Does anyone drive their ET Streets through the water box at the track?
Just questioning the method as the tires have small grooves that may hold a little water after a burnout.
So far I've been driving around the water and doing a dry burnout but it would a easier to just drive through it.

radials or the bias ply tires?

I have been using the bias plys for years and always drove through the burnout box since we have no way of going around it. Roll through the water, stop about 2-3 ft in front of the box. Do your burnout in high gear until you start to feel the tires grab and start loading down the motor.
Release brake and burn out forward under throttle. Release gas and coast forward to stage up

Bias ply.
I'll be heading to the track this Saturday for a little test and tune. I guess I'll give the water a try. Your procedure is pretty much like mine. Once I'm into the 3rd or 4th pass I don't shift into a higher gear to burnout though. Just bring it up to about 5000 in 1st. That seems to be enough.
Thanks

Worst thing you can do in an auto car is a burnout in 1st. You want to be in 3rd gear coming out of the box.

With my 6 speed, i blip the tires in 1st, roll forward and side step to the brakes in 2nd gear and run about 5000 till i hear and feel the tires start to bite, then i throttle down while getting off the brake and shut down just before the staging lights.

I've never heard that before. I'm aware of the risk of letting the tires stop the engine revs abruptly and destroying the sprag/over running clutch but nothing with respect to 1st gear itself.

Although I use a LL instead of side stepping.. same procedure hear. Dead hook after that.

I've read you dont want to blip tires in the water because you can get water in the wheel wells and it may drip down on the tires. Bad for traction.

The biggest concern is the front tires. Full treads or front runners?

There's no point in using low gear for the burn-out. You need wheel speed to heat the tires, not engine rpm.

I pull through to the edge of the water box in 2nd, set the line lock, roll into the throttle and shift to high while going 1-2 in my head, release the line lock, bring it up to around 4-5k and let it walk out about 20'.

haha 20' walk out at my track would be like a john force burnout They dont like it when 12 second street cars burn out passed the staging beams lol 8-10 ft is doable and usually what I do.

Another interesting point. I can see how my 245/50's could leave a sizeable puddle that I'd have to drive through at some point. Maybe this means I'm driving around the water box anyway.

For me, 20' leaves me room to stop, purge, and then roll into the beams.

Direct experience this past weekend. The track INSISTS that burnouts remain on the concrete pad that forms part of the water box. That thing is 10' long MAX. That's an NHRA affiliated track too.
That said, my water burnouts didn't result in a 60' I'd write home about. My best of the day was a 1.82 when I typically am in the low 1.7's. (Yes I know. Not race car territory like a lot of you) I don't blame my technique. The track had very little prep for a day that was largely street cars (such as my own), practically empty and I was too busy trying to figure out why I was losing power before the 1/8th mile. I found that 2 psi fuel pressure won't get you very far.
As for the 60', I was running 20 psi in the ET Street bias slick. Pretty sure that a tire pressure adjustment would have corrected the situation.
What pressures do you the rest of you run (typically) for the same tire?

20psi....WAY too high, I'm sure the center of those tires are smoked and the outside edges look brand new. 10-13psi is typically the sweet spot, drop 1/2 pound at time until 60' stops improving then go back up.

No visible signs of any unusual wear at this point. Lots of meat left. Centre and edge. I've only done about 15 burnouts though and none of them were massive by any stretch.
Next time out I think I'll start at or around 15 psi and see what I get.
Interesting to note that the McCreay's I was bashed for running (and have since retired)have given the best 60' so far. 1.7 flat and that was at about 25 psi.

my best 60' with vortec heads was a 1.55 I believe with a 3600 stall.

I can't see that happenning with my combo. Too mild mannered and not set up as a drag car. I would like to get under 12.5 though. A 60' in the 1.6 range would be good start.

can someone explain this in more detail? I always have though driving the front wheels through the water box, front runners or full tread (especially wider tires...) seems like a TERRIBLE idea. how does water not end up flinging off the front tires as the car accelerates on the line and cause the rears to blow off? It seems like the only way to prevent this is to drive around the water and back up into it, but thats not how I ever see it done.

Test and tune nights seems like the track would be soaked

anybody....?

Front runners are not designed to displace water like a street tire. Different rubber compound, parrellel only tread pattern w/ no sipping, and only average around 4" wide. - They won't hold water for even one full revolution.

Street tires on the other hand, are designed to pick-up water and move it to the outside of the tire. Cross cut tread patterns, sipping of the tread blocks, etc all pick-up water and with every revolution they pushi it towards the outter edges of the tire to release out from under the tread.


Anyone driving through the water w/ full street tires up front should be kindly told not to do it again or leave.

for the explanation

that's interesting, even at the big track in houston where they run top fuel, when I go on T&T nights they pretty much make everyone drive through the water no matter what, same thing at the navasota track. so you have trucks and cars with 245+ front street tires wetting down the track all night.... No wonder I can spin to the 1/8th with 300rwhp! that's really irritating!

Each one of these burnouts was done in 2nd gear and doing a brake stand. Nice and smooth. You can see the tach in each clip. These were done on MT 255/50/16 ET Streets, 3 feet in front of the water box.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iA90Gc8XOqI