My first drag strip pass of the year was way back in April. I was testing a new turbo, and a few new goodies at the time. The car ran a solid mid 13 second pass. The fastest the wagon had run to date. But I could tell that a 12 second run would be very possible. The car was really showing potential. So I set a goal to run in 12s before the end of the season.

I made 5 trips to the drag strip this summer. The car always impressed spectators, but I could never make that elusive 12 second pass. Traction was always an issue. I really need to buy some drag slicks in the future. I also had some issues with clutches. I burned through a couple of them, each progressively more “sticky” and agressive than the last. I finally have a clutch that seems to hold with the boost turned up to 20psi. I also had some fuelin limitations, I installed a bigger pump, and bigger fuel injectors. And there was lots of fine tuning on the dyno, and tinkering with the laptop trying to optimize the power.

Tracey and I made a trip down to Pueblo for the last drag day of the year to try and sneak in a couple passes before winter comes. It was super crowded down there. Pueblo is a town of traditional hot rods. There were endless rows of Camaros, Novas, Chevelles etc etc etc . . . I do believe I had the only european car there. And one of 2 import cars. So after waiting in line for about 2+ hours, I finally got my chance. It was looking like I might only get 1 run. I didn’t want to blow it and smoke the tires on the line. So, I played it safe and launched the car pretty easy. The engine bogged a bit, and made a little boost in first gear. But it was mostly a wasted gear. Once I got the car in second gear the turbo had some time to build boost and the power boosters kicked in! Holy chrikeys, the wagon was pulling like a jet fighter. It felt great all the way down the track. BUT, as I have learned it was going to take a perfect pass to get my 12. Sadly the timeslip read 13.1. I pulled back around to pick up Tracey and head home, but it looked like there might be a lull in the action. So I ran back around to the front of the line as fast as I could. It was a bit like cheating, as I cut in line. But I didn’t have another 2 hours to wait.

The next pass I launched the car a little bit harder. The tires gripped tightly to the ground in first gear. Surprisingly they didn’t spin like they usually do. The track was very sticky. The engine bogged again, but I managed to get through the rest of the gears pretty smoothly after that. I went around to the timing house to pick up my 12 second time slip from a smiling little kid with braces. He habds me the timeslip and says awesome run man! I love your car!

It didn’t come easy, but I finally can tell people that I have a 12 second Volvo station wagon.

Here is some evidence: