Took the vehicle to a dragstrip this weekend for their last test-n-tune day of the season. Never been to a dragstrip before and didn't know what to expect. Must say it was a fascinating experience. As a complete newbie didn't do anything special to prep the vehicle: Fuel tank was 2/3 full, tires were normal air pressures, didn't remove any items (except the jumper cables) to reduce weight. Also, there was an 18mph NNW wind with gusts into the mid 20's and the track has the cars racing straight North . . . right into the wind. And man was the place packed with racers!
The best run was the first one before many people had made passes (and started dragging water into the main lanes). Was able to mostly bypass the water pit, but the pits were nearly as wide as the lanes. I had read about starting in 2nd and brake boosting to ~2k, but for my first 1/4 pass ever and I tried to start conservatively. Didn't really do any brake boosting and left the traction control on. I did start in 2nd gear. It was obvious the vehicle had too much torque for the track surface as the traction control kicked in quite a bit in 2nd gear even without brake boosting. The Michelin Pilot Super Sport's were not up to the task. Also, my reaction time sucked and the 60' was a horrible 2.24sec, but ended up with a 13.1 sec 1/4 mile at 107.2mph. That was fun.
Next pass still had the traction control on but tried to brake boost a little and had bigger traction issues. Much better reaction time on my 2nd pass, but an even worse 60' at 2.6 sec. Still ended up with a 107.1mph at the end into that headwind.
Tried once with traction control completely off and it was a fricken' clown show. Car nearly went sideways before I took my foot off the pedal. And water was becoming a problem as the big boys were heavily using the water pit (that's kinda cool to see) and dragging water everywhere. I didn't see any reason to continue trying without drag slicks.
Calculating the difference in wind drag at 107 mph vs 125 (107 + the ~18 mph headwind) shows an extra ~35hp sucked up by the headwind. Too bad it wasn't a strong tailwind
So, you guys with drag strip experience, what do you think proper tires that could hook up with brake boosting, and a calm day, would do for the 1/4 ml time? And any suggestions on a good drag wheel/tire setup?
The best run was the first one before many people had made passes (and started dragging water into the main lanes). Was able to mostly bypass the water pit, but the pits were nearly as wide as the lanes. I had read about starting in 2nd and brake boosting to ~2k, but for my first 1/4 pass ever and I tried to start conservatively. Didn't really do any brake boosting and left the traction control on. I did start in 2nd gear. It was obvious the vehicle had too much torque for the track surface as the traction control kicked in quite a bit in 2nd gear even without brake boosting. The Michelin Pilot Super Sport's were not up to the task. Also, my reaction time sucked and the 60' was a horrible 2.24sec, but ended up with a 13.1 sec 1/4 mile at 107.2mph. That was fun.
Next pass still had the traction control on but tried to brake boost a little and had bigger traction issues. Much better reaction time on my 2nd pass, but an even worse 60' at 2.6 sec. Still ended up with a 107.1mph at the end into that headwind.
Tried once with traction control completely off and it was a fricken' clown show. Car nearly went sideways before I took my foot off the pedal. And water was becoming a problem as the big boys were heavily using the water pit (that's kinda cool to see) and dragging water everywhere. I didn't see any reason to continue trying without drag slicks.
Calculating the difference in wind drag at 107 mph vs 125 (107 + the ~18 mph headwind) shows an extra ~35hp sucked up by the headwind. Too bad it wasn't a strong tailwind
So, you guys with drag strip experience, what do you think proper tires that could hook up with brake boosting, and a calm day, would do for the 1/4 ml time? And any suggestions on a good drag wheel/tire setup?