York Dragway

31st May 2004

The 31st of May was a Bank holiday Monday and York Dragway was offering a Limited "Run what You Brung" event so I decided to take the Astra along, It turned out to be a scorching hot day which is better for traction but does make the engines run hotter, There was just one engine failure that I heard off and that was a Mk2 Escort with a cosworth engine in, It underfuelled and detonated, killing two pistons, Quite an expensive repair job i'd imagine.

One Renault clio damaged a Power steering pipe and left oil patches around the start line and to finish it off a Big Jaguar spun out of control a half way up the strip and ended up in the field, he was straight back in the queue though ready for another race after he was pulled out. Other than this it was a great day out, and was nice to meet a lot of fresh faces too,

The Timing slips are below and 3 movies are at the bottom of the page, 

LINK  York Dragstrip's official Website,

LINK  The page dedicated to my times on Yorks official Website (no fairy tale times from me).

Click on the competitors car model to see the rest of their times on the day for comparisons.

Time Slips for my 14 Races

	Run 1 Time 11.02am
Astra Turbo		Peugeot 205 GTi
0.689	Reaction Time	1.134
2.481	60ft Time	2.445
9.578	1/8th Time	9.743
82.89	1/8th Speed	74.88
14.367	1/4 Time	14.923
103.04	1/4 Mile Speed	94.50
My usual "don't break anything, steady away run", felt good but I was disappointed with the time as it felt quicker.	Comments

	Run 2 Time 11.47am
Astra Turbo		Imprezza Turbo
0.849	Reaction Time	0.639
2.843	60ft Time	2.373
9.975	1/8th Time	9.357
82.65	1/8th Speed	79.26
14.611	1/4 Time	14.346
107.48	1/4 Mile Speed	96.78
I tried a bit harder this time but ended up getting a lot of wheel spin at the start, got a really poor time but a good terminal speed	Comments	I amazed the scooby driver who heard me coming up the strip behind him but had no idea how fast I was approaching, I crossed the line over 10MPH faster than him but still lost the race.

	Run 3 Time 12.06pm
Astra Turbo		Peugeot 307 GTi
0.989	Reaction Time	0.855
2.540	60ft Time	2.325
9.305	1/8th Time	9.708
82.95	1/8th Speed	71.59
13.918	1/4 Time	15.032
107.31	1/4 Mile Speed	91.85
Fed up with bad spin I decided to set off in 2nd gear for this run, I held the revs at 4k then dropped the clutch,  The engine bogged too much so I was very surprised to get back into the 13's for the first time since 2002.	Comments

	Run 4 Time 12.23pm
Astra Turbo		Peugeot 307 GTi
0.915	Reaction Time	1.050
2.543	60ft Time	2.502
9.280	1/8th Time	10.900
84.28	1/8th Speed	60.17
13.846	1/4 Time	18.677
108.29	1/4 Mile Speed	54.51
Happy with the last run I set off in 2nd again but with even higher revs, It still bogged down but its better bogged than spinning, The run was good and the times were my best ever for the Astra. I am now very happy indeed.	Comments

	Run 5 Time  12.31pm
Astra Turbo		Renault Clio Cup
0.836	Reaction Time	0.869
2.366	60ft Time	2.295
9.080	1/8th Time	9.266
84.95	1/8th Speed	77.59
13.655	1/4 Time	14.309
107.96	1/4 Mile Speed	96.54
2nd gear set off is now the norm, I am now trying to get the engine revs just right to get a perfect launch. Amazed at the new time of 13.655.	Comments

	Run 6 Time   12.46pm
Astra Turbo		Pug 205 GTi 1.6
0.898	Reaction Time	0.939
2.457	60ft Time	2.427
9.338	1/8th Time	10.092
83.72	1/8th Speed	70.96
13.904	1/4 Time	16.263
108.29	1/4 Mile Speed	68.05
another good run, slightly down on the qtr but a good terminal speed.	Comments

	Run 7 Time  2.10pm
Astra Turbo		Mk2 Escort 1.3
1.071	Reaction Time	1.103
2.518	60ft Time	3.074
9.411	1/8th Time	12.449
84.15	1/8th Speed	57.50
14.051	1/4 Time	19.368
107.26	1/4 Mile Speed	69.71
I'm trying the perfect the balance between bogging the engine and spinning the wheels  but didn't do to good this time which put me back into the 14's	Comments

