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Drag cars and Sports cars are two different types of vehicles. I don't understand why someone turns a great handling well balance Sports car into a drag car. There are plenty of solid rear axle V8 cars available for drag racing. I have driven manual transmission Corvettes since 1978, Muscle cars as well. I can drive a stick very well, I have a lot of experience. I don't care if an auto trans is more consistent and may be a couple tenths faster today. We each have different perspectives. I love a fast car that can handle and like it to do both well. Someone will always have a faster or better handling car. Originally from NJ as I see you are, I have been to Raceway Park in Englishtown many many times starting at a very early age. I enjoyed going there but I have seen a lot of carnage especially coming off the line. I enjoyed the pits the most, watching as the repairs were made until the next run. Maybe we have crossed paths there.
Mike, maybe we have
If you've been to the track then you would know that the cars running a 10.50 - 10.00 bracket / index are pretty well taken care of, I certainly wouldn't think of them as "beaten on". I sort of look at it like I've broken and replaced just about everything that will go but there are always surprises.
I certainly am not claiming the fastest car by any stretch, heck, I don't even use the power adder. Just throw the drag pac on and remove the front (HotchKis) sway and some better fuel.
IMHO one of the best part about running against a stick at the track is watching all of the "good" drivers with sticks race. It can be a thing of beauty and looks like a lot more fun than me changing the CD player song on the radio while making a pass
I agree totally that drag cars and sports cars can be / are two different animals but these cars can cut a 1.34 60 foot at my power level with an IRS and still handle on the street well enough for me. I have to admit, unlike all of the 6 speed cars, I don't like running fast through turns on the street, I can hold my own but really wouldn't like a ticket from doing it.
Just to make myself perfectly clear in this thread, I am busting all of you're *****
Last edited by Rob Petyo; Dec 15, 2015 at 07:09 AM.
I totally agree. I'll never understand why anyone builds a Vette to run 1/4 miles. It's like this new fad to build race trucks, guys putting drag radials on 4X4 trucks and lowering them... Why?
We (in Jersey) had a corvette challenge going on for twelve years, we hang together with like minded people and enjoy our cars
Last edited by Rob Petyo; Dec 15, 2015 at 07:15 AM.
To me it's not about how fast I can shift mine (love to power shift it but the breakage might not be worth the fun) I just like being in the gear I want with the rpm I want where I want !!!!!!
Drag racing is nothing more than beating the crap out of the car in a straight line for 11 to 13 seconds. It has nothing to do with driving, handling and braking while shifting up and down through the gears through turns through hills and valleys and being involved with the driving experience and enjoying the scenery. Drag racing an automatic car is smokey burn outs followed by destroying the drive train of the car in a violent launch and holding on to the steering wheel wrestling with it to keep the car straight for a quarter of a mile with your right foot mashing the gas pedal to the floor then suddenly having to stop abruptly. I enjoy accelerating too but not destroying the car in the process. To each their own but consistent quarter mile times is not what a sports car is about. I enjoy driving my Corvette every day for a 60 mile round commute while shifting through the gears listening to the exhaust note and the down shifts and steering through the curves. If I was buying a car and learned that it was drag raced I would immediately pass.
a violent launch should pull the wheels off of the ground, can your manual do that or is that remark only for automatics? If you ever watched my car leave you would know it's not a violent launch but more like it was shot out of a slingshot my trans is built as well as the whole drivetrain. It's mostly the manuals at the track that are the ones with the wheel hop... there's no fight in down the track, I change the cd music sometimes while making a pass because there's nothing to do but point and shoot
If your not consistent, then WTF are you even going out there for if not for some "seat time" and (practice). I'd hate to have a sports car that wasn't fast in the street or the track
I bought my 03 coupe (w/A4) by choice. Over the years I modded (H/C, CAI, etc.) the crap out of it. Loved the car. Started to do HPDE's with it. Fast as hell on the road course. High temps started to kill the trans. Did a swap to an RPM Level 5 MN12. I feel like I am in much more control on the track through the turns. Re-ignited the permagrin.
So... my answer is both.
Last edited by Bluefire; Dec 15, 2015 at 06:14 PM.
I totally agree. I'll never understand why anyone builds a Vette to run 1/4 miles. It's like this new fad to build race trucks, guys putting drag radials on 4X4 trucks and lowering them... Why?
I've seen one of trucks around here, it was all wheel drive ss 454 Chevy, I think if I remember right it ran 7's and sounded bada$$ with emphasis on $$$$$$$. I must admit, I thought it was pretty cool. Full disclosed though I have a supercharged 383, cammed, A4 with a stall and 342 gears in a convertible c5, I just love the acceleration. I also can admit if I would have bought a Z06 the six speed probably would have been plenty to keep me happy as it would have felt much more torquey than a A4 with 273 gears.
When I was looking 3 years ago I was on the fence as we are split with 3 stick shift and 1 auto (2 if you count the drag car), I leaned towards an auto so it would be more 1320 friendly, and I thought it would be a fun Thursday night drag car. The blue spoke to me so we bought it! LOL
I've seen one of trucks around here, it was all wheel drive ss 454 Chevy, I think if I remember right it ran 7's and sounded bada$$ with emphasis on $$$$$$$. I must admit, I thought it was pretty cool. Full disclosed though I have a supercharged 383, cammed, A4 with a stall and 342 gears in a convertible c5, I just love the acceleration. I also can admit if I would have bought a Z06 the six speed probably would have been plenty to keep me happy as it would have felt much more torquey than a A4 with 273 gears.
An ss454 or an old s10 built for drag racing is different. I'm talking about the biga$$ diesel trucks I see on slicks around NC with the Carolina squat going on. I see guys with 1200 foot pounds of torque talking about running 8's in the 1/8 mile after dumping 20g into a $40k truck that can't even go off-road anymore. I don't get the point when for less money you could have an fbody running 9's in the 1/4 mile, and have a truck still capable of towing it to the track.
If I drove in stop and go traffic everyday the auto would make sense, but where I'm at in the sticks in the southern east coast with the Blue Ridge so close no doubt it's is the 6 speed plus you just seem more part of the car IMHO
An ss454 or an old s10 built for drag racing is different. I'm talking about the biga$$ diesel trucks I see on slicks around NC with the Carolina squat going on. I see guys with 1200 foot pounds of torque talking about running 8's in the 1/8 mile after dumping 20g into a $40k truck that can't even go off-road anymore. I don't get the point when for less money you could have an fbody running 9's in the 1/4 mile, and have a truck still capable of towing it to the track.
An ss454 or an old s10 built for drag racing is different. I'm talking about the biga$$ diesel trucks I see on slicks around NC with the Carolina squat going on. I see guys with 1200 foot pounds of torque talking about running 8's in the 1/8 mile after dumping 20g into a $40k truck that can't even go off-road anymore. I don't get the point when for less money you could have an fbody running 9's in the 1/4 mile, and have a truck still capable of towing it to the track.
We have "beanfield racing" in Virginia where I am at, and we have a blast doing it. I've seen just about anything go down the track.
This is my buddies full modified truck:
https://www.facebook.com/jeffrey.a.tomlin/videos/993955077281801/
I take my daily driver 2500HD 8.1L out there occasionally, as do the diesel and farm truck folks. To me, this is how you should compare how well two trucks can run if not pulling.
Designer Imagines A Corvette That Looks More Like a Corvette Than the Corvette
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