heres a lil video i made just being bored on sunday

doing the burntout on the street before you launched hurt you more than helped. it's not like a prepped track surface. anyhow, car looks good! what's it run?

nice... but looks like you need an airbag in the passenger spring.. driver tire is planting harder as you can tell by the darker mark..

sounds strong. looks like you also have a wheel hop problem

do that again with a bias ply at racing psi and see what happens...more evidence radials are not the ticket LOL!!

i agree, bias ply is where its at. QTPs are what i run. Not only can i hook better with them, they are alot lighter, and everyone know less rotating mass is better.

nope, they don't work at all



slicks are for people who are too lazy to tune their suspension OR for people who want something that's deadly consistant for bracket racing.

Nuff said, how many of the kids on this board do you really think have the coin to race comp style races, class races where you have the kind of money to invest into a chasis, ignition to try and help those radial stick??? ESPECIALLY with that kind of power...one only needs to look at the under carriage in your pic and it's obvious, maybe stock design, but nothing stock on there...not too many of the guys on here have the time/money to invest to make a finiky tire like a radial work when cheaper and easier to get the results you've already stated with a bias ply...

Believe me, radial are not for the run of the mill car, the video above is eactly what happens once you reach a minor power level, once you cross over into bigger hp/tq numbers, big money into chasis.

Here are some pics of my BONE STOCK susoension with a drag radial on it having no problem at all hooking. When thes pics were taken the car still had the original 100,000 mile bilstien shocks on it. Is it easier to hook on a slick? YES. Do you have to have a ton of suspension and chassis work to make a radial hook? NO





Just my 2 cents

your 2 cents are because the front struts are completely worn out, just like a drag strut and that is why you get weight transfer like that.

Also your sidewall is cupping on that launch, so you have improper tire pressure.

hehe, honestly, i'm with xpndble on this one. i run 19psi in mine without any problems.

not to mention what was your 60' ?? i don't consider a 1.7 or 1.6 hooking "hard", even 1.5s aren't really putting tires to the test.

me or 6.L? i'm doing a 1.6x right now. hoping to get it down to a 1.5 soon though

I agree 100%,

I'm not going to demean your current combo, but when a guy can cut high 1.7's on a stock suspension with $30 radial tires from a discount chain, doing that same feat with a specifically designed/expensive drag inspired tire is not so impressive, might sound harsh, but the truth usually does. Yes your car is hooking, get'er into the 1.3-1.50 60' range with your current chasis set up, then I will eat crow and hail the drag radial as a product maybe worth trying out, but until then it's just not a consistant/dead hooking tire, and last i checked, when does a person go to a race track and not want 100% hook?

They're a great concept, have come a long ways since conception, but for a truely deadly consistant bracket car it takes alot of doing other than bolting them on to make them work as consistant as bias ply's. I do agree, bias ply might be an easy way out, but I go through a set of stickies a month when i race so keeping the tire budget as low as i can is a factor as well as making sure when i do enter a race i KNOW everything i have will work pass after pass, even on a hot greasey summer track...where the radial tires seem to really show their evil ways.
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Oh, and get a good anti roll bar installed so you can lose the power robbing body roll and pick up some et that way by hitting both tires the same-this alone will start to show it's drag radial teeth sicne your not buring up power haunching back (which we know is'nt the best for traction since tires are'nt being driven into the pavement) not to mention losing power to body roll....instead it'll be wanting to shoot you ahead, and you will see other tractions issues start to pop up

haha not you, we ALL know your times.

hey thks for you input guys, the day i took the video tires had 18psi and it was about 50 degrees out. i am sure it will hook better at the track, trying to make the rearend in the car last little longer untill i get the new 1, so i do not want it to dead hook yet, and still havent sprayed it yet

damn, i guess i cant hook for crap.. 1.65 BEST on 28.5/11.50-15 qtp's.. dropping clutch at 3500.. second best was a 1.69.. then a 1.70.. i did try it at 12psi and 5k on an empty tank of gas.. 2.01


edit: the other times are with 17-18 psi from 3500-4000 drop

valid...

you keep dropping pressure 1/2 pound at a time with a QUALITY tire guage until the 60' stops improving then go back up 1/2 pound and you'll get there. Jumping wildly from 18 to 12 won't give you the results you want. 1/2 pound in my buddies car made all the difference in 60' times.

I will admit my mid 1.6 60's are not going to set any records. My car makes it to the track once a month during race season and driven to work and back a few times a week so a slick is not something I need 95% of the time. When I have regular street tires on the car they are useless so I wanted to try a M/T radial and they do well for me on the street and at the track. I wanted my car to be the same setup on the street as it runs at the track and the radials allow me to do that.