	Run 8 Time  2.22pm
Astra Turbo		Honda Civic TypeR
0.948	Reaction Time	1.351
2.595	60ft Time	2.376
9.336	1/8th Time	9.586
82.46	1/8th Speed	75.62
13.996	1/4 Time	14.766
107.32	1/4 Mile Speed	94.65
Still trying the perfect the balance between bogging the engine and spinning the wheels, got back into 13's but only just.	Comments

	Run 9 Time  2.29pm
Astra Turbo		Alfa Romeo 3.2
0.756	Reaction Time	1.072
2.360	60ft Time	2.745
9.456	1/8th Time	10.635
80.72	1/8th Speed	72.38
14.249	1/4 Time	15.841
103.94	1/4 Mile Speed	95.66
I went back into 1st for the start of this race, its gets me to the 60ft quicker but slower to the 1/8th, though this could be because I fluffed the gear change into 3rd.	Comments

	Run 10 Time  2.53 pm
Astra Turbo		Sierra Cosworth
0.913	Reaction Time	0.723
2.330	60ft Time	2.415
9.367	1/8th Time	8.985
83.31	1/8th Speed	85.48
14.385	1/4 Time	13.544
100.96	1/4 Mile Speed	107.80
I didn't get a chance to switch the nitrous on as I left the start line, this gave me a good 60ft time due to less spin but I had to wait till I changed to 3rd before I had a spare hand to turn it on, by this time the cossie was ahead and to make it worse I missed 4th gear.	Comments	This 350 BHP Sierra RWD Cosworth was laying down some very impressive times, check out his list of runs by clicking on the Sierra Cosworth wording above.

	Run 11 Time  3.13pm
Astra Turbo		No one to race
0.842	Reaction Time
2.449	60ft Time
9.320	1/8th Time
82.88	1/8th Speed
13.919	1/4 Time
107.77	1/4 Mile Speed
Quite a good run, nothing major but I was happy just to hit the right gears at the right times. After the last 2 runs where I missed 4th I was thinking that my linkage may have worked loose.	Comments

	Run 12 Time  3.20pm
Astra Turbo		Mk3 Astra turbo
1.015	Reaction Time	1.017
2.366	60ft Time	na
8.997	1/8th Time	10.010
82.83	1/8th Speed	72.12
13.563	1/4 Time	15.377
108.64	1/4 Mile Speed	90.49
I am always glad to race other Mk3 Astra's, It gives me the perfect chance to compare differences, I easily beat this one but it was totally standard, This was also my quickest run of the day and its the first time in the Astra that i've been under 9 seconds to the 1/8th mark.	Comments	C20 LET Engine, just transplanted the week before and running perfect but standard.

	Run 13 Time  3.48pm
Astra Turbo		Nova 16v Nitrous
0.940	Reaction Time	0.731
2.554	60ft Time	2.567
9.237	1/8th Time	9.235
85.46	1/8th Speed	82.34
14.098	1/4 Time	13.934
103.88	1/4 Mile Speed	104.30
Was a close race from the start so I held in 3rd a little longer as I was just getting the edge at the 8th point, but I then fluffed the change to 4th and lost...	Comments

	Run 14 Time  3.51pm
Astra Turbo		Ford Sierra 2.0i
0.789	Reaction Time	0.995
2.435	60ft Time	2.370
9.082	1/8th Time	10.729
85.08	1/8th Speed	63.54
13.740	1/4 Time	16.805
107.18	1/4 Mile Speed	79.00
The dragstrip was almost empty so I went for one last run, I couldn't finish a great day on the previous run where I had missed 4th, I'd have stayed for a few more runs but my friends were moaning that they wanted to go home. I threw in a respectable time to finish the day and went home happy.	Comments

M-Peg Movies for you to Download, approx 15 seconds of strip action on each movie, click on the car to view
Me Versus Standard Mk3 Astra Turbo	Me Versus 3.2 Alfa Romeo	Me Versus Honda Civic Type R