I am entered in to Houston's half mile race this weekend at Ellington Airbase. This is a MPH event like the Texas, Maxton, Ohio, or Miami Mile. However, the first event is just a 1/2 mile race, and future will be 1 mile races.

At this event, *I am allowed to bring my drag radials, unlike the Texas Mile*. I've run my share of 1/4 passes over the years in multiple cars and know the ins and outs of 1/4 mile racing. After piloting a coyote 5.0 last year in the Texas Mile, and having been going to it since the beginning, I've learned that my 1/4 racing knowledge has very little to do with 1 mile events. However, this event is half the distance, and I get to launch the car on a gritty(not prepped) surface with drag radials.

My car will be making about 750rwhp on the blower, and then I am going to hit the bottle in either 2nd or 3rd gear.

1. What tire pressure should I run my tires? I know what to run them in the 1/4, but have no clue on this(295/45-17 MTs). I don't want to run 16-18 like I do in the 1/4 cause I feel that will hurt the MPH big time in this event.

2. I have stock gearing, so with my 27.2 inch tall tire, I will be shifting to 5th at around 160-165mph. I'm kind of worried this will hurt the MPH, and was curious if I should short shift the other gears, get in to 5th early and let the tq of the nitrous do the work in 5th gear??? Or shift like I would in a street race if I went in to 5th?

Suggestions welcome.

 

I would run as much pressure as you can in the front if you're on a standard radial and not a skinny to keep your rolling resistance down and run 32psi in the back. You don't need to kill your tires in the rear out of the hole. That's just my idea and I have no experience in standing events yet, but I've listened to Alan (Alrothm) and if I recall correctly, he says the "get it in high gear and step on it" theory hurt him badly in the event on his bike. Run it out like it's the 1/4 and keep going is his philosophy and he's made more mile passes than anyone I know by far. You're (we're) probably not going to be able to get in touch with him based on his current work schedule.
Good luck!

 

I agree with Bret here on the front and rear tire air you dont want low air like that much over 1/4 it will hurt you, plus I wouldnt hit the bottle until 3rd if running 1/2 mile. Robert

 

Hitting the bottle and spinning won't hurt your results in this event although it might be a waste of a nice-full bottle if it doesn't hook.

 

Mark, what Bret said is correct.. Run as much tire pressure as you safely can and still maintain traction. Remember you will build up a lot of heat in the tires within a mile at high speed so leave yourself some room.

I wouldnt try to launch hard at the air strip, no reason to put a bunch of heat in the clutch and blow the tires off of it.. I would just try to accelerate as smoothly/quickly as you can in 2nd gear and on...if you can be WOT in 2nd and it hook that is your best bet... You don't want to waste TOO much of the first 1/4 mile (that's a mistake I made on my 225mph run) but you don't want to put any more heat in the thing then you have to early...spinning is just wasting tires and building heat.. Slipping the clutch the way you do at the drag strip won't help you out here... It may even have the clutch too hot by the time you get through the mile at full boost and it could start slipping..

My best advice for 1 mile racing is take your time, double/triple check everything and datalog every pass and review it afterwards and make changes to your driving etc.. Also run the best fuel you can... 93 oct won't cut it for 1 mile racing.. I use C16 for safety..

You'll have a blast and get hooked on the 1 mile stuff but it will kill engines faster then you can imagine.

I have about fifty Tx Mile passes under my belt and atleast double of that in testing in Mexico at 200mph +..



***Edit***

Just noticed this is a half mile event so.. You want to get WOT as soon as you can...but I still wouldn't do a drag strip style launch.. I would accelerate as much as your tires will hold in 1st though.. You do need a strong front 1/4 when you're only racing 1/2 mile..

Everything else still applies..
Very addicting.. But it makes a big boom if your stuff ain't right...

 

As for the spray, since it's only 1/2 mile, spray it in 3rd-5th. Make sure you have 1000+ psi when you start the pass unless you have a Nano system. You'll kill a bottle in 1 pass so make it count. (150 shot) Bring a bunch of bottles. C16 for sure if spraying...


I sprayed a few bikes over 200 mph in my time.. It's fun but bottle maintenance is a PITA.

Spray really helps after the 4-5 shift when the rpms fall and boost drops... Hit the button and wait for the blower to catch up...

 

definitely bring up rear tire pressures.... at the big end you will want the stability.

Keep in mind MPH not ET. Low pressure to get the best launch buys you very little in terms of MPH at 1/2 or 1 mile. With your HP and no track prep expect to have to pedal it through 1,2,3

 

Tell me more about this Ohio event. Date and location?

Thanks
Dale

 

Thanks for the Info, Bret and Alan and everybody else. I am going to start the day with pump gas and add 1-2 gallons of C16 with about 5 gallons of 93. Meth is pegged and maxed out with a dual ECS kit. This setup(minus C16) on pump gas gave me 846rwhp/797rwhp last weekend.

From there, I'm going to add the spray and drop 4 degrees of timing, and add a little more C16 to the mix. Meth will be spraying as well. I will spray 3-5 as Alan suggested.

I'm not real worried about traction. Tires are brand new, and this is the 5th set of them I have run this year. When they are brand new, I can get them to dead hook rolling in to it at the top of 1st and all the way in 2nd at my power level.

Car is ready to go. Hope the rain holds off. I'll keep the PSI up in the tires and play with it through the day. Thanks guys!

 

WOW!!!! 5TH set??


Nice to see how the rich people roll!

 

Had a good time today. Weather was not ideal, very hot and humid. I ran the fastest vette MPH of the day that I know of. I really didn't know what to expect out of the car. What cost me 1-3mph, IMO, is that I was bouncing off the rev limiter at the top of 4th. I was only about 100-200 yards(thought it was further) from the finish, so shifting in to 5th gear would have killed the run(MPH wise). I feel that with a half inch taller tire, I could have hit 173-174mph. Nitrous runs failed, I missed 5th on the first pass, quick shifted the 2nd run to get the car in 5th soon, IAT's were in the 190's and the car fell flat on it's face and didn't pass 171.5. It also wasn't fully tuned for nitrous, we just dumped 4* of timing out of the car and ran it.

So with a good tune from GFORCE Motorsports, full street trim, 295/45-17's in the back(the way I drive it daily), 402 with an ECS Novi 1500 kit on a 6 rib belt, these were the results.

171.5mph, 170.5mph, back to back. 2nd video is still uploading.





What I have learned is that base C6's are not setup to run the half mile with my tire, gearing and power. Nitrous cars might be different on a different size tire. Also, I am ditching the nitrous for now, and going to put the bigger Novi 2200 on and put in a C16 race tune for this event. I think that 180mph is doable with better weather and just a Novi 2200(1400cfm)blower.

Big thanks to ECS and GForce Motorsports in Pearland. Great group of guys, awesome tuning and knowledge, and you guys laid down a great 203+mph half mile pass.

 

You couldn't raise your revlimiter any?

 

I could have after the first 2 passes, but we were setting it up for nitrous, and figured that wouldn't be an issue with the added power and easily getting in to 5th, but the nitrous didn't work so well. I only made 2 passes on boost, hot lapped, 171.5, 170.5, then cool down and nitrous. There was a learning curve to this over 1/4 and 1 mile racing as far as gearing, etc. Next time, I know what to do as I posted in the C6 section.

 

Cool vid

 

Thanks. Here is the 170.5mph pass, spinning the Mickeys to 130mph at the top of third gear.

 

170+ in the 1/2

Man that is crankin! Nice mph

 

thanks