Slalom Speeds?

[Fultz1275]

Anyone have slalom speeds that they can share. Wanting to set up a course and see what my 68 chevelle will do. I have hotchkis upper/lower control arms, DSE coilover, Front/rear sway bar. 17" wheels with baer brakes. Wanting to put the car through its paces but don't know what speeds to expect. Also, if you have speeds to share, please note if it is a 420 ft or 600 ft slalom. Thanks for any feedback.

best regards.

[CraigMorrison]

I'd say pick up a copy of Road and Track and have a look at the back of their mag - lots of test data in there to benchmark off of. If I remember correctly, anything over 50mph on a 420' slalom is pretty good. Hope this helps. I'm sure Rupp will be able to add as well.

[Derek69SS]

There's so many variables, it's really a useless test if you can't do it on the same surface/tires/temperature/driver

Sloloms on concrete will be faster than asphalt.
Some tires like heat, some like cold.
Some tires don't work no matter what.
Some drivers just suck.

[Steve1968LS2]

We use a 420 foot slalom with cones 70 feet apart..

FAST is anythign 50mph or faster.. for a long time the record was 5.70 seconds.. that's been beaten (one 200+ treadwear tires) and is now 5.46 mph which I think is about 54 mph.

Doing it is HARD.. lots of people think they can slalom test, few can.. Nick Licata is our go to guy for this.. I think the rule is every inch closer to the cones knocks off a 10th.. which is a TON.

The key is to enter at your estimated speed and hold that speed through the course, accelerating out the end.. if you try to drive it like an autocross it will end in tears and mangled cones.

Car and Driver use a long deal (100 feet between cones instead of 70 like us).. this is because they test more modern cars and we test everything from stock Camaros to 32 Fords to PT cars and we want the keep the speed a bit slower.

So there's your long answer to your short question

[Fultz1275]

Steve,

Thanks for the detailed explanation. I really appreciate it. So, what MPH does Bad Penny navigate through the cones.