basically) for the finals. The cars are matched with similar times and raced. The car that wins that match, wins a point for their team. It is tallied at the end, and the team with the most points wins bragging rights for the year. It is more fun than serious, and it a blast to attend. This was my third event that I have attended. So, anyway, later in the day, we started the team eliminations. My dad ended up driving the Mustang so that it wasn't a total waste of space. I went first with the Excursion. Team Ford had more cars there than Buick did, so the excess Fords (slower) were pitted against each other in matches. Each race still garnered a point for Team Ford, so it was all good. I normally like to race against GMs though
. My matchup was against a Stg II Roush Mustang. I did my usual ritual and drove around the water box as to not drag water onto the track with my factory radial tires. I again switched my driveline to 4Hi and did my full throttle staging method. The tree had been switched to a .400 Pro tree. It basically lights the 3 amber lights simultaneously and then .400 seconds pass before the green light. Your reaction time is obviously measured from the time the green light activates til the time you break the beams with your front tire. Well, I am decent on the tree normally, but in this case... I was superb! I pretty much anticipated the light and nailed a .049 reaction! The announcer was stunned as I jumped out a bus length in front of the Mustang. He reeled me in about 150ft down the track, but I was no match for him anyway. He ran a 13.06 in the quarter, and I went 1.93 60ft, 14.19 1/4 and MPH 94.8. I backed up my previous run and was very, very happy! We had a good laugh at how much more fun the Excursion was to drive and watch. I had a bus load of fun and we packed up, loaded the trailer and watched the rest of the racing. Team Ford won in the end and we headed back to the hotel to clean up and have a good night of family time at the local Cracker Barrel. Nothing broke and noone got hurt, actually our sides were splitting from all of the laughter. We had a great time. I look forward to next year and hope to have my "fast" Mustang out there and maybe break the Excursion out to have some laughs, too. PS, my Dad would want me to mention that he beat my time in the Mustang when he drove it in the finals. He ran a 15.002 to my 15.06 that I made during qualifying. Here's to you, Dad! :-jammin Friday Night, Excursion (ran 14.4): Video Link: http://youtu.be/rqFVy6gg1GQ Friday Night, Excursion (same as above, different angle, ran 14.4): Video Link: http://youtu.be/KbOZF7vuITU Saturday Qualifying, Excursion (ran 14.15): Video Link: http://youtu.be/mVnDOBYrolw Saturday Qualifying, Mustang (ran 15.06): Video Link: http://youtu.be/h6tFUFjdZ3c Saturday Final, Excursion (ran 14.19) Video Link: http://youtu.be/fokQOdZMC2M
