I have a good friend who will be taking his 2016 base model coupe to the drag strip this Saturday for the first time and obviously wants to perform as well as possible at the quarter mile.

The car is a bone stock A8 and has the 1LT interior and will be running with the factory tires.

What tips can you help us with in terms of tire pressure (front & back),
drive mode sport or track, traction control and launch control, paddles or let it shift automatically or anything else you can think off that will improve his times.

Much obliged for your valued help !

I promise to report back to the forum on how he did !

 

I'll let the c7 auto guys chime in on launch details but try to avoid the water, just barely light the second bulb, ignore the tree and only go when you are ready without the car creeping.

 

I've had my factory stock 2016 C7 Stingray (Z51 / A8 / 3LT / Without MRC) to the drags only once. Weather conditions were not ideal (Density Altitude 900' to 1450'). I took five runs with a best of 11.772 @ 117.78 MPH and a worst of 11.896 @ 116.89 MPH. The setup / driving details follow.

- Tire Pressure: Front 45 PSI / Rear 25 PSI
- Driving Mode: Track
- Traction Control: Off
- Burnout: Back into water box - Spin tires one revolution - Pull out of water box - Five second burnout
- Transmission Mode: Drive (Auto)
- Launch RPM: Off idle

Good luck!

 

Tire pressure won't matter much. It should stick with 30lbs.

Use launch control (Track mode) or...
Tour mode and lightly load the converter.

Leave it in drive.

 

I'm an experienced drag racer, and I disagree with your tire pressure, Launch Control, Tour Mode and lightly load converter recommendations.

With the factory rear tires at 25 PSI, a hard burnout, Traction Control off, Launch Control not activated and launch off idle as described in my prior post, on my 1st, 2nd, 4th and 5th runs I had 60' ET's of 1.721, 1.748, 1.786 and 1.771 and quarter mile ET's of 11.772, 11.855, 11.830 and 11.847. On my 3rd run, I lightly loaded the converter and had a 60' ET of 1.820 and a quarter mile ET of the 11.896, the slowest run of the day.

Regarding your Tour Mode recommendation, A8 transmission shift speed is quicker in Track Mode than Tour Mode. My C7 is a non-MRC car, and its suspension firmness and weight transfer is not adversely impacted by the Track Mode. In a C7 with MRC, suspension firmness and weight transfer is adversely impacted by both the Sport and Track Modes. For a C7 with MRC, the quicker shifts / better weight transfer of the Sport Mode may be a better compromise than the Track Mode for low ET's.

 

Launch control, 35frt/30rr, DA ~1,500', 3/4 tank, 3,540lbs

60' 330' 1/8 ET 1/8MPH 1000' 1/4 ET 1/4 MPH
1.796 4.984 7.582 95.42 9.804 11.667 120.60
1.764 4.968 7.589 94.83 9.827 11.701 120.46
1.754 4.956 7.565 95.13 9.791 11.653 121.37
1.773 4.960 7.572 95.13 9.800 11.664 121.18
1.763 4.972 7.586 94.94 9.817 11.685 120.97

I'll agree with your assessment on Tour vs Track.

 

Fast and consistent runs! Great MPH! It's apparent that you're also an experienced drag racer.

I still believe that your impressive ET's would have been a tad quicker without Launch Control, because Launch Control initially reduces engine power.

C7 Stingrays sure would make good bracket racers!

 

Thanks. I'm slowly working on a better starting technique, but as you're aware, consistency is King.

I tried the Tour mode/off idle technique during drag week when I had a problem with launch control. I was only .05 off, so I just went with that the rest of the week.

I'll give your technique a try next time out. Last race of the year for me is Sunday at Texas Motorplex.

 

Here's an interesting article.
http://www.carsillustrated.com/secre...d-c7-corvette/

 

Worth the read.

 

Do you just ignore the TPMS warning for low rear tire pressure? Or...?

 

Yes.

 

Thank you all, I passed that information to my friend and as promised here's the results:

11.86 with 1.86
120.05

It was a beautiful day with cold crisp air and full sunshine; however, it had rained heavy that week and the traction was a problem for everybody in the morning, but, improved tremendously in the afternoon with the sun heating up the track. Unfortunately and disappointingly he had to leave at 10:30 thus was unable to take advantage of the greatly improved track conditions and in my estimation left one to two tenths at the track. It's very impressive to me that an A8 base model can achieve times like that; even with the 1.86 short time he was spinning the tires a bit and I wouldn't be surprised if his car could have achieved a 11.7 or high 11.6 if he stayed ?? Again thank you very much !

 

Great MPH. If your friend's C7 had hooked up better on launch, the quarter mile ET's would definitely have been in the 11.60's. Thanks for the report.

 

TIRE pressure does matter, 45psi cold front, 25psi rear warm.

 

On stock run flats? We'll just have to agree to disagree.

 

Depends on track prep.

My Stingray would not hook at the stock tire pressure.

My best times were when the pressure was set to 40 PSI front and 26 PSI rear.

What ever works.

 

The difference in hook at 25 psi heated pressure (23 -24psi cold) versus the normal 32 psi cold setting ( which would be 33 or 34 when warmed up) is noticeable. The high psi fronts does reduce drag. Couple that with a full tank of gas and decent track prep, a automatic LT1 C7 can pull 1.7 60 ft times.

 

Even 1.60's.