I gotta' agree with Thumper....
Unless you're willing to swap metal for rubber, don't put all your eggs in one basket, and that basket would be DR's. They'll surely improve anybody's e.t. that suffers from tire slippage, but they do allow greater stress on the driveline and you need to accept that aforefront. However, tire slippage is a great camoflage for performance mods, so I'd definately consider 'em before I watched my money go up in smoke....literally.

 

Hey John belive it or not my car will shoot flames out the exhaust. We were in the tunnel on the PA TPK and our friend John was behind us in his C5. I took the car out of gear then gsed the car to 6000 let off then hammered it again. He said it was shooting flames out a foot :eek: I didn't belive him at first so I did it again with our other friend next to him and it shot flames again. His wife was telling him to stay off my bumber so they don't catch fire :D I need to get it on film. But I do have headers,no cats, straight through pretty much with the Corsas' and the car is a bit rich running from the factory.

 

Didn't have much success with Nitto drag radials, but it was a one time deal. Been using ET streets and whether track is preped or not they usually work very well. Tires are very important, doesn't matter how much power you can produce.

 

Well, I've consistently run 1.7x 60 ft times at the track in a manual 88 Vette (stock motor, a few bolt-ons, near 140k miles) with 275/40 BFGoodrich Comp TA ZRs.

This is with a twin-disc Mcleod clutch and left-foot launching clutch pedal antics that'd make Ben Vereen jealous, but with NO burnout. I betcha if I warmed 'em up like you say this guy did that I could hit 1.6x.

When it comes to launching a manual, some guys have it, some don't. A solid 1.60 on street tires on the street (not at the track), in a front-engine rear wheel drive car is total BS. But a 1.6x at the track given a twenty second "thermal reconfiguration of rubber molecules", a good launch and the help of a blower? I can see it...

 

Nathan,

If and when I disagree with you, its not personal, its just a debate, which is about performance possibilities in this case. I don't think you're lying... and maybe even your buddy was handed a timeslip that said 1.6x 60 foot on street tires, it doesn't mean that I have to believe it actually happened.

A racing buddy of mine last year has a pretty darn fast 383 with Nitrous C4, at this time he was running mostly 1.6 60's on slicks and 11.5's @ 118 mph.... he was handed a timeslip that said 1.25 60 foot with a 11.2 et..... he liked it, I was the bad guy who had to tell him that the timeslip was a timing error of some sort.... he told me, "No I ran this 1.25 60 ft... it felt real good", but eventually I convinced him that a 1.25 60 foot would have put him on his back bumper.... point being it was not doable with his combination.... our theory, that the timers missed the front tires and gave him a rear wheel tire start, which means his rollout was increased from roughly 12" to 9 or 10 feet.... which would produce a 1.2 60 foot time. Maybe this is what happened to your friend when he ran the 1.6x on street tires.... but then again, I know nothing about the tires you mentioned he was running, and maybe they're a soft road racing type tire that hooked at the strip..... but keep in mind, its not always easy to run 1.6x 60 foot times on well heated slicks with a 11 second 400+ HP racecar, not to mention a 12.80 car on street tires.

Based upon a 1.6x 60 foot and a 12.8, I would venture to say his trap speed was only 104 mph or so....

I've raced for years and watched the street tire guys 60's very closely... the guys who race a lot and work at it run 1.9's on street tires... every now and then they'll get lucky and run a 1.8x 60 foot, 1.7's are just about unheard off, and I've never seen it regardless of how much power a car is making, but I believe 1.7's can be run if the stars are aligned, its their birthday and their horoscope is a good one.... 1.6's would be Miracle.

My last comment..... I'm not calling anybody a liar or flaming them.... my only comment when somebody says they run a 1.6-1.7 on true street tires is " Show me... or Us"... I didn't bother to notice where you guys are located, but I'm sure there are forum members local to you who frequent the dragstrip... next time you know that the discussed set-ups are going to head to the strip.... Post it here... somebody can go out and have a gander on these extremely quick street tire times at the track.

cheers,
Beach Bum

 

I might as well add something to this topic. In the last two weekends, three cas have spun out on launch. This is reason enough for me to keep running my BFGs. I launch straight as an arrow. Oh, the cars one vette, one mustang and one camero who hit the wall and trashed his new car. If you follow a front wheel drive car be prepared for a wet track.

