So Amanda and I were out for a quick run to the store, and while out, i was crusing along, and i see somewhat familiar headlights coming up through the 8 lane traffic in my left side mirror...those lights belonged to a lotus espirit, in metallic orange....i was in second gear, and i would ease back and jump on it, mostly just trying to see what the big bad euro coupe could do..but we were in traffic and although he did tromp on it once, we hardly had enough room to do little more than make alot of noise and run side by side, then he got off of it, but it was cool none the less...i didnt think i could have beaten him, but it was interesting to hear the lotus open it up, even for only a few seconds, i thought it sounded pretty good...as we headed another direction later in the trip, we approached a stop light, and i was in the far left lane, with a jimmy with exhaust (or the exhaust falling off) and a system next to me, and a newer GT stang next to him. when the light turned green i jumped on it, and while the jimmy tried to keep up, chirping the tires a bit, he was little competition. however, the GT in the middle lane was caught off guard, so until 60 or so, i was ahead of the stang, then he got ahead of me..but once again, i wouldnt expect much different....

then we made our final turn toward home, and the three lanes funnel into two, and i am, of course, in the left lane that ends, with a hemi durango next to me, who wasnt even paying attention, but as we sat there, i saw a black car ease ahead of the durango, starring over at me. i presumed that he would have been starring at my lovely gf, but just in case, i put it in first gear and brought the Rs up...from what i could see of the car, it appeared to be a black mini, with some ugly silver vinyl on the sides, in a checked flag formation. the light turned green, and i jumped on it, and i heard him spin the tires, as did i, and Amanda said "oh my god, its an ugly new solstice!" i got a good jumped on him right away, and until 75 or so, when he got off of it, he never got around me, although he appeared to be into it...it was actually a pretty good race, maybe a bit shorter than a QM, and he turned shortly there after so i couldnt ask him why his "SRT4 killer" couldnt get around my lowly Stratus.

color me pleased...i looked all over the internet and i was unable to find a QM time for the Slowstice, and while im no paper racer, as i know who won, the only info i could find was that it has 170hp and 166 lb-ft of torque, putting it well below my car...and it tips the scales right around 3000 lbs...

hmmm..GM POOPY...

 

sounds fun, did you check out dragtimes?

 

dragtimes had no slips...they always post a magazine time if available, but i went through motor trend and C&ds article, and nothing came up..automobile.com and fastcars.com had write ups, but NO performance numbers.

 

I can't find any numbers for the Soltice either, Pat, but nice kill!

 

i honestly thought that they were very fast...but it seems to not be the case...
i used an ET calculator, and i assumed a drivetrain loss of 20% from the listed 177, although the magazines have reported only 170...

with a crank hp of 177 and a drivetrain loss of 20%, that equates to 141.6 rwhp...in a 3000lb car, comes up with an ET of 16.15@84mph, but that time is figuring on perfect conditions, no driver error, so on.....the stratus, with my dad, who is lighter than me driving it, ran a 16.11, so it becomes a bit of a drivers battle...

although im strongly considering a full solid mount kit...which may be soon...which will allow alot less engine movement than the current beat up mounts...so it will help a bit...

 

What's a Solstice?

Tha mini really doesn't impress me either. I ran some women the other morning who had one and she was real fast, after I got off the gas anyway. It was an "S."

 

this is a solstice...pontiacs self proclaimed "SRT-4 killer"..


and what were you in when you outran a mini??


[IMG]local://upfiles/2745/88147A543BAD49A19EA696231A4A3559.jpg[/IMG]

 

The Solstice was just sad... I couldn't believe it... and checkered flag decals...?? Ugh... LMAO!!

It was fun.

~Amanda

 

I was in the Intrepid. Followered out of a parking lot to a 55 MPH road. She hated that Intrepid coming around her. It sounded like an automatic too.

Checkered flag.[:'(] SRT-4 Killer right.

 

Hey Pat

If it makes ya feel better I blew a Solstace off the road too. No, I didn't have the HEMI Durango either. I was driving the father-in-law's Jaguar XJ6! All 3.6L of it lol. It did however lose a bit off the line since I was a bit over eager on the throttle and left two strips of smoking Michelin on the street...

By 45 mph I was gaining fast. By 65 I was passing rapidly, despite the sounds of super high revs from the Pontiac. Sounded like about 4500-ish to me. (been a while since I drag raced at the NHRA tracks so I could be wrong).

It was a bit of a scene. You don't see many young guys driving Jaguars. Much less using the potential of them. My little sleeper lol

Wait until I get the 1980 Jaguar on the road. I was driving it around the yard the other day. It was 'lumped' with a Chevy V8 by the previous owner. I am scouring the junkyards for a HEMI and 5 speed for it. hehehe


Jeff

PS: BTW, I ran a 1986 Lotus Esprit Turbo flat out several years ago. He pulled about 3 car lengths on my old 440 Diplomat, but I steadily realed him in after that. At about 100 mph we were dead even. He gave me the thumbs up and backed off. I returned the favour and did the same. I must admit his car did turn alot more heads than my old Diplomat though. Unless I was smoking the BFGs from stoplight to stoplight lol