mooney201

First time for the Vette, and almost knocked down the wall. First gear, spun like crazy, second gear it went 45 degrees to the left. I have Hankook v12 tires, and it was like driving on ice. 2.722 60 ft. times. Only gears that hooked up was 3rd and 4th. I ran 13.06 at 120.07 mph. I decided to call it a night, before I crashed. What is the best drag strip only tire that will hold 515 rwhp with a manual trans, 3.42 gears.
Not fun almost wrecking.

pit-man

Go buy some ET Streets or Hoosier drag radials. Depending on your tire\power you sometimes have to get into the throttle easier, not slam to the floor. Control the wheel spin.

Forgot to mention you should pick up a used set of rims so you can just keep them as track tires.

homeless

ET STREET'S AND YOU WILL HAVE A DIFFERENT RIDE

SoSlow1

With a 2.722 60' the run was blown from the hit. You should've just got out of it and motored down the track and came back later with better tires. I don't have near the HP as you and if I spin that bad the run is over. Don't flame me just giving you my opinion..

LSOHOLIC

Yep..what he said^^^^^^^.
One you lose complete traction the run is over. Just get out of the throttle and ease it on down the track. The people who stay in it are the ones that put it in the wall. Unless your racing for big money or some other heads up class just abort that run.

At the hp level you stated....tire choice in a very important decision, along with wheel choice.

On a different note....I interested in the 515 rwhp.....whats that basic setup ??


Thanks....

mooney201

Thanks all for the input...

We just have the A&A supercharger. Even at half throttle, the tires were spinning. A friend also ran his 2002 Z06 and he almost crashed. He had the Michlen pilot sports street tires. He has modified exhaust and intake, and says he is about 450 flywheel horsepower. He ran a slipping 13.4 at 110 mph run. One problem was that others made the comment that the track was not prepped, so it was extremely slick. On the second run I idled out through first and second gear and then started accelerating after going into third gear, and that made a 15 second run at 119 mph.
Not much fun.

paint it black vette

i've seen numerous people in vettes try to salvage a lousy pass on street tires whack the wall. for what? i myself have back pedaled a bad launch in a race on drag radials and then got back into and got down the track for the win only running a 10.8 in a 10.5 index race the reason i got the win was a way better tree but opponent spun a little also. an ugly win but a win anyway. with most street tires you will have a hard time getting them to hook especially with power youre running. lots of stick guys used the 275x40x17 hoosier dr's until they got into an actual drag wheel racing package.

mchicia1

Did you burn out your street tires? Sounds like you went through the water box and just "cleaned them off" like most people on the internet will wrongly recommend. No matter what tire, you must do a burnout before you hit the line. Yes, with a street tire you don't need as big of a burnout, but you definitely need to get some smoke going otherwise you are racing with a wet tire.


FYI, I just ran an 11.7 at 125 with street tires and I had zero spin going down the track. Just 275 sumitomos. With 525 HP, assuming dynojet SAE corrected, you probably won't hook with a street tire though.

mooney201

With street tires, you drive around the wet box. The track was so slick, no amount of burn out with these street tires was going to hook up on that track that day. I have much better traction on the street than we had at the track last night.

LSOHOLIC

So.....with all of this being said. Whats your plans for the next outing ??


Thanks.........

mooney201

I am going to buy two rear wheels and find out what is the best drag slick for our C5. With all the experience here in this forum, there should be some consensus on what tire would be best for our cars. I am looking for a drag slick. Not a street drag radial. Some of you guys have cars at 600rwhp and more, that should have a good idea what tire works.

Thanks for all the inputs, everyone is appreciated.

btw,,, I have a drag strip only car, but it was in the paint shop, so that is why I took the vette out to see what it would do. Now, I want to vindicate the poor showing by putting on some slicks and see what it should do.

fotoboy

Et street wrinkle walls and done.

mooney201

Ok, thanks, what size fits our C5's. I see Summit has them on sale for under $200 depending on what size you need.
Paint it Black says 275-40-17 for street radials, what would that equate to in a drag slick? I can pick up two used 18" C5 wheels for a reasonable price, but wonder what size slick will fit the stock wheel, and not rub the fenders.

WICKEDFRC

505 rwtq with stock 3.42 gearing and always ran street tires at the track. Not once did I ever go anywhere but straight so this puzzles me how this happens. Is it physics, traction, tires, driver or any combination? I seen this stuff in videos but never understood why cars jump out.

gorillavet

First of all there has been plenty of good advice here. I expect you are actually running 3:42 gears not 3:45. If you get 18x11 inch rims you should get a decent size tire under you and you certainly want something in a drag radial at least. I prefer Mickey Thompson but Nitto and Hoosier are also popular. Important as mentioned above once you blow the tires off at the start your run is done. Trying to salvage a bad run can only cause more trouble. Your 60 time is the key to a good run and practice in that area will improve everything.

tlove32

Supercharger + Street Tires + Drag Stip = recipe for disaster

Get some different wheels and DR's for the strip, and leave the street tires for the street driving.

mooney201

Yep,,, you are exactly right. On the street, you have to be careful to ease into the throttle when using 1st and 2nd. I thought that the track would give better traction. Not so... I might get some street DR's so I can use more throttle on the street too. Even slipping the clutch and trying to ease off the line, did not work. Any use of the throttle would produce spin. I was not the only one, many others also had problems hooking up with street tires.

j0n

While I've never run a car at the horsepower level that you're at, I can say that every car I've ever ran down the 1/4mi on street tires benefited from a burnout.

mooney201

At some point as you increase your horsepower, you will find that street tires will not hook, no matter how hot you get them. I have drag raced since the early 60's, and now have a 850 hp Ford Falcon. Street tires have come a long way since the 40's and 50's, but they still will not hold 500 plus horsepower through all the gears. Our Falcon will spin 12 inch street tires in high gear.

Joe_G

The 17" Mickey bias ply ET Streets fit c5 front wheels or c5z front wheels.

But if you go bias on the back you need to go bias on the front. Most (like me) use GTO spares. If you don't it gets real wobbly on the big end...not fun to be doing 120+ with your tail wagging like an overloaded truck. Many have done it with no problem...but I was always afraid if someone came at me or I had to make a quick move it would be all over with that wobbly setup.

You will have perfect traction with 275/40/17 Mickey Thompsons, they last a long time, are cheap, and you can drive to and from the track on them. I highly recommend them instead of the bias ply tires. The bias ply tires are lighter but they wear out quick and they are taller...hurting your gearing. The 275 Mickeys are nice and short to get you off the line with a little extra gear.