The most accurate setups now use GPS. The Racepack Datalogger is the most popular and easy to use. It can completely map a track in a single lap.

 

right. Nizl mentions putting the unit on the hole all the time. In my opinion, you wouold have to do some serious custom cutting and reforming for this

 

Nice. Does the Racepack unit also show braking and acceleration points like the Extremegeez unit?

 

I talked to a guy name Mead, I dont remember his last name, but he was at the Infiniti and Nissan dealerships here in town and he was driving an Lemans Sunset Performance car. Mead is a rep from Nissan and also as stated, he is on the head team of team Infiniti and he said on one occasion on the Nissan test track, he was able to pull a 0-60 time of 5.1 secs, he is a very knowledgable person and he knew everything about the car and he also knew how to drive too. Before he left the dealership, heading for Charlotte, NC, I asked him to get on it and he did as asked, he left the lot sideways and left a nice pair of black marks, both tires were burning...

Patrick:

 

is my car faster cause i weigh 60 pounds lees not being a smart *** really curious

 

People who are into racing or squeezing the numbers will tell you that 60 pounds makes a signifigant difference in things like 0-60 speeds and track times when you measure to the hundreds of a second. That's why they take out the spare tire and tools and anything else that's extra weight.

Take a 60 pound weight, say a couple of cinder blocks or whatever. That's pretty darned heavy! Your car has to start that and stop that and shift that weight through corners.

Would you be able to actually FEEL the difference? Maybe a little. We've all probably noticed that our cars don't handle as well with passengers as they do when we' re alone. It's subjective, of course, but my opinion is that 60 pounds would be a signifigant difference but barely noticable to the average driver.

This post, of course, does not attempt to address the topic of whether you would perhaps be a better, more responsive driver if you were 60 pounds lighter. That is a definite possibility, but IMHO far outside anything you could measure.

 

All else being equal, 60lbs is FREAKIN HUGE!!!

 

Wait until the engine is fully broken in, and we get some stickier rubber. Should make a meaningful difference...

 

If I remember correctly each 10 pounds of weight you remove from a car frees up 1hp. Every 4 pounds of rotating weight frees up 1hp. A good example of this is the cooling fan. If the clutch freezes up the drag on the motor is very noticable. Even when working correctly it is robing hp. Remove the fan and go for a quick drive (stay above 25mph and dont stop moving) you will notice a big differance in power. If you drive a pickup truck remove the tail gate (@60lbs) you will feel the lost weight.

 

I can definitely vouch for the load a mechanical fan puts on an engine. In my current car, I took out the stock mechanical fan and installed an electric fan. Noticeable difference. Not huge, but definitely there.

As far as the truck tailgate, you will feel the lost weight, but believe it or not you can actually *increase* wind resistance by removing the tailgate. I read a write-up recently by some students at a big university. (I *think* it was MIT, but not sure.) They were doing a wind-resistance project on a big Dodge Ram pickup. In a wind tunnel, they showed that removing the tailgate actually increased wind resistance compared to having the tailgate up. The least wind resistance was obtained by simply lowering the tailgate. Very interesting project.

 

wow. I have heard tons of people tell me that removing the tail gate was the way to gp

 

100lbs is worth roughly .1 down the quarter.

 

Has anyone done any mods on the Z with improved results? Mine is in since friday picking up in 2 days. I have access to a dyno looking for cold air inake first then underdrive pulley mods. I'll let someone else be the test bed for the exhaust after seeing SCC article. Changing to all synthetic fluids once I get initial dyno read out.

 

Yeah, but I couldn't see the 0-60 flash up and still make the shift to third. I was better off concentrating on the 1/4 mile.

 

Yeah, their wind tunnels test were really surprising. Believe it or not, the *worst* aerodynamics were achieved when using one of those tailgate nets that replaces the normal tailgate. There is so much turbulence caused by that net that it just completely ruined the aerodynamics. Having the tailgate installed but lowered acted as a sort of wing, which allowed for a smooth roll-off of the wind as it exited the vehicle. The test also included a standard camper shell, and a custom shell they made specifically for good aerodynamics.

But anyway, to keep this related to the 350: don't install big stupid wings on the back of your car without first having them tested in a wind tunnel to make sure the results are desirable!

 

You moderators here ever consider makin' this an ebonics-free site?

 

Could someone test times for another model other than Track? Like the Base or Entusiast. I am interested in how the cheaper models do against the Track.

 

Also, if someone with the AT could give us some results.