Driving down rt 24 in Bel Air MD. I'm cruising about 5-10 over when I pass a VERY nice looking mustang (new body style). I'm not a real big fan of the new body style but this one was very nice.

I pull in front of him and when I look in my rear view I see the ever intimidating "SALEEN" sticker across the windshield.

1000 Ft ahead a red light is turning yellow. I start coasting and he switches to the fast lane. Now I know if this guy wants to race I dont stand a chance in hell or so I think. He pulls up and I'm still admiring his car. I blip the gas and he has a grin on his face and looks over and nods. Neither of us have passengers. I rev to 4k and he doesnt do anything but I'm still not gonna give him the chance to sucker punch me. Light changes and I launch, not my best but not my worst either.

I jump ahead about 2 car lengths and keep on it. I see him shift and his headlights dip and shoot up again, kinda like a boat coming up on plain. But I'm still ahead he is creeping up very slowely. Around 110 he is right next to me, 120 my turbo's eff. is dying and now he is walking ahead pretty steady.

He actually gives me the thumbs up as we slow down. We coast to the next light about 1-1 1/2 down the road. He revs this time. He musta been toying with me right? So I rev to launch this time I get a great launch and he peels out. Now I'm WAY ahead. Once again 100-110 he is almost beside me 120 he is ahead.

First time luck, second time what the ****? Arent these Saleens supposed to been fast as hell? I'm SERIOUSLY not impressed with these races he gave me. I have my street map on I seriously think I could have at least kept up with him on my methanol map.

Unfortunately I couldnt get the Saleen number off the bumper, I saw it but I couldnt read it. Later I got online and look at some specs online, the car looked EXACTLY the same. I KNOW it was S/Ced because it sounded like a jet engine passing me. But all the stats I find say its 330 hp or something.

My brother has an 04 Cobra with stock 390 hp and he ran a 12.9 stock at the track. Now hes in the 10's. I assumed that the saleen was the lord of all that was Mustang. I wonder what the deal was. Hopefully its a beast on the round tracks because it didnt impress me in a straight line....

Any thoughts?

 

oh and btw...I dont usually street race but between and before these lights there are no side streets and the median is devided with 50 ft or so with grass...I would consider this a partically safe place to get on it a little...

 

hmmmmm, those things supercharged are putting out like 450-475......I do wonder what the deal was.....



the only thing I can think of is that he just had the Saleen body kit and was stock otherwise

 

u can get a sticker that says saleen and not be a saleen!

 

for real, and keep in mind your car is a 13.0 car, and all wheel drive, his a high horsepower RWD, he is prolly not hardly hooking through 1st and 2nd

 

well he is running a 13 flat according to his sig and that was before some more modifications. The s289 saleen I beleive is a high 12 second car stock. So it seems plausible.

 

yes I checked the s281 runs a high 12 second with some low 13 second passes. Which for a stock car is pretty damn good. Also the launch is critical. AWD cars should only be compared to AWD cars IMO.

 

Yeah, I don't know what stock S281's have actually been running, but they're basically GT's with a few bolt-ons, so they should be low 13's-ish. So, I could see you getting an early lead and a stock or lightly modded N/A S-281 pulling up to you @ 110 or whatever. That would mean you are dang close in the 1/4, which makes sense given that you ran 13.0 and you said this wasn't a great launch.

If it was a S281 SC, you may still take an early lead, but unless he didn't push the pedal all the way down, the S281 SC would do more than 'creep' on you. An S281 SC should trap 110+ in it's sleep.

Nice runs.

 

you were just racing an S281.. an S281E would smeer your face in the ground..

 

school me on the different versions....

This one had the exhaust in the middle on the back. Huge chrome lookin wheels (polished aluminum?). Ground effects. Saleen in the windshield and a number on the bumper...

I'll try to find a pic...

 

here is an EBay auction...it looked EXACTLY like this....well except it was red...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Ford-...ayphotohosting

Hopefully that will work...according to that its 435 HP 425 ft-lbs tq...Which is probably 100 more at the wheels then I have...

Like I said...I wasnt using methanol so my car could probably pull 12.8x-12.9x in the 1/4 mile without it.

