So yesterday I went down to the Rock Falls Raceway in Eau Claire WI. with some of my Saab buddies for “SportsCompact Days”. RockFalls is a 1/4 mile track, and yesterday was the last day of the season to race, so it was PACKED!!! Darren brough his 9-3 Viggen, and I brought my 900SE. Both of our cars are stock, so we didn’t expect too much. I just wanted to see what mine could do stock before I start modding it.
Anyways, since it was so packed there, we only got 3 runs in on the time-trials. They lined everyone into lanes, and ran 2 cars at a time down the track. Once you ran, you got back in line to wait for the next run. They were doing time-trials until Noon, and were then going to do bracket racing, where they match people up with others that had similar time runs, and break down for eliminations. We didn’t want to stick around that long, so we left to go over to the Technical College where another friend of ours was doing AutoCross with his Miata.
For being my first time on the track, I feel I did pretty good. I had some decent launches, and my trap times weren’t that bad either. Especially for my car to be 10 years old, bone stock. I was running consistent low 16s, and hitting 89mph in the 1/4 mile. One thing I need to remember is that Saabs are not built for the low-end. We have very little low-end torque, and our turbos are handicapped in 1st and 2nd gears. So it leaves room for improvement.
Once I finish paying for my new SPG, I’m going to start working on upgrading my 900SE. I think I’ll probably end up going with a 3″ DP and exhaust kit from GenuineSaab.com and then go with a Stage3 Nordic Tune. That will take my 185HP car to ~270HP. Then with a Cold-Air intake and cone filter, my car will breathe better, and I should be able to go from low 16s to mid 14s. Even though I’m not a fan of 1/4 sprint racing, it was definately fun. But I would definately like to try AutoCross, and some form of Rally Racing.
