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In a previous post I had mentioned I beat my son’s STI in a rolling start drag race 2 out of three times while we were at Willow Springs getting track time in our cars. His car seemed to be the most powerful stock STI I had experience with. He later denied that I had beaten him – giving all the yadda, yadda that losers everywhere give. No one seemed to believe a lowly SRT could be capable of such things. OK, fine.
Saturday, I was patrolling near my neighborhood in the SRT, when an STI pulled up beside me. I knew it wasn’t my son’s car because this car was covered with stickers and the exhaust was so loud, I couldn’t hear my radio. The windows were tinted so I couldn’t see the driver. He kept zooming off and braking until he was even with me, and revving his engine. The whine from his turbo was louder than his exhaust. It sounded very healthy.
How much provocation can one little SRT take? This was obviously a heavily modified STI, so I figured I would be an easy kill for him. What the heck, I could get some laughs afterwards by logging on to the STI forums to see his “stomped another SRT-4” thread.
It was an industrial neighborhood with almost zero traffic, so I slowed down to show my intentions downshifting to second. We punched off and, “Holy Artichoke Batman!,” I pulled away and away. Not by a lot (over a car length at least) but I kept pulling away until I shut down in third. We come to a stop at a light and he rolls the window down – LOL, it’s my kid! Seems a bunch the STI forum guys were having a group clusterf*** in Chatsworth. He was driving a friend’s race (road race) prepped STI with a big turbo upgrade and running race gas. Although he claimed to be boosting 22psi, I theorized the car was hurt by spool time, because he said it came on strong on the top end. We ran a few more times starting from a roll in first and second into third and each time I pulled the STI decisively. I was shocked, but it was a delicious kill.
What have we learned? Sizing your turbo for its eventual use is probably the smartest thing you can do. Dodge did a really good job getting torque early by sizing the turbo for quick spool. Sometimes, a small weenie does a better job than a big weenie. Without that standing start leap, STIs are not that hot in a straight line. Curves, a different story.
Now, a question. My SRT is just an average stock SRT-4. And most of the times it has average performance, but every once in a while, the thing seems to really honk and goes nuts and seems A LOT faster. This happened to be one of those times. Does any one else experience this with their car? I’ve never managed to check boost at those times because my concentration is elsewhere, but it couldn’t overboost and produce that much extra power could it? My understanding is that increasing the boost on a stock turbo a lot is futile for producing power because it’s a the limit of its efficiency. I have been running 100 octane (don’t tell my kid) for a while (ouch! $5.00 a gallon) and seemed to get some increase in power but I already expect that as normal.
Meanwhile, one of my kid’s buddies told me the reason why his stock STI runs so strong. He sneaked in a higher numerical ratio ring and pinion a while back. From a 3 something to a 4 something. Hm-m-m-m-m.
Saturday, I was patrolling near my neighborhood in the SRT, when an STI pulled up beside me. I knew it wasn’t my son’s car because this car was covered with stickers and the exhaust was so loud, I couldn’t hear my radio. The windows were tinted so I couldn’t see the driver. He kept zooming off and braking until he was even with me, and revving his engine. The whine from his turbo was louder than his exhaust. It sounded very healthy.
How much provocation can one little SRT take? This was obviously a heavily modified STI, so I figured I would be an easy kill for him. What the heck, I could get some laughs afterwards by logging on to the STI forums to see his “stomped another SRT-4” thread.
It was an industrial neighborhood with almost zero traffic, so I slowed down to show my intentions downshifting to second. We punched off and, “Holy Artichoke Batman!,” I pulled away and away. Not by a lot (over a car length at least) but I kept pulling away until I shut down in third. We come to a stop at a light and he rolls the window down – LOL, it’s my kid! Seems a bunch the STI forum guys were having a group clusterf*** in Chatsworth. He was driving a friend’s race (road race) prepped STI with a big turbo upgrade and running race gas. Although he claimed to be boosting 22psi, I theorized the car was hurt by spool time, because he said it came on strong on the top end. We ran a few more times starting from a roll in first and second into third and each time I pulled the STI decisively. I was shocked, but it was a delicious kill.
What have we learned? Sizing your turbo for its eventual use is probably the smartest thing you can do. Dodge did a really good job getting torque early by sizing the turbo for quick spool. Sometimes, a small weenie does a better job than a big weenie. Without that standing start leap, STIs are not that hot in a straight line. Curves, a different story.
Now, a question. My SRT is just an average stock SRT-4. And most of the times it has average performance, but every once in a while, the thing seems to really honk and goes nuts and seems A LOT faster. This happened to be one of those times. Does any one else experience this with their car? I’ve never managed to check boost at those times because my concentration is elsewhere, but it couldn’t overboost and produce that much extra power could it? My understanding is that increasing the boost on a stock turbo a lot is futile for producing power because it’s a the limit of its efficiency. I have been running 100 octane (don’t tell my kid) for a while (ouch! $5.00 a gallon) and seemed to get some increase in power but I already expect that as normal.
Meanwhile, one of my kid’s buddies told me the reason why his stock STI runs so strong. He sneaked in a higher numerical ratio ring and pinion a while back. From a 3 something to a 4 something. Hm-m-m-m-m.
