Corvette Hack Track Test
This idea is so wrong, it's just right. Pat Ganahl and the crew from HOT ROD laid the foundation for this story way back in 1987 when they turned a behemoth Cadillac Coupe De Ville into Swiss cheese to find out how much quicker it would run at the dragstrip. The story was called "Caddy Hack," it was published in the Feb. '87 issue of HRM, and we still get mail about it. Then we ripped off that idea in the Apr. '97 issue by doing the exact same thing with a big Pontiac, calling it PontiHack. The mayhem and destruction that ensued during both stories obviously struck a chord with our readers, so Freiburger and Kinnan cooked up a similar plan to put a cheap car on a severe slice-and-dice diet with reciprocating saw blades, sledgehammers, and hole saws. While Caddy Hack and PontiHack were about the quarter-mile, this time we were going around corners.
The Plan
Like HRM's previous two hack stories-and the several other knockoffs in
other magazines-the simple goal here is to gauge exactly how much
improvement in performance can be had from weight reduction. In the case
of Caddy Hack, we took a 6,780-pound car that ran 17.22 at 80 mph and
turned it into a 2,900-pound car that ran 13.55 and 100 mph. But weight
reduction also has road course benefits: lighter cars accelerate
quicker, stop quicker, and have the potential for better lateral
handling. However, weight is not the only player, as we found out. There
are some real tech lessons here.
Perhaps the best explanation of our antics, though, is something every hot rodder can relate to: There's just something visceral about grabbing hold of a power tool and using it for senseless vehicular destruction.
Read the full story by clicking HERE
Categories: uncategorized
Tags: Rob Kinnan David Freiburger Dennis Pittsenbarger Hot Rod Mike Finnegan School of Hot Rod Hot Rod Magazine Chad Reynolds
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