LT5 Manufacturing/road driving at speed Videos

[LancePearson]

I've searched and have not found but is there a link to a video of the LT5 engines being made in Mercury Marine's Stillwater, Oklahoma plant?

I've also looked and would love to see a video of one of our ZR-1's rolling at something like 150 to 175 mph somewhere or the Z's involved in road racing? I've seen many where they drag race and really fly doing that but road work is different. Any links to that kind of footage?

I'm tired of searching fruitlessly on Youtube. There is one of a car supposedly going by at 150 mph but it does not really look like it to me and it is very short.

Lance P. Thanks.

[LGAFF]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjYo4XM7sGc

[LancePearson]

Unfortunately, the video after about 40% of it or so stops and says it is currently unavailable...but that's the idea I'm looking for. Thanks.

Lance

[Fully Vetted]

Worked fine for me...

[LancePearson]

Worked for me this time too. Thanks. They got around in the rain pretty well. I put the Goodyear Eagle F1's on it a week or so ago just because those tires look like they wick water away from the center fairly well considering the width. The first time it rained I took it out and drove it normally and it stopped well, cornered well, accelerated well though I did not hop on it hard at all.

[Paul Workman]

Originally Posted by LancePearson

Worked for me this time too. Thanks. They got around in the rain pretty well. I put the Goodyear Eagle F1's on it a week or so ago just because those tires look like they wick water away from the center fairly well considering the width. The first time it rained I took it out and drove it normally and it stopped well, cornered well, accelerated well though I did not hop on it hard at all.

5 years ago I saw a skid pad test results of several popular tires for performance cars.

In short, the BFG KDs were the best of the street tire lot on the dry skid; pulling (as I recall) about .95G on the test vehicle (a BMW). On the wet skid, those same tires dropped to around .5G. But, furthermore, they tended to grip until traction was lost whereupon traction broke suddenly and they skidded badly.

The GY F1 GS D3s were only a few tenths less G force on the dry pad, but it was performance on the wet pad that sold me! Again, as I recall, the G force was near 0.85 ish. But, furthermore, when pushed to the limit of traction, the D3s gave way in a gradual more controllable manner rather than suddenly slipping.

Then one day I was carving up some twisties when I came to a hairpin right turn. However, suddenly the pavement was wet (heavy shade) for one, and two, a pickup truck was hanging his left side wheels over in my lane! I suddenly put in a LOT more right turn request on the car and tires, and braced for the side-swipe I was sure was going to happen. But, it didn't! Those D3s took it all in stride, and far as I could tell they didn't even slip. Yep! I was glad of the research and the wet performance the D3s delivered that day, I can tell ya!

Now, all that said, far as a drag tire...they ain't!! I'm absolutely no expert driver, but I really had a hard time getting them to stick in first gear; lots of tire spin and feathering the gas to get them to stick. Drag radials...A MUST if 60 foot or ET means anything to ya.

P.

[LancePearson]

Paul. Good move on your part. I did the same test research and thought it worth the extra $600.

My 76 has bfg tas at 255mm wide all around and they are good but if you suddenly hit 1/8" of minor water across the road there is a moment there where you can feel them ride up on the water and skate until the wide tread wicks it to the edges. It is a real thing with these wide tires. I do the same on rte 5 and 10 for 80 mile rides..my own track. 55mph posted but many corners at 45 or less...i run them at 60...65 or more if i know the radious, 80 if i can see i get to use both lanes. Glad you are okay

[LancePearson]