I am not trying to argue the fact that a slick will provide a better, more consistant bracket car set up. If I had the extra money and wasnt so lazy about changing wheels I would love to have a set of slicks for the track. I agree that it wikll take a well built/tuned setup to get a radial car in the 1.3's

I was running 15.5 lbs in the pics

hey matt, want to loan me the d/r's for a lap or 3 lol, I loan you some slicks ....

rich, sure! i think i've clearanced everything enough to run your big nasties under the car, lol1

Simple....no H/P......sorry

to be honest, i dont have enough track time to be able to do that.. the track only opens one friday and saturday per month.. and when the sun is out, the track doesnt hook.. on fridays i only get bracket racing.. on saturdays, i do test'n'tune but i can only get a solid 5 runs out of it.. then another round of bracket.. so all in all, i only get the crappy track on tnt for real tuning.. everyone has trouble hooking.. with the same setup as friday, running 11.7's, i will run 11.9-12.1 on test'n'tune.. those 1.70 60fts will be 1.85-2.0

oh ya, i do have a quality tire guage.. dont remember which one it is but its quality.. i also found that having a full tank of gas vs. 1/4 tank makes a .15 sec difference in the 60ft.. and one last thing, at 12psi, the car liked to sway on the topend i had to let go at half track because it was soo bad..

I know what you mean with crappey track..our T&T nights are absolutely worthless for any testing purposes, all the normal street cars drag the dirt, sand up all over the staging area, most track personell dont want to be there so they dont sweep it off, they do run street tires for awhile, sweep, then bring up the slick cars, but by then it's pointless..frustrating.

I've always raced with a full tank of fuel, one less thing i have to do between rounds (fill the car up) and then i never have to worry about what alot of guys have happen to them at some point...running out of fuel...we're bracket racing, that .0? i may pick up running 1/4 tank or less just is'nt worth it IMO.

12 psi and it was squirrely??? I've only eveer ran 10 psi in my Hoosier QTP's 28x11.5 and same with my new slick hoosier 29x9 @ 10psi. I wonder if you may have other issues, or are just not used to the sway on the big end??? in the truck i run once in awhile, we were testing at 5psi, and that's the only time i ever kinda held my breathe LOL!! but it was still controllable, just "light" in the rear end.

Radials suck LOL!! seems the radial tired guys (and no offense, just ribbing) seem to have more excuses as to why this did'nt work and why that did'nt work...put some bias ply's on and your excuse bag can be closed forever LOL

the best i have ever cut is a 1.39 60 ft on a 325-50 radial, the average is 1.40-1.42 consistantly. I run them at 14 lbs of air. and the slicks i run @ 14 also and it is always 1.37 every pass so far.

it wasnt swaying out of control.. it was probably how your truck felt.. i mean i go on the highway and burnout till 75 with it fishtailing and thats no problem.. this was WAAAYYYY out of my comfort zone.. i guess i could look into getting my steering system tightened up or possibly rebuild.. it is a bit on the loose side..

as for the fuel thing, im just lazy to get the can out and refill.. and i usually dont remember to fill her up.. i recently added 120lbs in the trunk to see what would happen but its out of season so i have to wait till february for my dad to test it and june for me to test it.. i'm still in college.. i will say that the weight helps put marks on the road alot better than before..

i've heard that you shouldnt mix radial and bias-ply tires on the same car.. i have radials up front.. could that be a problem?? i used to have 275/50-15 DR's at 11psi and it was straight as an arrow going down the track.. horrible traction though .. only after the switch to qtp's it started moving around.. that was the only difference..

11psi on drag radials....you should be 18-20 at least.

As for the radial/bias mix....i've heard that, but at this point of seeing it done thousands of times with no ill effect and 8 yrs driving my junk in that configuration..i have to say it's an old wives tale.

As for weight in the truck...my sub box weighs 100lbs...on top of my full tank of gas..my junk goes down the track exactly how it rides on the street, no change other than transbrake toggle switch is on..other than that, i fell if i cant run the number in "my" street form, it's a bogus number. I have and do pick up the .1 when i take the subs out, but why...bracket racing speed meaning nothing.

Steve hit the nail on the head...I've never ran and will never consider a drag radial, but of all the guys i know working with them, 16-20psi seems to be the working average for air pressure.

The sway your feeling could just be a combination of low tire pressure and maybe loose steering....even my car at 10 psi gets a little sway going on, but nothing i consideer out of the ordinary based on all the other cars i've driven out there...but you definately know when your at too low of a psi in a bias ply..you dont really counter steer it, but you butthole is puckers as you ride out the strom LOL!! I raced a friends 68 camaro that runs 10.00/134mph without the juice and it was a nice ride, like any other race car I've driven...but one day i raced my freinds 66' gto that only runs 12.20's...i vowed after i lost to never, ever drive that car again until he got his front end rebuilt..I've never been in soo much fear going down a race track in my life..straight up stupid.

