I got my car back from Heffner Friday and drove it to work on Saturday but today was the first real chance I had to give it a shakedown run. 732 HP and 664 torque. I took the beast out today with the wife to put some miles on it and get reacquainted with the traction limits. I had gathered from some of you that already had the Whipple that a much lighter right foot was required now. You were right.
At average driving speeds and RPMs there's really no difference in the stock car and the Whippleized one. Very controllable and smooth, idles nicely, sounds about the same, and throttle feel hasn't changed. But once the RPMs start building, say 4000 plus, you start to realize what an extra 200 horses can do for you (or TO you if you're not careful). It seems to gain RPMs quicker and makes a much more FEROCIOUS noise through the Accufab X-pipe. The car stays very solidly planted but you can feel what almost seems like chassis flex as you shift gears and nail it again. My wife thinks the tires were breaking loose at each shift but in the higher gears it felt more like the engine was torqueing sideways. Maybe some of you more experienced racer types can comment on this. All I know is that this baby never quits pulling hard until it hits redline. I thought the stock car pulled hard but this one is amazing. I showed my wife what 150 felt like REAL quick.
On the low end of things, tread lightly. Never nail this thing in a turn until you're straightened out and then be ready to control the tail end cause it's gonna break loose. Once you know this, you can have a lot of fun getting a little drift out of any corner you want to. Wifey started getting mad of course so I'll have to practice that later.
As luck would have it, I just happened to line up at a red light with a V-Rod who wanted to play and had the first good street race I've felt comfortable with. No traffic and wide open road, just perfect conditions. From a rolling 30 MPH start I just blew him away. He and I were both impressed.
Overall, I haven't found any drawbacks and am very happy with the results. I can break the tires loose at will but everyday driveability is still great. The jewel factor is just a bonus.
My advice...skip the pulley and go straight to the Whipple. Don't try to convince anybody that the pulley is more "bang for the buck" or the Whipple is "too much money" either. If you can afford this car, you can afford this upgrade.
The only reason to pass on this upgrade is if you're going to blast right past it and go twin turbo!!:cheers
At average driving speeds and RPMs there's really no difference in the stock car and the Whippleized one. Very controllable and smooth, idles nicely, sounds about the same, and throttle feel hasn't changed. But once the RPMs start building, say 4000 plus, you start to realize what an extra 200 horses can do for you (or TO you if you're not careful). It seems to gain RPMs quicker and makes a much more FEROCIOUS noise through the Accufab X-pipe. The car stays very solidly planted but you can feel what almost seems like chassis flex as you shift gears and nail it again. My wife thinks the tires were breaking loose at each shift but in the higher gears it felt more like the engine was torqueing sideways. Maybe some of you more experienced racer types can comment on this. All I know is that this baby never quits pulling hard until it hits redline. I thought the stock car pulled hard but this one is amazing. I showed my wife what 150 felt like REAL quick.
On the low end of things, tread lightly. Never nail this thing in a turn until you're straightened out and then be ready to control the tail end cause it's gonna break loose. Once you know this, you can have a lot of fun getting a little drift out of any corner you want to. Wifey started getting mad of course so I'll have to practice that later.
As luck would have it, I just happened to line up at a red light with a V-Rod who wanted to play and had the first good street race I've felt comfortable with. No traffic and wide open road, just perfect conditions. From a rolling 30 MPH start I just blew him away. He and I were both impressed.
Overall, I haven't found any drawbacks and am very happy with the results. I can break the tires loose at will but everyday driveability is still great. The jewel factor is just a bonus.
My advice...skip the pulley and go straight to the Whipple. Don't try to convince anybody that the pulley is more "bang for the buck" or the Whipple is "too much money" either. If you can afford this car, you can afford this upgrade.
The only reason to pass on this upgrade is if you're going to blast right past it and go twin turbo!!:cheers
