mike_mds

Went to the drags for the first time ever yesterday, and I should NOT have waited 38 years to do it!!! Had an awesome time, and now I am hoping to get some feedback that will help me improve next time out. I am still having problems getting the smile off my face. Kudos to the folks at Mason Dixon Corvette for putting on this event at Cecil County Dragway.

I have to give a BIG thanks to the contributors in this particular forum...I learned TONS reading up before the big day, and I think I prevented some embarrasing (or worse) miscues from what I learned here in the last couple months.


Here is the info on my car:

1997 A4 Coupe, apprx. 66k miles (All mods in last 4 months)

Mods are:

3.42 differential (from Z06)
LG Pro longtube headers & Borla stinger exhaust
Ported LS6 intake and ported throttle body
A&A Vortech V3 kit (the new self contained kit that just came out)

Car was tuned by J Formato right after installation of supercharger. Dyno tune was done first and came out with 442/411 on the hp/tq numbers. He then street tuned the car, and added 4 more degrees of timing, so actual HP and TQ numbers are a bit higher than the dyno.

I am running new (until yesterday ) 305 Nitto 555r drag radials on my 18x11 HRE rims.

Weather yesterday was warm and a bit humid...I'm not sure what the temp/hum/baro numbers at the top of the timeslips mean...perhaps someone can explain them to me?

Driver is around 255 lbs (I'm working on this.... ). Other weight above and beyond mods would be chromoly Wolfe 5 pt roll bar.

Runs were made in 3rd gear with traction control turned off.

Here are the timeslips from my 9 runs...sorry about the pictures, they run from right to left instead of left to right like they should:









I was completely unconcerned with my reaction time yesterday, just didn't want to do anything stupid...

Runs 1 thru 6 were made with the drag radials at full street pressure...I was basically running how I drove it to the track. Run 5 I lost traction and had to lift off the pedal momentarily, so that run was slower than the others. I added a little more RPM to the later launches in this series, which I believe accounted for the better 60' times??????

Runs 7-8 were made with the tire pressure reduced to 20...I believe that I launched too aggressively with the reduced pressure and thus worsened my already anemic 60' times. The track was also starting to get noticeably slicker than my first 6 runs.

Run 9 I am still laughing about...I lost traction 3 times, and the last time figured the hell with it, I ain't crashing on the last run of the day!

So, what I would like to know is:

1) Suggestions for improvement in technique to better my runs....I know I need practice, but is there anything specific I can do????

2) Given the info above and my times, what kind of numbers would my car put up with a good driver and optimal weather/running conditions? I know the car has a hell of a lot more in it than a 12.073 @ 119.

Thanks!

Mike

Fuzzy Dice

You are making a good bit of power..maybe a bit too much for Nitto's...better ET's are all about better 60' times... you need to knock off a bunch in that area..even with Nitto's you should be in the 1.80's...the rule of thumb for tire pressure is to run the highest you can and still hook...if you did not hook at 20 lbs. you don't have much more room to drop...

I spoke with Nitto and they said I could drop to 16 lbs. if I absolutely had to but they were not crazy about it...Nitto tires have a different compound than other DR's..it's a bit harder which allows longer wear but, more importantly, much better streetability...one thing about Nitto's is you must do a real good burnout to heat them up...you need a line lock if you don't have one..Nitto's like a lot of heat in them...much more than any other drag radial...if you can get the 60' times down the rest will follow...good luck...see my sig for a good Nitto burnout...

Fuzzy Dice

Don't know why the forum won't show my sig pic...I'll try again....

Sorry it won't show it...

mike_mds

I have to admit that while I heated them up a bit, I didn't do it near the level shown in your sig picture.

Honestly, I just didn't want to draw that much attention to myself being it was my first time out... :o

Next time I'll light em up with a good smoke-show and see what happens.

jpee

Mike you did the right things.. got used to the car, let OFF the gas when you spun, & did NOT worry about RT (that will come) About the only thing I can see thats keeping you from running in the 11's is your 60' times.. with the engine mods, & Drag Radials, etc.. your 60' are kinda off the mark... You next investment should be a Hi Stall Converter, Ask around before you decide if you want a 3500 or 2800 etc... it will depend on how much you race and how hard you want to launch..

But from what I see with a 3000 converter, and maybe better Drag Radials BFG (they Hook Better, but wear sooner) and suck in the rain...you should be a consistent 11 sec car!

4DRUSH

Glad you had fun.

Did you heat the tires up?
Next time lower the tire pressure (not sure to what for those tires)
Also looks like you hot lapped every run, what was your coolant temp before your runs?

mike_mds

Apparently not enough...I'll be much more aggressive in the heating next time. My burnouts were not in the class Fuzzy Dice posted a picture of...

I need to buy a tire pressure gauge this week... Next time out I will try running at gradually reduced pressures to see what results I get.

I hot-lapped runs 2, 4, 6, and 8. Shut the car down and opened the hood between pairs of runs. Coolant, oil, and tranny temperatures were all good...my mechanic was actually there, and he made sure I was keeping an eye on things (thanks Rob!)

I'm just glad I didn't run against any insano rides like yours...finishing 3 seconds behind somebody would have felt like standing naked in the track for 3 minutes out there. I have a whole new appreciation of how loooooooong a second is after Saturday....

jpee

Good catch Jay... When I run I am "Fanatical" about keeping the engine temp at 170 - 180 deg when I launch.. (I start my burn out at 140 deg.

From looking at the time (Not ET) he ran it was about 10- 20 min between runs, I'm sure the Tranny fluid was also HOT AS HELL..

Thats another thing I keep an eye on being that I DON'T make a lot of TT I make sure my engine temp is 140 for the burn out, and my trans temp is 130+ but just putting it in gear, & holding the RPM at app 1200-1500 for a few min.. & the converter will get the trans hot enough..
However in Eliminations, I don't have to worry about Tranny temp, I just use my manual fan switch to cool the motor.. it runs the fans with the motor off...

Mike there is "No One" thing that will give you consistently better ET's its a combination of a LOT OF LITTLE THINGS and seat time that will get you where you want to be...

I'm sure you'll do it..

mike_mds

Hoping to have the funds together for a RPM Level V tranny next year, and really hoping not to break anything before then.... I'd be thrilled to get the car to run consistently around 11.5 with the existing mods.

4DRUSH

When ever you want to switch TC or trans, bring it down to my house. I have a 2 post lift and all the goodies.

mike_mds

Thanks all...

Next time out I'm going to take a small notebook and start noting details like tire pressure, fluid temps, etc. so that if I have more questions I'll be able to ask them more intelligently.

Any track rentals within driving distance of York, let me know...