 

I can vouch for Power Shifter's multiple 1.7x 60'runs on his stock tires with his Z06 at New England Dragway. In fact he just turned an 11.985 @ 115.26 with his '01 Z06. Only mods are ripper shifter, cags defeat, K&N, 160 thermo, throttle body bypass.

 

I guess I'm the exception here.
Most of the NJ guys(and Scorp) have seen me run.
My best 60' on drag radials was 1.91, my best on street tires was 1.93.

For me it isn't worth the exspense of replacing a clutch every couple of months for a .02 gain.

Tires are the easiest to replace which is why they will remain my weakest link. But I know how to drive my car, so I can get street tires to hook almost anywhere, just ask Vette92.

If I was a serious drag racer, I would have another vette with an auto tranny and all the other goodies that the regulars at E-town have, but my car is a daily driver, I need reliability. I go from point A to point B a lot(sometimes as much as 1,100 miles one way) I need to know that my car can travel long distances with no problems. That is why I remain stock.

I think I know how to launch my car, what do you think?
Mackey,Panuzzo,Dave, Jim,Bob T, Joe,Edgar, RichS,Scorp and a whole bunch of others have seen me run. I must be the only wacko who can make street tires behave like drag radials.

I tried Nitto's and BFG last year and I had better luck with my Michelin Pilots. Since I don't want to break any other parts, I would rather replace my street tires regularly rather than worry about clutches, U-joint's half shafts, etc.

That's my reason, now you know. Click on pic:



[Modified by Mr Mojo, 9:09 PM 10/31/2001]

 

Aww come on, buddy tell the truth..... you had just put the 5" lift kit in the front and didn't have time to do the rear before racetime. ;)

 

Are you saying that this guy will run a 1.6x short time each and every time that he makes a run? If so, then I guess the rest of drag racing community is pretty silly for spending all that money on drag slicks and light weight wheels.

I have been racing Mustangs for years, and know that it is VERY difficult to get a Mustang to launch well on street tires. Much more difficult than a Corvette (major suspension differences, smaller tires on the Mustang and higher torque multiplication in first gear [3.35 vs. 2.66]).

Even Evan Smith, the 5 speed king couldn't get a Mustang to run a low 1.6 short time on street tires, especially a low powered Mustang that is only running a 12.81. Christ my Mustang runs 11.4's and my best 60' is only a 1.62 on ET drags (automatic though).

Maybe it was a fluke and he pulled it off once, but if this guy can do this consistently then I think he should have Warren Johnson's job.

 

Absolutely not!! That is a very valid point to make! He did it ONCE!!! I'm sure he'll never do it again. At beach bend it might have even been a fluke, their tree is screwed up all the time. That's just what the timeslip said.

BTW, they have taped over the flame video, even though I really don't know why, it was really cool. He explained how it worked, with the boost and the timing retards and such, it's pretty cool how it just so happens to do it.

 

My friend had a T-Type who ran a 12.83@103.01. His 60' was a 1.71

I don't believe a Supercharged 5.0 can run a 1.6 60's time. I think it must have been a timing glitch. All my friend who had 5.0's had a hard time launching 5 speed 13 sec 5.0's to 2.0 60'. The supercharged 5.0, I knew had an even hard time with the additional low end torque they made. Some of them had 70/30 drag struts, frame stiffeners, and traction bars.


[Modified by dgoodhue, 9:49 AM 10/30/2001]

 

One of my buddies with a Vortec'd 454SS pulled a 1.24 on drag slicks. :rolleyes: He broke out with a 11.68 on a 11.75 dial.

After consistent arguing with the people in the tower they let him back in to the buy-backs for free because there was no possible way the 60' was accurate, and therefore the 1/4 mile ETA could have been innacurate too.

 

I've shot flames out of my mufflers on many occasions. It's hard to miss at night when you see your shadow on the dashboard all of a sudden... This is a stock 140k motor, only long tube headers, straight pipes, mufflers...

 

I was wondering who the idiot that posted the picture that was 5 times the width of my screen and keeping all of us from being able to read the posts without scrolling continually was. Low and behold I scroll down and, of course, it has to be you Frank. :p: ;)

 

I run BFG DR 315's on my stock 17x9.5 all the time cuz you never know when someone wants to run!!! :reddevil

 

I wanted everyone to see the detail!! :D

 

:rolleyes: it's got to go :yesnod:

 

There, I made it a clickable thumbnail.

 

Nathan's not lying, I was there too. It's not bull. I believe that was Dan Patterson's son wasn't it.