I’m going to start out with “Wow, The SRT6 is a hell of a car at stock levels”

Last weekend I went auto crossing with the SCCA for only the second time ever and thought that my car would get left in the dust after my first initial experience. Before I get ahead of myself I want to state that I was in a NOVICE class of over 25 cars. Well to my surprise I came in third in that class, Even with the massive amounts of under steer I was able to get faster times than AWD Subaru’s, lighter Miata’s, and more agile Hondas. Thank goodness for the brute power of the SRT6’s super six. Overall I wasn’t the fastest car there, but to come in third in a class after only my second time auto crossing is quite a shocker. The only down side to auto crossing is that it wears and destroys tires quickly. I definitely recommend auto crossing to everybody, not just for the sheer fun factor of it but to find out where the limits of a vehicle are. So that’s trophy number one.

Now onto this weekend, yesterday was the Mopars at Englishtown show and race in New Jersey where I was hoping to show my car off and get a baseline on how fast I could get the car through the quarter. I had bought a drag set up with rims and drag radials from a fellow forum member in anticipation of going to the strip but during fitment I was getting a knocking noise and uneven wear on the tires due to rear camber alignment. The inside tread was getting most of the wear and I figured that it’s better to get more tread contact than using a stickier compound. In the end I used my regular tires; the same ones that I had beaten on while auto crossing and were basically down to the wear bars. So I drove 80 mile to the track, raced and drove back on really worn tires.

In regards to the drag racing itself I was probably the greenest guy at the track, for my first ever run down the quarter mile I lined up with my windows down, helmet off, radio and air conditioning on and I forgot to turn off the traction control. To say that the person in charge of staging was aggravated at me is an understatement. I was barely able to get my windows up and my helmet on before I was sent down the track. My first run ever (TC on) was 13.74 at 104 mph and my second run (TC off) was 13.62 at 105 mph (Both of these runs were practice runs). During the first elimination race I clocked a 13.58 at 103. Then somehow foreign to me I got a bye run and pulled a 13.63 at 103. My last race was my best race as I got a 13.46 at 104mph. After the dust settled I somehow pulled out another third place finish for my class (Dumb F’in luck on my part I guess). Oh and to add insult to injury I won a people’s choice award at the show portion. So in the end I won three trophies in one week on tires that are toast, and am now torn between whether I want my car to be a show car or a racer.

On a side note my car is bone stock and I had no tire slippage at the drag strip. The weather there was 87 degrees on the track with 80 percent humidity and a couple of passing showers.

 

yeah, I would say your are hooked....lol

 

The srt6 actually has very little understeer, it is a fairly well balanced car. Like all cars if the weight isn't transfered forward the car won't turn. It does help to use a little trail braking, it is also helpful to left foot break if you can. In my experience it handles almost as good as a Z06 vette, in fact lap times are very close on a road course.

 

Great report. Sounds like you had a blast! Thanks for sharing.

 

Good read, makes me want to get out there and see how my slow N/A holds up

 

yep and so it begins lol

 

You've made us all proud.......