The last (and only) time I took my Corvette to the track, it was a local Corvette club sponsered outing . We were allowed to run as many 1/4 miles as we wanted.

I ran 3 times; after each run I just got back into line again. There probably wasn't more than an 8 minute wait until I ran again (80 degree summer day). With my first run, my car sat with engine off for about 45 minutes until the event officially started. Then like I mentioned before it was about 7 to 8 minutes between runs.
Since my first run was my best time, I wonder it I should of shut the engine off between runs. Because the wait between runs was short, I thought it best to let the engine idle and keep the cooling system circulating. SInce my times lenghtened with each run, now I wonder if shutting the engine off after a run... even for just 7 to 10 minutes... would have been better?

 

I shut off the car and open the hood between runs, and sometimes I leave the car OFF in neutral, and have some helpers push it in the staging lines until it's time to run, so the engine is off and cooling as long as possible. Before going to drags, I also remove the engine's fuel rail covers, to allow more airflow around it and the intake manifold.

Sam

 

Theres no doubt about it a cool engine performs better in most cases, especially if you can get the fuel cooled down. In the old days 60,s-70's we use to pack dry ice on the intake manifolds to cool the area down between runs. Some innovative person then even came up with a cool can which was nothing more than a can about the size of a coffee can that we coiled the fuel line thru just prior to the carb. We would them pack it with ice to cool/chill the fuel before it hit the combustion chamber. With todays ls1 and 6 I have read that they tend to run better at a lot higher temps and not much is gained from trying to run at cooler temps. One thing to take note of though is that better et's and trap speeds are run when weather conditions permit nice cool,dry fuel to run through the engine vice hot air with humidity.

 

:iagree:

I also shut my car off between runs and open my hood. When I am in the staging lanes I only run my car long enough to move up in the line and then I shut it off again.


98 A4
Donaldson Blackwing
Cartek Stage 2 Heads
Cartek M Cam
LS6 Intake
TPIS Headers
Underdrive Pulley
Comp Push Rods
Borla Exhaust
ST3500
3.73 Gears
B&M Trans Cooler
172 T.stat

 

Yeah, what Mitch said!!!! :thumbs: :thumbs: :thumbs:

 

One thing. If it is hot outside, most tracks have a cool down area down at the end. Pull off down there, and use the hose to spray your radiator with water. This cools things down quicker. Now, if you are going on back to back runs let me give you another suggestion. Only hot lap the car to improve your technique. Making hot laps like that will help you get a feel for launching the car faster, but the car will slow down as it heat soaks. Another thing that I do, is as soon as I pull of the track I pull the hood release to allow air out from under the hood. The other thing is to turn on recirculate and turn it to high. This forces your high speed fans on and cools the car. The otehr thing is to turn the heat all the way up and roll down the windows. This uses the heater which acts as another radiator. This also helps cool the car. Ther eare articles on making a fan switch. This is proably one of the better things you can do to keep a car cool. Manually turn on the fans to cool the car.

But leaving a car running in the lanes is a bad thing. The cooler a car is the better it will run. Many folks take a cooler and put a bag of ice on the intake to cool it down. Just pull it off before the run.

But if you are going to make runs with only a couple of minutes between runs, its probably best to leave the car running, since it will heat soak worse being shut off rather than running. The temps will actually be higher if it is shut down for so short a period tha tthe temp doesn't have achance to come down.

Here is a clue to that. If you water temps are over 200-204 then the car is too hot... With a stock thermostat you should stage between 190-194. Also, pushing a car throught he lanes isn't a bad idea. The Corvette pushes pretty easy.

One thing I will do is run the heater with the car shut off. When it is time to move up, I will let the other cars move up all the way, start my car, and roll up. Then I shut it off. Waht this does is take that water that has cooled int eh heater and circulate it. This allows me to cool the car, and drive it forward rather than push it.

 

:confused: ...must be yours cause my C5 is one of the hardest cars I've evr tried to move :eek: