Ruby Makes Her FIRST Drag Passes in Over a YEAR... and It Couldn't Have Gone BETTER!!!

Cleetus McFarland

25 Jan 202416:33

Summary

TLDRThe video shows Cletus preparing his car 'Ruby' for an upcoming drag racing event where competitors try to get as close to 850 mph as possible without going over. After some initial test runs, the car runs 848 mph, almost perfectly on target. They make adjustments to try to slow Ruby down but she keeps speeding up, running 843 mph. Finally on the third run, after adjusting the timing, Ruby runs 853 mph, just 3 mph over the goal. Overall a successful shakedown for Ruby after over a year off, as Cletus gets seat time and dials the car into the desired speed range.

Takeaways

😀 The video features two guys testing a race car called Ruby before an upcoming race event
🚗 They do test runs to dial in the perfect leave time of 0.850 seconds for the upcoming bracket races
⚙️ They start with an 11 lbs test bump on asphalt to check the transbrake
⏱️ The first test run results in a very close 0.848 leave time by slightly miscalculating the tune
🔧 They make small tweaks to the timing and boost between runs to try to slow Ruby down to 0.850
😅 Even minor tweaks have an unexpected impact on Ruby's performance surprising the team
🏎️ After multiple runs, they finally hit a 0.853 leave time almost perfectly dialed in
👍 Ruby performs extremely consistently even after sitting for over a year
💪 The successful test day leaves them feeling ready and excited for the upcoming bracket races
👋 The video concludes on a positive note after shaking down Ruby and getting some test runs

Q & A

What kind of car is Ruby?
-Ruby is a drag racing car.
What is the goal time for Ruby to run at Sig Week?
-The goal time for Ruby at Sig Week is 850.
Why do they need to test the transbrake and bump button before Sig Week?
-They need to test the transbrake and bump button to make sure Ruby can leave the starting line within 1 second, or else the run won't count during Sig Week.
What was Ruby's first pass time after being out of the barn?
-On her first pass after being out of the barn, Ruby ran 848 at 161 mph.
Why did Ruby run faster on the second pass after they pulled timing?
-The air density was better on the second pass, so even though they pulled timing, Ruby picked up speed to the 60 ft and ran faster.
What changes did they make to try to slow Ruby down to the 850 goal?
-They pulled timing out after the 60 ft. First they pulled 1 degree, then 2 degrees, then settled on 1.5 degrees which resulted in the 853 pass.
What was Ruby's best time for the day?
-Ruby's best time for the day was 853 at 160 mph.
How close was the 853 time to their goal?
-The 853 time was within 0.3 seconds of their 850 goal, which was very close.
Why was it a successful test day?
-It was a successful day because Jack S got seat time in Ruby, they shook down Ruby after a long break, and got within 0.3 seconds of their goal time.
What is the next step after the successful test day?
-The next step is to get ready for Sig Week now that they have confidence Ruby is tuned properly and able to hit the goal times.