suggestions for a first timer
 

hey guys, hopefully when the weather clears up here in a few weeks, I will try to make it out to sacramento raceway. But since I've never been down the track before, I was wondering about a few things that I should know before actually doing it. I have a stock 350 tpi swapped into an 85 camaro z28. the engine and tranny (700r4) both have about 10k on them, with new fluids all around. it has a 3.23 rear, good tread on tires, and the converter is stock as well.

wondering:
-what rpm to shift at in which gear
-beneficial to run with less gas(1/4 tank)?
-keep it in d or od?
-what rpms should it be at before launching?
-what temp would be the best to run at?

any thing else that I should know that I missed? Thanks for any help, I want to know as much as I should before racing the car at all, want to be safe with it.

First of all if you're not in any competition, just go out and have fun.

Leave it in D and let the tranny shift itself.
Third gen's are nose heavy so extra fuel in the tank can help. I wouldn't want more than 1/2 tank though. Gasoline is 6 pounds per gallon
Since you don't have a high stall converter, leaving at a higher rpm isn't going to help. The TPI doesn't use an accellerator pump so loading the driveline up to 1200 - 1500 is all you'll need.
Colder engine temp is the best but every run it will just get hotter anyway.

Leave everything you don't need at home. Make sure the tires have at least 32 psi in them. Street tires don't like low air pressure.

Watch other cars and what they do. Drive around the water box to the inside if possible. They sweep the dirt and rubber to the outside and you don't want to drive through that. Street tires just need a short dry hop to clean them off. Trying to heat them up in the water bax just makes them wet and slippery.

After you prestage then stage, watch the tree. Totally ignore whoever is in the other lane. They have nothing to do with you. When you see the last yellow light come on, go. By the time you and the car react, the light will be green and you should get a good reaction time. Reaction time does nothing for your ET but in a race, it can win or lose. The timer won't start until you break the starting beam. You can sit there for 10 seconds if you want before going and your ET will be the same.

Thanks for the help. One other thing I was wondering is about the time. since it's a sea level, and temp is normally about 50-60 around spring, what would be an average et with the car in good running order? Would high 14's and low 15's be a good estimate for my car, and my lack of experience? Other with similar thirdgens I know ran high 14's when they were stock, but they were good drivers. I hope I don't hurt my motor too bad doing this.

Not sure about the times but... Just remember, the gas pedal isn't an on off switch. Don't just stab it out to the floor, roll into it quickly.

Someone correct me if I am wrong. Dosent the person in the left lane always go first when returning after the run. Even if the car in the left is slower then you, I believe you are suppose to wait for them and let them go first. Atleast that is what people were telling me when I went.

that's what I thought too, at least from what I've seen. Do both lanes run at the same time at Test n tune?

usually not.

Triple "A" card (a little insurance for the way home)

Here, it's "almost always". Otherwise, you'd be lucky to get two runs in on a given T&T night. Not unusual to have a couple hundred cars out.

At CFR they have two 'exits' on is earlier and one goes all the way to the end of the track(both on the right side of the track) what i always did was if im in the right lane, exit at the first exit, left lane? go to the second.

WELL HEY AT SAC U HAVE 2 EXITS I NEVA TAKE THE FIRST ONE TO HARD ON THE BRAKES JUST LEARN HOW TO TAKE IT EASY ON THE PEDAL GET THE STALL UP TO 1500 1800 AND IF U START SPINNIN WELL LET OFF AND AFTER A COUPLE TIMES YOUL GET THE HANG OF IT U CAN TRY TO STALL IT UP AS MUCH AS U CAN TRY IT ON THE STREET RIGHT BEFORE URE TIRES START SPINNIN

Up at Redding it's the left lane who turns first since the exit is on the left.

had a good time. Nice weather, and plenty of nice cars going fast, and also loud! I couldn't even hear my car pretty much the whole time! As for the launching, I never really had a chance to practice a whole lot since I only got to run twice, so I took off a idle. But I held it all the way down just after a quick roll into the throttle and didn't get any tire spin at all, except for a nice little chirp into 2nd. I only managed a 2.2 60' and 16.4 and 16.5 1/4 times @ 82 mph. Although I had a full tank of gas, and even my spare/jack, and I did need to let off the gas to make the auto shift, and the motor felt like it lost some juice going into 3rd, I figured it would be around that. I mean I still have the stock muffler and fram air filters on it's that stock! Hopefully I will get a new muffler for it and hopefully some headers in the near future here. The engine seems to run fine except for an intermintent exhuast leak at the left manifold, so I am hoping for some better numbers next time. Thanks for the advice everyone, it was a good experience, and I look forward to more fun races!

Though I must admit, losing to honda civics isn't my camaro's greatest hour, but just as long as it can beat a Kia it's happy.:)

here's a picture of me running.

you didnt do too bad your first time it sucks you only got 2 runs in but there is some improvments you can do you should defidently be in 15s somwhere

losing to honda isnt bad cause it doesnt take skill to drive them if they are auto just mash it off the line no burnout and power isnt till uptop so a idiot can drive one but who brings a honda that isnt a nsx to the track anyway??

you did better than i did with my first run at the track my first run i ran 17.5 witha 2.5 60ft and a half a track burnout i posted a pic awile ago of that

ya the car pulled good in 1st and 2nd, 1 especially off the line, but 3rd it just felt like our family's corolla. I wonder what kind of tweaking and tuning would be involved to help that out? Probably modifications of course, but other things as well I would think.

well what was your 1/8th and 330?

Left lane always turns first at my track, right lane follows.

Race on a full tank of gas. You figure gas weighs 6 pounds a gallon. Difference between a half tank and a full tank on a 15 gallon tank is 7.5 gallons, or roughly 40 pounds. 40 pounds isnt going to mean a lot in the 1/4 mile, maybe 4 or 5 hundredths of a second off your ET. But 40 pounds situated directly above the rear tires will really help your 60' times if you are running on street tires.

the timeslip doesn't say. But you could tell it fell on it's face in 3rd, no top end at all.

if you've got an l98 you should be running faster than 16.5. My lo3 w/ exhaust hit 15.9 in very similar conditions.

the rule on who gets off track first is pretty simple, just never drive in front of anyone. if the exit is in the opisite lane as yours let the other guy get off first, even if youo run a 12 and he runs a 19.

-chillen

That's a day at the office for me, running mufflers in open-exhaust-allowed classes.

So simple, but so oft ignored. Watch a few guys hit the beach, and you'll be cured of that...

yes, I know this is kind of on the slow side. I am not sure if it is because I'm not an abusive driver, more or less not probably. Soon, I will try to tune it better, and see what might be causing me to run slower than an LG4. Plus, I'm not even certain it is a 350, this is just what the guy said, how many can ya trust these days? Besides, who in the world runs mid 16's with an L98? probably no one.

I'm sure stock exhaust isn't helping my situation at all though:p