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Succesful Shakedown - Blackwell's By Design Stage 4 Beast & The Development Journey!
Hey guys. Been quiet around here and we have been in full development mode since SEMA. Time for an update! Mark's motor was completed in January from getting some light headwork done and we thew in rods/studs while we were in there. John at EvoSpec did an awesome job! Flawless process and we are doing more together. Having a few more big builds in the works we also began working on stage 2 PDK upgrades with Dodson Motorsports and axle upgrades with Drive Shaft Shop. Working with Cobb and the team on more tuning stuff also is always a pleasure. We got 7600 rpm out of her nice and smooth. PDK software is also almost ready which will open even more doors! Next was to start pushing the Stage 4 to it's limits at the Omega Motorsports 1/2 mile event. My team and I spent countless hours and all-nighters several times but didn't want to rush to get to previous events. So we kept holding tight. Finally Omega comes up which I proudly sponsored (thanks Tony) and we are ready just days before. Mark gets a surprise trip form his wife on the same weekend
I have to say Mark has had faith in me and my team form the beginning and although we were already friends we hit it off as far as what he wanted to do with his Turbo S. Right away he got us more records and the excitement/challenge rapidly grew for more. So when he learned of the up-coming Tequila surprise he offered for me to take his car out. Now my helmet literally had dust on it because our second boy is 10 months old so I was happy to oblige! It was a perfect time to have the space and really push all the new goodies. I am pretty sure form the data that we immediately started leaking boost after the 1/4 when loads built up. After that the car just kept getting slower and when I lined up with Adam to have some fun the leak let go at about the 1/4 mile and we stopped pulling. Adam was running so fast and consistent as usual he was my best yard stick. I was hoping to see what the #'s would be side by side...thanks for the VBOX lesson bud we did get a few runs
So we walked away with great data and all of the new components worked awesomely! On the drive-line hardware we had amazing support from Dodson who we are proud to work closely with spearheading the PDK stuff on many cars all over and seeing results so thanks guys! Thanks DSS so for getting on stuff super fast! The car is faster already than is was before in between more head flow and the clutches not slipping. On the same map as before we picked up 2 mph+ in 1/4 hitting 146.7 and bumping Mark's last record! When the power started to fall off we even hit a 10.09 1/4 on the dusty airstrip surface...go figure. Gonna get on the dyno in the next week or so to crank her up and see how far the Stage 4 can go! As usual I know Cobb will be there to help us keep pushing new developments thank you guys!
Thanks to my entire team and especially Mark. You have a beast on your hands bud!
Here is some data we got before having to go but she drove home no problem. Hope that wasn't too long most of you know how I get haha I love what I do!
Great Work Sam. She was really head and shoulders above the rest that day. Car digs super hard from launch and the power band is extremely wide. Goes to show that the By Design stage IV package is the only tool of choice to be competitive in quarter and half mile events, IMHO. Especially when considering 9 sec stock Dodge "Demons", AMG's, etc. on the horizon.
Cheers guys. Cobb has a full team on the case. It is pretty tricky as is and making it an AP deliverable tune adds a lot to the task. I know the team is working very hard on it. I will let everyone know as soon as we get closer to ready.
04-12-2017, 04:33 PM
Succesful Shakedown - Blackwell's By Design Stage 4 Beast & The Development Journey!
