allfyre

Part II is about dyno day at Evolution Performance. If you don't care about dyno pulls, then skip to part III (but c'mon, everybody loves a good dyno pull).

I rolled into Aston at about 2:30, the s197 (is that what we decided on?) was a popular car and there were perhaps a dozen of them there in various configurations. I hung out for a couple of hours, chatted with the other owners, met a couple of really cool guys with awesome convertibles.

"Traction Joe" in a Screaming yellow 05 w/ black interior and painted stripes to match. Looking sharp, but more intriguing are the 4.30 gears. Just had an X-Pipe and some SLPs installed. I ask him if he has trouble launching and he says no. I'm wondering how this could be, when I noticed the monster tires he had on the back of that thing and I'm like: "Well, that explains it." I don't think our man wanted to subject his beloved pony to a run on the dyno, but I bet it could put down a mean quarter mile. Those tires looked like they could hook up faster than Jason Priestley at a high-school kegger.

"Agent R" from my home-town of DC and his windveil blue vert with parchment leather inside. I like the windveil blue more and more every time I see it and I really liked it with the light interior on the convertible. Real classy combination. He's a good guy, a world traveller and I really enjoyed speaking with him.

Anyway, after some waiting, some barbequed chicken and a lot of loud noises we got fluffy up on the dyno for a few simulated 1/4 mile runs. I figured we'd do two runs, we'll have one of the guys there take one and then I would take one for comparison because I'm still more or less a novice.

They strap her down on the dyno and make preparations. The shop tech (sorry dude, I forgot your name) gets behind the wheel and takes a pull.

Fluffy starts to roar like a lion and she's pulling hard against those straps (is it wrong to be getting a little turned on by this part?) and he looks over at Fred and then back at me and gives me a nod and a thumbs up. 13.1 seconds. Solid run. Now I know that If I run a 13.4 that it's me and not the car.

Now, it's my turn. I get in and he explains the particulars of running on the dyno to me, which pretty much boil down to "Don't step on the brake. If you step on the brake, bad things will happen." I think I can handle that, so I focus my chi and get ready to lay down some numbers.

I launch at a little over 2100, running on the dyno was nice because I could watch my gauge. I pushed her through her gears pretty hard and it felt like I did it right and I scored a respectable 12.9. This made me happy because we broke 13 and it meant that the car was capable of putting down what it should be with me behind the wheel.

Fred says: "One more?" One more indeed.

I think I had a feel for it now, I launched a bit higher and got a slightly better time of 12.82. I was most pleased.

Now, I realize that these are only simulated runs but I've been told that they are fairly accurate. Regardless, these numbers compared favorably to other, similar cars being tested that day and were accepted by all as good numbers. I'll have to see how she does at the track.

Now, I'm off to DC.

PART I
PART III