Tell me a little more about this design stuff, and how a Mustang was designed to be a drag car.???
Not knowing anything about design, and you being the expert on the comparison of a Mustang to a Corvette I borrowed this photo to ask you to show me how the Mustang is drag race designed and the Corvette is not..IM interested in the aero areas of Drag and lift... Correct me if i am wrong but you would want less drag and less lift in a drag car .... that would mean a low to the ground with minimal ground clearance car to keep the lift minimal and a sleek bullet like front end to reduce drag.. I don't know about you but that Mustang looks like a 4 X 4 and has a front end like a bulldozer... But You are the expert... I may be old and blind but the Corvette seems much lower and a much sleeker, so how does the Mustang design overcome these very obvious obstacles, and according to You, was designed to be a drag car...unless what you mean is the Mustang has a tremendous amount of DRAG in its front end design.
IM just asking...I can always learn something.. especially from an expert.
With Love
Bill aka ET

 

Call it whatever you want, I KNOW what it did and does.

On another note, although I do not care for the imports, my buddies son has a supercharged Suburu Impreza, which I would not want to mess with. At least not short distances.

 

 

You seem to have a limited understanding of the term "design". I am not referring to the appearance of the car, rather the "design" of the chassis.

Surely you now know where I am going with this and can see that I am reffering to a car which has a relatively "soft" suspension setup with a solid rear axle to be more naturally suited to drag racing compared to one with a relatively stiff suspension setup with an independent rear end.

Yes vettes have been drag raced, yes they have been fast, but you cannot argue that its "design" is more ideal for drag racing than a mustang is as they come from the factory.

Anyways, flame on about how its such a great platform for the most rudimentary form of "racing".

Oh and:



Please post some factory effort drag racing corvettes with more wins and more notariety than any C5/C6R.

Thanks.

 

You see ET, this is where you always get in over your head.

 

I hate to get involved in this, but the Mustang is designed like it is not out of the need to make it a better drag car, but because it is cheaper to manufacture.

As a long time Vette drag racer, I agree that there aren't as many famous Vette drag cars. But I suspect part of that is because they have been illegal in Pro Stock since the beginning, which would be the Pro class where they would be most likely to shine.

To the OP, make sure when your car was tuned the torque abuse mode was turned off when it was tuned. made a huge difference in my auto car when I took it out.

 

How did the thread end-up here...

C5 Corvette;
- Weak drivetrain to torque shocks, especially the differential. Very costly to upgrade or it just gets replaced with a straight axle. It's finally getting cheaper these days by using C6 parts.
- Independent rear suspension. This means no suspension reaction to the pinion torque. A straight axle can be setup so that the pinion torque reaction helps plant the wheels when you launch.
- On the plus side, the C5/C6 Vette drivetrain design does eliminate the left to right engine torque body twist.

I would definately say a 4th gen Camaro is easier and cheaper to make go fast drag racing compared to a Vette. The older Mustang bodies do seem to be plentiful at the strip so it appears they are fairly cheap to make go fast too.

A straight axle car just is easier to build for drag racing. You can build up almost any type of aftermarket axle and hang it under the car. You can put almost any engine and transmission combo in the car. It just takes a little fabrication.

A C5 looks damn good going fast though.

Peter

 

Interesting. I am VERY new to the C5 world, 8 days to be exact.
I did not know that the traction control is only off when in competition mode. Learned something. (maybe this isn't correct?)
The owners manual is not exactly clear what really happens when Active Handling is off.

Torque Abuse.......is it smart to tune this out for driving?

My A4 coupe has FE1 base suspension and G90/G92 3.15 ratio. I suppose it just mattered what was ordered. Pretty easy to tell the ratio, it's on a tag on the diff.

I already have a 3.42 diff on the way.

Did a couple of test launches today in prep for the drags tomorrow. It flat falls on it's face, then goes. I did not have it in competition mode. So if it still does it, I probably have some trouble shooting to do. Which is actually exciting. I bought this car to drag, track and just drive! (hence the auto) I'm anxious to learn the LS1.

Ron

 

Push the traction control button once and it turns both TC off and active handling. Push and hold it down for a few seconds you get competition mode which only turns off TC. Active handling applies brakes to which ever wheel needs it to keep the car going straight.

As far as you test launches when it falls on it face and then goes sounds like TC kicking in.

 

You want to try to keep active handling ON if you can... this will help you, if you get out of control...
Or do what we did, and place 10 tightly spaced cones in a straight line and try to go through them at 35 mph, with AH on, and then with it off...You would be lucky to get through half the cones with active handling off.. but with it on, you can negotiate all ten.

You need an undersdanding of the handling system, before you can really " Drive" this car. This system was ground breaking for an American production car, back in 1997... Many cars still today do not have a Handling package that even comes close to this, 14 years later.

 

When I tried the launches in a straight line, I did have the AH turned off. So I guess I got mixed up in the terminology above.
Hmm, I have other things to check.

As far as testing the handling, I'll do that when I have new tires. Right now the fronts are all seasons and the rears are bald Toyo perf tires.

Another thing, the fronts are actually taller than the worn out rears. I gather that confuses the system as well.

Fun stuff! Love the car!

Ron

 

They are quick....if you get in the powerband....punching it at 35 mph puts you in 2nd gear below the powerband....Your mods will have likely softened the low end power making your concern worse....although at higher rpms (4000 plus),your mods will help.....

If your car is running right,if you hammer it at speeds where it downshifts down so the engine is revving where it makes power,4500 rpm +,your car should fly...


Any normally aspirated car,w/o nos,is going to be a dog if you hammer it in too high a gear...

 

The WOT 2-1 downshift on a stock 1998 Corvette with 3.15 gears is 34MPH. At any higher speed, you will only kick down into 2nd gear.

The shift points can be tuned more aggressively.

Russ Kemp