My friend has challenged me to a race...

He has a 1996 Saturn SL2 that weighs 2421 lbs. and has 124 hp @5600 RPM and 122 ft-lbs. of torque @4800 RPM. He also has a short ram intake.

My Blazer is completely stock and weighs 3792 lbs. with 190 hp @4400 RPM and 250 ft-lbs. of torque @2800 RPM.

I have used internet calculators like this one: http://www.web-cars.com/math/qtr_mile.html that indicate that I should, theoretically, be able to beat him in a race. However currently my Blazer can barely hit low 17's (according to my G-tech) and there are internet timeslips of people hitting mid-high 16's in the exact same car (http://www.dragtimes.com/Saturn-SL2-Timeslip-5907.html)...

Believe it or not, this car has beaten many good cars including a '67 and '68 Mustang (289 V-8), a new Silverado, my old 2.2L S-10, my friend's Jetta, a stock 1997 V-6 mustang, among others... He has been talking hella trash since I got my blazer, but I have been putting off racing him because I don't think I can take that car stock... My cold air intake and hypertech programmer are coming in the mail... But if I'm gonna race him with upgrades then I want to make sure I'm going to win... Because nothing's worse than buying $250 worth of upgrades for a $15,000 V-6 and still losing to a $2500 4-banger Saturn...

Basically... I'd like to get into the mid to low 16's... What would that take? Do you think it's necessary to go further than what I've ordered before I race or could I race him with my CAI and programmer and win?

 

Ok, first thing, keep it on the track. Street racing is illegal and tales of street racing will not be tolerated here.

Now, is the SL2 a manual tranny? If so, he'll walk you every time on a 1/8 or 1/4 run stock for stock. At speed he'd walk you no matter the tranny just due to the flying brick scenario your blazer will experience. If his is an auto, then it's basically a drivers race off the tree (again, stock for stock). Since his is no longer stock and he probably gains more with his CAI than you will, I'm going to go out on a limb and say he'd win. You should get him off the line, but I'm betting he'd catch you and pass you by the end of the 1/4. You may have him if on an 1/8 mile track.

I highly doubt that he has beaten any '67/'68 289 Mustangs unless they weren't racing and he thought they were. A new Silverado, again, don't think so. My dad's 2500 could walk on that car with a bed full of plywood. I guess it is possible if that silverado had the smallest engine possible (4.3L vortec v6), but not a v8. The smallest v8 is the 4.8L and it makes 285hp/295ftlbs, the 5.3L makes 295hp/335ftlbs (310hp/335ftbls in H.O. trim), and the 6.0L makes 345hp/380ftlbs. My dad has the 6.0L in his truck. That thing MOVES! No chance that a SL2 would ever touch it.

Also, if any of these cars that he has claimed to have beaten are manual trannies, well, then it's all up to driver skill at switching gears as to who won, but car vs. car with a competent driver, many of those vehicles you listed would beat the SL2.

 

Unfortunately, I know for a fact he has. They admit to having lost to him...

Anyways, thanks for the insight... I think I'll wait till i get my exhaust too...

 

well ive raced an '94 sl1 and totally killed him off the line but he almost ended up catching me once u hit 2nd thats when u get in trouble same with the 2 dr sc1 ull take any of those types of saturns off the line if there stock the torque just pretty much sucks but when u hit 3rd i dunno how u would hol up i raced the sl1 to 60 beat it and the '96 sc1 to 50 and beat it but im positive that if i would have raced any higher that the sc1 would have beat me as for the sl1 well that car is just a pos so i think it would run out of power my friend has enought troubles tryin to get it up to 85 keep in mind i didnt want to test the limits because i didnt want to do more then 5 over on the roads where i was at...it was in a 55 and a 45

 

I got the blazer taking the saturn. trust me race him if he beats u go do some **** underneath ur hood like some intake, ehxaust, underdriuve pulley go back and race him for cassh

 

You know they did put 6yl motors in the classic Mustangs too And if unrestored, the compression loss + a motor designed for leaded gas kills them. So I could believe it.

I think you'll lose just because of weight. Those little things are peppy. Figure every 100 lbs difference is .1 seconds you have to overcome.

 

I like the Camaro idea you had.

 

You'll win.

Now that Ive said that, my 95 Blazer 4WD with K&N and Cat-back easily kicked my friends 94 Saturn SL2 with ported head, AEM cold air intake, full exhaust, and a good driver. He has beaten many Civic Si's too. So, with that said, you should beat some Civics too. I had one kid in a civic hatchback race me three different times, didnt learn his lesson the first or second times.

 

The key in a Blazer is the launch. With the automatic you can really easily hold the gas slightly while holding the brake, then when the light turns...gone.

 

I dont condone street racing either, the 4 times I've ever raced, it was to 50-55 MPH on a straight road, no cars ahead. 4 kids from my high school were killed when they were street racing on the highway, lost control and hit a van head-on in the opposite lanes.