If you followed BangShift’s 2012 Bonneville Speed Week coverage (and a zillion of you did!) you know that we closely followed the week of Lee Sicilio, our pal Scott Clark, and the rest of the crew on the #97 1969 Dodge Charger Daytona. The car was finished shortly before Speed Week and was a collaborative effort of many great craftsmen, hot rodders, and gearheads. The guys set a new record in one class and were creeping up on the magical 300mph mark when the week ended. Not too shabby for a first time out onto the salt for the car. The crew and the driver are veterans of the great white dyno, but the car itself was a rookie.
In this video you’ll ride shotgun with Lee Sicilio as he blasts up to speed at over 270mph. The coolest part of the video is that several different performance metrics like coolant temp, speed, RPM, and throttle position are all right there on the screen for you to see as Sicilio drives the car down the long course at B’Ville.
Pay very close attention to those very gauges that you can read. This car goes nearly 280mph and the throttle position is never higher than 63%. Seriously. Also, the big turbocharged Barton Hemi sounds like it is out on a weekend cruise. Not a full pull down one of the most grueling race courses the world has to offer.
This video rules.
Press play below and ride with Lee at nearly 280mph!
Awesome ! The turbo whistle is LOUD. At the end of the run when he let off 170MPH looked down right slow.
Thanks for the video Lee, I see you getting the 300 mph hat next year.
Not a turbo you are hearing, its straight cut gears in the transmission
standing behind the car taking off on a run, I can attest to how loud the turbos are during a run. And I have videos that i will post someday. From the starting line, you can hear the turbos when Lee was past the 3 mile mark!
This is awesome! And, I was surprised, too, at the limited throttle opening (at first). However, my experience with turbocharged 4 cylinder cars leads me to believe that there wasn’t much left on the table. When under high boost, you just don’t feel much difference between 3/4 and WOT. Regardless, kudos to the team!