What ?

i tried 18psi and that was crap.. it hooked better at the 11psi.. remember, my track is not the greatest.. and i run a manual with a 4.30 gear, well 3.89's at the DR's time.. but it did cut consistent low 1.8x 60ft times.. i could bracket race at 12.45 all night.. (back when i was a little slower).. nice smokey burnout, clutch dump at 5k and we're off to a 12.45.. fastest i ever got my car on the dr's was a 12.31 @111.. i just gave up on them.. swapped to 26x8.5 slicks with decent results, then to the 28.5 qtp's i have now with even better results..


IHI, when i go to the track, the only thing i change is tires.. this car is my daily driver so i have a set of street tires for rain and such.. dont want to be caught with my qtp's in the rain..

It's not thaaat bad LOL!!! so long as you get onto a major freeway that drains the water quickly your fine...i've been caught 4 or 5 times in the rain and secondary roads...well, we all know that feeling LOL!!!

No excuses here! The pic of my car that mw66nova posted above was on a 135* track that was giving everyone fits. I recorded 4 consecutive 1.28 60 foots that day on those sucky radials. I do agree they are not for everyone though.

Very impressive, esspecially at that temp, and i can imagine the traction fits most everybody there were having all day in the sun, so you did good. How much work do you have done to the chasis, suspension, what type of ignition ramps are you running?

And yes, like your picture above, there will always be the few exceptions to the rule...like that guy with the firebird running 9's on a stock engine with turbbo's and he cant blow the engine up, guys running really good et/mph with otherwise tiny combinations, engines lasting longer then they are ever supposed to given a poor maintenance schedule/being beat on excessively...while the majority of the world try's/wishes they could have that kind of luck LOL!!

Radialtireking, you pretty much are my hero brother. ever since i saw your car at atco putting the smackdown on a 275/60/15 tire in Rich Maitre's race (even though you were still a little slow) i've loved watching your car! i'm gonna go bracket racing this season and will likely go to the dark side (i'm looking at some 28x9 M/T ET Drags) for consistancy sake. but i can promise you, when i get out of college and have a little more breathing room financially, i'm puttin' the radials back on and gonna try to do what you've done!

The suspension of my car is pretty basic bolt on parts. It has spohn torque arm, LCAs, LCARB, panhard bar and rear drag bar with strange single adjustable shocks in the rear. Up front it has a PA k-member,control arms and manual rack. All bolt on parts that anyone can install with hand tools for the most part. Chassis wise it has a 10 point mild steel cage and weld in frame connectors. No ignition ramping going on with my car. It just has an old school 7al-2 for ignition and no progressive controllers either. I leave off the brake with the 1st stage of nitrous coming on right away and turn the 2nd stage on 1 second out. The car still has a stock gas tank, all stock body panels except the hood, stock glass, front and rear bumper supports and full interior less back seat. It still sees plenty of street duty as well.

Very impressive I know a handful of purpose built track only cars with big tires and running similar times N/A that have troubles when we get around 120* track temps, so whatever you did, obviously it's working.

hey matt what d/r's do you have? and we have two sets of slicks, the 28x 10.5 that are the older ones are about an inch less back space so they stick out a bit, or the ones we run now are 10.5w's, which may not fit, we had to massage the inner fender a bit...ok alot in one spot, I need to figure out a way to lower the trap rpm a fuzz, but i wont be able to run a 29.5, at 150 it will rub the front of the wheel well...the 28's did untill i uh adjusted that spot I need to find a fuzz more speed to be where i want, so I can show some tail lights to a few cars that the owners think they are awsome, I think it would be fun to put em down lol, one of them i really dont need to change gears for since i only see him on an 1/8 th, the other im not sure...

my stuff is shorter than yours i think. i'm running a 275/60/15, it'd make your car run too hard on the topend i think. the 295/65/15 would be perfect for you car. i think they're like 29.5" or so, and they don't grow near as much as a slick. the other thing you need to do is put some no kidding wheels on it, so you can be cool and light like me

I do like them there wheels, but...um..do you really think i need to put lighter wheels up front? lol I would like true skinnies for lower rolling resistance, but if i keep them in the air longer......just kidding , It would be cool to run it 1/8 th for fun, might do it on one of the mce days or something, well see. did get lca's though, should stop the rear from moving so much

That is not an old wives tale it is actually from mixing radials and bias on the same axle, not the same car or vehicle. i have ran both the BFG DR's and M/t et drag slicks. Yes the M/T's will give a harder launch, yes more consistent, but they do not sway on the other end nor do they grow at the big end. If you would go buy your tire dealer and ask for information a a DR made by BFG they sugesst that you the tire with more air that the typical Slick in other words run 18 - 26 lbs. That is where we ran ours and my 14 yr old son can drive it just fine. He can hook as long as there are no street cars with dirt in the tires ahead of him. We do not have a lot of power under him yet, but the drag radials out performed all the slick cars in the 9.0 class at George Ray's this year.