Our day was over, with only one abandoned run to show for the new engine. When we got over the momentary depression of blowing the clutch on the first run, we started to analyze the timeslip. Sacramento raceway gives ET and MPH at the 1/8 mile as well as the quarter, so we at least had some meaningful numbers through the halfway point. The slip indicated 90 mph at the 1/8th, which was a solid five mph faster than our previous best on the 289 engine. Calculating the numbers out, this looked to be at least 110mph in the quarter, and a mid 12 second run. Not bad for a shakedown run.

Taking the car off the trailer...	... Less than 15 minutes later, we load the car back on the trailer.

The following week, we began disassembly and investigation into the clutch failure. The pressure plate and flywheel looked fine, but the friction material on the pressure plate side of the clutch disc had broken into six pieces. Our initial thought was that the linkage had somehow binded and the clutch was slipping down the track, eventually resulting in failure. We shipped the clutch off to Centerforce for inspection, and they felt it was possibly due to a crack in the material on the disc. We feel it was probably something on our end, but either way, Centerforce was of great help and sent us a replacement immediately.

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