Today I went to the track in Sacramento and was able to get three runs in all of which were disappointing. My first run was a 15.135@90.266 with a 2.394 60'
2nd run:
15.025@92.650 with a 2.324 60'
3rd run:
14.785@90.898 with a 2.208 60'
The last run was against a stock Z06 that ran in the mid 13's. I had the Z06 for all of first gear somehow. My best run is in my signature which is a 14.687@96 mph, since that run I put in a cold air induction and afpr(set at 46 psi) and changed my thermostat to a 180 from a 160. The first two runs I shifted through the gears and the last run I left it in drive. What do you guys think my mph has dropped about 4 mph and I gained a tenth of a second. My best run and these runs were both done in pretty much the same weather. Please help me because I am confused that my car is slower with additional mods. Please tell me something good because I'm pretty pissed off.

 

Sixty foots need some help. Your fuel pressure may be to high. Try different settings at the track tell you get your best times. I run about 42.5psi and get my best times.

 

yeah I think I should have adjusted the fuel pressure but it was hot I was tired and it was crowded. I only got three runs in 4 1/2 hours which isn't too bad but I really wanted to focus on getting my 60' times down and not change stuff. So yeah I will probably change the fuel pressure. Also my tires are almost brand new could this have a negative effect on my 60' times?

 

BFG Drag radials or ET streets.

 

Tires can make or break you. I went from a 2.08 60' to a 2.3x 60' when I got my new tires. Bald tires suck in the rain but they have a much bigger contact patch for the track.

 

I think before I go again I'm going to get some wheels and put some nittos or bfg drag radials on them so I can switch them when I get to the track.

 

If you are not going to drive with the DR on the car to the track get a set of ET Streets. You will be much happier with them trust me.

 

TPI torque and he was probably spinning through first anyway

I used to scare the crap out of LT1 guys at the track. I'd kill them in the 1/8, but they would chase me down on the top end.
LT1 owner: "Damn dude, I looked over after the light went green and you were GONE!"
That was with my old L98 motor.

Are you icing the plenum between rounds?

 

No I didn't ice the intake, it would have been a good idea since it was so hot. Next time I go I will definetly try that. Yeah the Z06 spun all the way through first and then just flew right past me and put some major car lengths on me.

 

Our cars are rediculously subject to heat. My car changed from running 14.2's to a 14.0 after I let it sit and cool for awhile. When you are in the staging lanes, pusht eh damn thing. keep the hood open. Wire an auxiliary fan switch so you can run the fans without the motor on if you want.

Keep it cool and your times will improve. The 60 should be a little better. Give it more juice on the launch. Its ok to spin for a second.

-- Last time I was at the track I was disappointed with my 2.1-2.2 60' times. I had been feathering the **** out of it and it wouldnt help. I then changed my gameplan- I did a 3-4 second burnout to clean off the tires a little, and on green I gave it about half throttle for about .5 second and dropped the hammer down. There is a little slipping but the power being produced at WOT made up for the difference, I got a 2.024 60' on that run. I also launch at 1200 rpm.

*I always race full street, so I was on my regular tires. You don't need slicks to get a 2.0. I have seen some guys run 1.9's on street tires.

Keep it cool, and practice the launch, it makes a world of difference.

 

With all the mph you evidently lost, something is wrong with your car. Where to look? How about everything, if you don't have any ideas as to suspect parts, we don't either.

Go over everything with a fine tooth comb. Pull and read all your plugs. Make sure all your plug wires ohm out good, your cap/rotor isn't corroded, make sure the timing is set right, make sure you don't have any vacuum leaks at the lower runner-base flange, make sure you're not getting knock retard either from real or false knock. make sure everything about it feels 'right'. Even a slipping tranny can hurt you without you even knowing it. For example i swear i'm at least a mph if not 2 shy of what i should be running but my trans is known to be on the way out. It still basically feels OK, but i don't have a better explanation of where the power is going.