I just reread that and I don't go 80 but more like 70 in those corners...that was overstated. I do accelerate out of fast corners onto straights sometimes though. It's a loop where i drive down either route which parallels the James River then to the Jamestown Ferry, cross the river on the ferry then take the other route back. They are two laned roads, lightly travelled and very twisty in places. In summer when it's hot they are tree lined as it's virtually all farm land and Virginia is heavily wooded with hardwood and pine forests. About the only real concern is the very occasional state policeman and the very real possibility you might hit one of the small Virginia white tail deer which are incredible pests here now with their population being two or three times what it was in colonial times. They are as a result smaller due to food limits. We also have lots of wild turkeys and you don't want to vaporize one of them either. It is a gorgeous trip and absolutely made for sports cars. Motorcycle riders in the summer call it the "Nickel and Dime" tour because the state route numbers are routes 5 and 10. I'm really lucky to live in such a place. I live on a bluff in a golf course community over the James River and 1100 yards across from where Pochohontas met and fell in love with John Rolfe and then the farm where he popularized growing tobacco in the colonies and in the eyes of the British, saved the colonies which had produced none of the hoped for gold until then. This land was the high land the last year of the Civil War between Grant's City Point, Hopewell headquarters and a Confederate General, Howell, who had 5,000 troops guarding the rail and water access to Richmond from the south. Richmond is ten miles due north. History, History and more history here.

Lance Pearson
Chester, Va.

[dredgeguy]

Originally Posted by LancePearson

I just reread that and I don't go 80 but more like 70 in those corners...that was overstated. I do accelerate out of fast corners onto straights sometimes though. It's a loop where i drive down either route which parallels the James River then to the Jamestown Ferry, cross the river on the ferry then take the other route back. They are two laned roads, lightly travelled and very twisty in places. In summer when it's hot they are tree lined as it's virtually all farm land and Virginia is heavily wooded with hardwood and pine forests. About the only real concern is the very occasional state policeman and the very real possibility you might hit one of the small Virginia white tail deer which are incredible pests here now with their population being two or three times what it was in colonial times. They are as a result smaller due to food limits. We also have lots of wild turkeys and you don't want to vaporize one of them either. It is a gorgeous trip and absolutely made for sports cars. Motorcycle riders in the summer call it the "Nickel and Dime" tour because the state route numbers are routes 5 and 10. I'm really lucky to live in such a place. I live on a bluff in a golf course community over the James River and 1100 yards across from where Pochohontas met and fell in love with John Rolfe and then the farm where he popularized growing tobacco in the colonies and in the eyes of the British, saved the colonies which had produced none of the hoped for gold until then. This land was the high land the last year of the Civil War between Grant's City Point, Hopewell headquarters and a Confederate General, Howell, who had 5,000 troops guarding the rail and water access to Richmond from the south. Richmond is ten miles due north. History, History and more history here.

Lance Pearson
Chester, Va.

Lance,
Sounds like a good spot for a WAZOO road trip this spring.

[LancePearson]

That's an interesting thought. I live in Chester at Dutch Gap in a place called Rivers Bend. I am midway between I 95 and I 295 about half a mile above state route 10. I just leave the house and head east through Hopewell, the next town E. then into the country going towards Jamestown, past Flowerdell where Grant took 50,000 troops over the James River, to Jamestown and the Ferry where I cross.

Once across I often go just a little north to Pierces Barbecue in Lightfoot, Va. which has the best barbecue in the state then head back down towards Jamestown and cut over to route 5 and head West to my area again. You can continue on 5 W to I 295 and catch that N. to I 95 and head north again or go south to my area or take route 106 s. to route 10 and back West to Chester and Rivers Bend again. You can do the loop either direction and the complete loop is about 85 miles done that way. The ferries hold about 40 or 50 vehicles and run each half hour I think it is. Free ferry.

If something like that is of interest people could head to my house then we could do it together. You would have to meet a couple of greyhound girls, of course, Kate and Maxie, my two rescues.

Let me know if that is something the Wazzooers want to do as it's easy enough once you get S. of DC traffic on I 95 to 295 and exit 16b to my house just over the Varina Enon Bridge over the James R. Obviously, would need at least some modest coordinating but I'd be willing to host. Could grill stuff and have some refreshments before heading back later depending on time as well. I'm a widower so have the house to myself at the moment. It was either slow women or fast cars and I stuck with the fast cars since they come with instruction manuals and can be repaired when they break after 4 years of dating in my age group!

Lance Pearson
12506 Inverness Dr.
Chester, Va 23836