Setup, 03 track model with plenum spacer, testpipes, motordyne exhaust, dynotune 75 shot, on 285 wide street tires

Went to the track last weekend, was able to muster a 14.5 @ 100 NA, 13.9 @ 105 on the bottle. 2.3 60's (it was extremely cold, track prep was horrendous, street tires). So, the ET's are somewhat 'lol'.

Should I be concerned that my traps seem somewhat low, compared to the likes of 3hree5ive0ero, who can apparently trap a 104 NA and 110 on a 75?

 

elevation?

 

Scan and post best time slip. Thanks.

 

Slip or fail.

 

Elevation is about 1300ft, sorry. Made the post in a rush, here at work. Don't have my timeslips with me.

Our track is notorious for running "slow times", especially for low traction cars. To put it into perspective, I was having to let off, when going into second, due to traction issues, while NA! Would that affect my traps a bit?

I'm somewhat new to RWD drag racing -- done a lot in AWD cars, which comes down to slipping the clutch right. This whole tire-spin thing makes me feel like a noob, lol.

 

1300ft is def felt, but thats still bad IMO

Ive trapped 107mph NA @ sea level

Is your Z tuned NA or on N20?

 

Even at 1300' if the temps are in the 40's with low humidity............you are close to 0' DA. I agree though.......those traps are low for the mods on the car.

OP, what were the weather conditions?

 

absurdparadox, good to see you actually going out to the strip to see if your mods did anything rather than strapping it onto a dyno and being done with it like the other 99% of our member population.

To figure out your relative DA, you'll need to tell us the temperature, humidity, and pressure for each runs. You already gave us the track altitude and the track results, so those are good.

And as stated just above, if your conditions were as cold as you implied, then you should have been close to 0' DA. Without seeing your time slips, all we can do is speculate. My guess would be that you just couldn't catch traction so your 60' suffered. Additionally, if you have to let off, then that run is pretty much useless; you already added at least .3 seconds to your time.


BTW, my 104.xx traps weren't the norm, highest N/A trap being 104.98 mph. I live in TX and it's a rare sight for us to have even halfway-decent DAs. There are times when we do experience conditions similar to sea level, though, and that's probably when I ran my 104 trap speed runs. Usually, my trap will be anywhere from 99-102 (usually in early spring and late fall). My mods when I ran the 104 trap were: popcharger, mrev2, 5/16" spacer, and test pipes on Hoosier D05 compound slicks. Basically, if your track elevation is too high, you probably shouldn't aim to beat the "records" set on our forums since it's just physically impossible to do so due to greatly varying DAs across the country. Focus on competing against yourself and your locals without making too many comparisons with this person or that person somewhere else.

And as far as my nitrous runs go, my jet sizes aren't the same as those specified by Dynotune Nitrous. Dynotune rates their recommended jet sizes using crank or flywheel hp, while NX uses wheel hp. I opted to go with NX's nitrous jet size with whatever fuel jet size was needed to obtain proper AFR. My mods at the time of my PB runs on both 75 and 100 shot were the same as those from my best N/A runs for the most part.

 

Awesome, thanks for the input, 3hree.

Yeah, I know I shouldn't be comparing times to other tracks... I just wanted to make sure it was really a combination of environment and driver, instead of say, jacked up engine compression or something, lol. So, good to know my traps could be affected more than I thought.

As far as weather conditions go, my time slips didn't show a DA, if I remember right (currently at work -- sorry I haven't had a chance to post them up yet). But it was indeed like 40 degrees and it ended up raining a few hours later. It was an "import drags" night, so all the crazy big-slicked hondas running 11's were complaining, but a couple AWD cars set new personal bests (notably, a DSM running a 10.30 @ 142).

So, anyone got any good crap-condition street tire launching techniques? Also, whats interesting, is I swear I can launch better on the street (only up to the speed limit, of course O:-) )

Also, quick question, 3hree -- are you pulling any timing on your 100 shot? If so, what did you use? Seems some people feel you should, others, you shouldn't.

 

For a true 100whp shot, 4º of timing should be retarded, but I only pulled 2º on mine. That was the most I could do with the Cobb Accessport, I think. Or maybe it was UpRev's Cipher, but either way, 2º was the max and that's how much I pulled. I figured it's better to be safe than sorry.