If it still doesn't respond, time to start going backwards. I doubt your cold air is hurting you, but the stock piece isn't that bad, so it's not out of the question that you made your new one more restrictive. Also, some cars do in fact slow down w/a cold thermostat in them. And lastly, tuning the FP is madantory. If the track was so crowded and you had so much time between runs you had no excuse to not tinker with it. Then again if you're varying over 1mph and a few tenths between runs you're not going to be able to do any meaningful tuning anyway.

And for the love of ***, don't run sticky tires on a 14 second car, you do not need 'em. Instead, just learn how to drive it. concentrate on NOT spinning the wheels. Liek Adam said, even if it takes you a little time and distance before you hit WOT, you will run a better ET than just spinning it mercilessly. A VERY little bit of spin isn't that bad, but you should really be shooting for none at the power level you're at. Last time i was at the track i had 5-6 runs. Every one of them was a high 2.0 60'. I had 2 runs w/ about one turn of the wheel as i left the line. Those 60's were 0.20 slower than the others. In other words a mid 90mph car doesn't make the power to effectively use a little spin out of the hole so you might as well hook. Try, just once, to roll into the throttle off the line, taking even a whole second to make WOT. I bet it's your best 60's of the night. It's an important lesson that any street tire racers needs to grasp, i rememeber resisting the idea of not being WOT off the line myself. But i tried it, just once and damned if it didn't open my eyes to how strong you can short time when you're thinking more of the transition to power, rather than shocking it off the line.

 

Ed and Adam,
Thank you for all the advice next time I go I will try to push my car and ice it as well as not going to wot immediately. Thank you for convincing me not to get drag radials, i will stick with street tires for now. Since it was a hot day and my car stayed nice and hot would that effect my mph or do you really think something is wrong? I'll go check some stuff out on my car, I do have a suspect plug wire or two.

 

No i seriously doubt you lost 4mph to heat. There has to be something else playing into the equation to do that much to you. If the heat is hurting you that much, check into a relocated MAT. Since i put one in my car has been dead nuts consistent no matter if i'm hot lapping it or icing and waiting 1.5 hours between runs. The only drawback is it does throw off your ECM since it's not calibrated for the relocated MAT, but unless you do a lot of driving in freezing temps it won't really 'hurt' you.

Sorry if i sounded harsh about the sticky tires, but it stands as one of my biggest pet peeves seeing 'slow' cars run sticky tires. Unless you plan on shorting well under 2.0, you don't need sticky tires. Seriously, there are only 2 elements to the game of drag racing a car of our power level. Staging and getting it out of the hole. The rest of the race besides shifting is just being along for the ride. If you run sticky tires you're basicaly saying that you can't drive and that you don't even want to try to learn.
Then again, it's not all bad. I love getting a holeshot on sticky tire cars cuz the idiot driving still can't get it right. Beat a couple stangs i shouldn't have last time at the track, no doubt they were low 13 second cars with their low 100ish trap speeds...unfortuneately neither moron could hook his ET streets and they both spent the first 1100' looking at thirdgen taillights, prolly ****ting their pants. Now that my friends is pathetic. And if you give up on leanring to drive when you're running high 14s, you are most certainly on the path to driving like those knuckheads.

 

Ed,
No offense taken I really appreciate your advice and you do make a logical argument about learning how to drive. I checked out my spark plug wire that was suspect and there definetely was a problem. The wire had about 10K ohms of resistance while the other wires were all around 2K. So I think I will be replacing that wire asap. Wouldn't this be hurting me?

 

anyone know if that cylinder would even fire with 10k ohms of resistance while the other wires have 2K?

 

Yeah it would fire. Stock wires have some ridiculous resistance in the 10s of k ohms or so IIRC. I'd venture that that wire that is out of whack is probably giving you somewhat of a dead cylinder,. There's more to plug wires than just the simple resistance, but if it's resitance is breaking down then it's ability to conduct the high energy of a spark is also probably seriously hindered. Check the plugs, if that one seems darker / dirtier than you know it was getting weak combustion.

 

i ran high 1.8's twice, low 1.9's all day with street tires, saw a few guys run high 1.7's.

i definately need to learn how to drive, but it was alot of fun for my first time.

 

Kandied91z,
How did you get such good 60' times on street tires? Tell me what you are doing.