To me it’s obvious when you watch a car like that.
It’s harder to get the car to a point where you can side step the clutch on the line at around 5k and have that yield a positive result....... one that rivals what a car with an auto and a good converter would put up for a number.
Then, there are 3 shifts to make going down the track....... at high rpm, with a trans that’s often set up less than optimally for power shifting.
And then on top of that, there is a certain amount of skill involved to quickly and efficiently making those 3 shifts....... and it seems that not everyone can do it like Ronnie Sox.
So, the auto car is more or less fool proof.
Stick it in “D” for drag........ mash the throttle and enjoy the ride.
I’m not saying the streeter stick car can’t run the number it “should”...... I’m just saying my observations are that they rarely ever do.
Again, not picking on Al here....... but so far at least, his car falls right into that category(for all 3 of the reasons I mentioned).
Of the runs of his car I’ve seen(and I’m acknowledging there may have been other trips to the track where better results were achieved. I’m basing this off about 1/2 a dozen passes on one day)..... assuming a race weight of around 4000lbs, using the Moroso calculator, the best one I saw shows a number about 150hp lower than 10% off what I’d expect to see for STP power on an engine dyno for his motor combo.
The on track performance is a reflection of the complete package....... not just the engine output.
In this particular application, compared to how the car was being run on the video I saw, there is no doubt in my mind that if you swapped the 4 speed for a nice 727 and a good 9.5” converter the numbers would make it look like the motor picked up 100hp+.