I've been killed my 04 z06's and definately 06 z06's from 0-120+. I would have figured that the Saleen edition to the Mustang would have been running comparitively. I'm going to mark this one up to him being a bad driver...

 

Well, the S281 and the S281 SC are virtually identical looking. Only a couple little things seperate the two. A stock S281 would run low 13's with decent driving, and considering you didn't get a great launch, you were probably running similar times. In my opinion, you got a less-than-perfect launch and got a couple cars on the S281 (N/A), then he pulled you once traction wasn't an issue and you crossed the likely 1/4 mile trap speeds almost even and he kept pulling. I'd say thats the most logical conclusion, but it certainly could have been a poorly driven S281 SC also.

 

Here's some neat info on the Saleen models.

Clicky.

 

wow thanks for that link...my faith has been renewed by the S281 Extreme!! I'd love to see that think in action...

Anyway, I could have SWORE I heard the loud whine of a S/C. Like I mentioned my brother has an 04 Cobra S/C and its not a sound you get mistaken, I'm sure you guys can contest to that.

Just because I know I heard that whine I'm going to put that bad traction coupled to a bad driver....Since it looks like the S281 only has 5 hp over the GT. I'm nearing 300 awhp and it has 330 hp at the crank...Which should put our dynos close, plus with my weight reduction (i'm about 500lbs lighter then him) and its lack of S/C to continuely build power exponentially I think it would take a very good driver to match me in the S281 and this guy was obviously not very good.

Of course I could have been hearing a throttle body spacer (doubtful considering I dunno if anyone makes one for the new GT and the fact that I've owned one on a Jeep and know what they sound like) and could have seriously underestimated the new GT's topend power.

Anyone have any know any 1/4 mile times for the S281 S/C?

Cause like I said I was probably running 12.8-12.9 in our races and I doubt the GT + 5 HP would walk past me like it did pulling 5th gear. Where his bad driving doesnt matter if all he had to do was keep it floored....

 

http://danavon7.home.comcast.net/ttcobravswrx.wmv

tt s/c cobra vs wrx.... notice the back fire from the catless setup...

 

nice kill........that wrx gave that cobra a decent run, interesting how it pulled it for a bit on a roll This is a bit off topic, but I thought I read somewhere, maybe import tuner...not sure, but I thought I saw that the 06 wrx they dyno'd put down like 218-220whp is that true? I havent read much about the new wrx....I'm alittle behind...

 

Very nice!

 

Man, those Saleens are way overpriced. Good race!

 

If you are saying the Saleen S281 E is overpriced then you are basically saying the new Z06 is overpriced.

 

saleen has glass rooof kinda cool i think but the shelby mustangs are way over priced the one at dealer was like 55 gs they sold it for 70 gs

 

that is the mark up... msrp is 40k for the coupe and 45k for the convertable, definently not overpriced.

 

^True

Some people may be dumb enough to pay WAY over sticker right now, even though they're going to build a ton of these things, but it won't be long until you can pick one up at MSRP, and 500hp for $40k is cheap... And it handles and brakes very well for it's [over]weight as well.

 

depending on the dyno...on a mustang dyno which generally reads low they put down 200-205 hp. I'm putting down over 300 on a dynapack with my mods...

The tune right behind me which I stuck around to see was an STI with a gt35r side mount kit put down around 529 hp...Thing is fast but the guy isnt that good of a driver, I would love to take it to the track for him

I think stock I would probably do around 215ish on a dynapack to its obviously varies per dyno.

I think the dynopack is one of the highest reading dynos while the mustang is one of the lowest....So its safe to say the 06 wrx's are putting down 210ish...

There is alot of differences between the dynos though. First and foremost the dynapack is a hub dyno (take off the wheels and slide the machine onto the hubs. While the mustang is has rollers you run the tires on. This is why the difference is so much, although the dynopack calculates for the wheel size and a generic weight, but not specfic weight I believe...

 

nice race

i would certainly credit your win to the guy in the saleen not being the best driver... but then again, the numbers seem about right for a driver race.

 

Thanks for the info, like I said, I just quickly glanced through a mag, so I have no idea what dyno they used, I'll have to look for it now, otherwise it'll bug me.