It sounds like you had great DA, but you just couldn't catch traction and letting off probably had something to do with it. Don't expect to catch traction on street tires if you spray. The instant torque will be too much for the street tires, especially in the cold. I think your 2.3 supports my claim. Regardless of what happened down the 1/4 mile, your traps are still a bit lower than they should be, especially at close to 0' DA.

BTW, how does your AFR look?

 

Cool, I still chalk it up to the letting off and traction issues. You said you trapped 99-102, which is right in line with what I was doing. And, to be clear, I was having to let off, going into second, while NA.

My AFR's are fine, still running the too-big fuel jet to get them where they should be -- convinced that my issues are due to nozzle location. Planning on fixing it here soon. Will post up if thats the case, so we can definitively say "Don't put your nozzle more than X away"

 

OK, then I'd assume your issue here to be you letting off. Traction shouldn't be too big of an issue N/A even on street tires, but it will be with nitrous.

Ah, I remember your thread now about the rich fuel jet size. You're not the only one with ridiculously large fuel jet size, since I use .032 for my 75 whp shot and .042 for my 100 whp shot. My fogger isn't even as far down the intake tube as yours. It works for me, though, and I haven't had any issues that I know of yet with 99K on the odometer (knock on wood).

 

My timeslips, finally:

Nitrous Run:
60: 2.3425
330: 6.2053
1/8: 9.21 @ 82.46 mph
1000: 11.81 @ 93.87
1/4: 13.97 @ 105.18

NA run:
60: 2.4483 (yuck, launch fail, lol)
330: 6.4209
1/8: 9.59 @ 78.32
1000: 12.30 @ 89.55
1/4: 14.57 @ 100.16

 

It looks like you need a lot more seat time. Regardless of how bad the track prep was or how cold it was, 2.45 short time is absolutely unacceptable. Keep in mind that you didn't have to go WOT and should have eased into the throttle. Additionally, you can always short shift if you can't catch traction in the subsequent gears. Drag racing is not always about launching hard, going full throttle, and quick shifts. Consistency is much more important than personal bests, which only is for bragging rights really.


Here's a random slip of mine with approx. 100 trap and on street tires (back from 2006, Sept 6th at Texas Motorplex):
60' - 2.075
330 - 5.876
1/8 - 8.946
mph - 80.53
1000 - 11.588
1/4 - 13.816
mph - 99.74

My best N/A run on street tires was 13.584 @ 104.78mph on March 9th, 2007 at Texas Motorplex. My 60' was 2.074 on this particular run.

My best N/A run on Hoosier slicks was 13.212 @ 104.75mph, so you can see how much difference slicks made between that run and my street tire run. My short time for this run was 1.896 and it was also my first time out ever with slicks. I believe that run was my 3rd or 4th run on brand new slicks. Never beat that time N/A after that, go figure.

With a 50 whp shot (should be slightly less than your 75 shot), I only made it out to the track once to see how much difference the 50 shot made. My nitrous runs just broke 12s trapping as high as 108 mph until my bottle pressure dropped. I also ran N/A before the nitrous runs so I have some real numbers to compare the nitrous numbers to. I believe I made 1 or 2 runs, resulting in 2.2ish short times and finishing the 1/4 mile in just over 14 seconds, trapping under 100. I think I could've gotten it down to ~13.8. DA on this night was ~2500'. This was done on May 23rd, 2008 on street tires.


The way I drag race is against myself and my previous best times. I usually set a goal before going to the track and I've never left the track before I reached my goal of the day on my own free will.. ever. I'm very competitive when it comes to things I like (ex. drag racing) and that's how I stay motivated to constantly improve over my previous runs. Maybe setting obtainable goals will help you, too.

Lastly, my mods never really drastically changed, so most of my runs are comparable in terms of mods/power. Hope this post gives you an idea of where you should be.

 

Seat time, seat time, and more seat time. I have trapped higher both in the 1/8 and 1/4 than your nitrous run. There isn't any one area you need to focus on more than the other...........it all needs improvement. Tires make all of the difference too......but you need to get a better feel for your car in general before you will be able to use a good dr or slick to its utmost.

 

Yeah, I agree guys. I have a lot of experience doing AWD drag racing, but this is my first RWD car thats even remotely fast. Still trying to overcome some bad habits, and figure out how to launch the thing. I do ease on the throttle, but need to just try it easier, next time. Thanks for the advice!

 

Some good advice in this thread. Goodluck your next time out.