I have purchased my car in February, 2002. Actually, I was looking for a C4 Vette, with an LT1 engine, but a buddy of mine said I might be interested in an 4th gen TransAm. I've never seen a 4th gen F-body before irl, so I checked it out.
Sure, it was a love at first sight! I remember seeing the wide body and the long nose for the first time, it struck me really hard. I was convinced, that it is the car for my needs; rear wheel drive, LT1 V8 engine and a six speed manual.
I couldn't help it, so soon it became my daily driver. Right on the first day I made my first discovery with the T/A: it has no 'low fuel' checklight, so I ran out of gas in the middle of the freeway. I realized, this car is not for the faint of heart. It's loud. It rattles. It has got a heavy clutch and a tough gearbox. But I love it more and more as time goes by, and as the car gets more and more faster, but rougher.
Factory Specifiactions.
1994 Pontiac Trans Am
- 5.7l LT1 Small Block V8
- Borg Warner T-56 6 speed manual transmission
- Performance 3.42 limited slip differential
- Onyx Black
- Option FZA2 Preferred Equiptment Group 2
- Air conditioning
- Cruise control
- Power windows, doors, mirrors
- Fog lights
- Remote hatch release
- Leather wrapped steering wheel, shifter, parking brake
- Remote keyless entry system
- Rear window defogger
- KC4 Engine oil cooler
- CC1 Remove and lockable T-Tops
Performance:
- 275hp@5000rpm
- 330tq@2400rpm
The Passion.
Drag Racing - this is it. The race against the time, and opponents. That is the main reason the car is not stock anymore.
In Hungary, we have three drag events (points races) during the season.
The most popular to date is the drag event held on the main stretch of the national circuit, Hungaroring.
Unfortunately, it is more of a 'show' than 'go' race, on a 1/8m distance, with the least technically advanced equipments and for the most part, chaotic organization. The reason I keep visiting this race is the short distance from my home (5 miles) and the excellent traction. There are 8 races during the season, held mainly on weekdays and lingering deep into the nights, which is an other blow. <www.gyorsulas.hu>
The second most popular race is held at a former air force runway, now serving as a mildly-frequented civil airport.
Tokol-Mullerart is a really good event, with much more opportunities to evolve, than Hring. In my opinion, it has got the best technical equipment, good traction on concrete runway and despite the infrastructure being not so well suited for a drag event, it is much more better organized, so it doesn't seem to be so ungodly crowded, than it's competitor.
1/4mile distance, pro tree, accurate 60', 1/8-1/4 mile ET's and traps, with all the bells and whistles. We've been promised next year to treat the track with VHT Trackbite. That would be really thrilling! We'll see, I'd say. <www.futam.hu>
On to the third one, the event at Rabaring, an old circle track test course.
They have quite good equipment, the race is well organized, practically you can run as much as you'd like, that's mainly because it is not so frequented, as the other events. This leads us to the drawbacks of this event - it is good 1.5 hour trip away from home. Nevertheless, it has the worst traction of all the events mentioned above. Promises for the 2006 season include track prep, better displays, and real printed timeslips. <www.gyorsulas.com>
Faster and faster.
The voracious human nature. Big isn't big enough, fast isn't fast enough. Not even for me ;) To this date, the car has seen quite a few things mod-wise.
In 2002, the car was basically stock, apart from minor bolt-ons, such as tune-up, thermostat, msd 6al box, exhaust and things like that. The best run was 14.3@99mph and 9.4@82mph in the 1/8m.
In 2003, it had a NOS #5115 dry setup on it, with some basic bolt-ons, 3.73 richmond gears. It went 8.44 at the Hungaroring, never had the opportunity to run it in the quarter. Then before the season start in 2004, the stock 10 bolt decided to let go. I had to wait exactly 9 months for the new Strange built 12 bolt rear, which ment no racing for me the whole year. It sucked donkey dong.
In 2004, during the wait for the rear to arrive, I decided to cut the nitrous, and go naturally aspirated. Headers, cam kit, and all the supporting mods were done during the summer. To make the story short, the engine was ready to rumble, but the rear arrived only in October, after the season was over.
In 2005, this configuration netted me a 8.24@88mph best time, without nitrous. I was very happy and satisfied with the T/A's performance, but then realized it is plainly too skimpy for the Hungarian drag scene.
That's where we are now. But where is it going? Maybe an all out naturally aspirated stock shortblock, with killer cylinder heads... Or a forged shortblock, nitrous fed beast? Or a 1000 hp turbo LT1 in the future? We'll see.
2006/11/04 - End of Racing Season2006
There has been a long time since my last update. Main reason for this was my tight schedule, with too much work, races, family, etc - some call the symptom "lazyness" - never heard that word before :) Anyway, racing season has ended, and there are so many things going around the car, I don't really now where to start.
In our category, A5, my friend Falco finished first place with the GMC Syclone, with a total of 125 points.
Me finished second place, with 91 points, which I was very pleased with.
Third place was dead heat between Kohári Zoli's Brabus S600 and Karkus Tomi's stroker Audi quattro, both totaling with 80 points. Karkus' Audi joined the battle at the middle of the season, took many wins and records, but unfortunately struggled with transmission problems later on.
More updates on the car are to come soon, there are a LOT :)