Bad Day At The Office

[Seattle09GT]

There was a huge number of cars at the track today, and they were running multiple events. Car Club Challenge, Cash Attack, High School Drivers, Motorcycles, Pro Sport, and the mini drag racers. Only got four runs in from 8:30 AM to 4:00 PM.

Weather was PERFECT, with just a slight head wind. The track was ass - a lot of complaints about it being poorly prepared.

The bottom line is a better driver would have very likely gotten my car into 13.0x today. I hit the traps over 107 MPH twice, and I have a new personal best, but I couldn't hook up on launch to save my life. On my second run my rear end broke out completely on the 1 - 2 shift - despite that I got over 106 MPH at the traps. Actually had my worst run ever today, a 13.807.

My best run 13.354 @ 105.85. Got bracketed up against a pro stock driver on the first round of CCCA (WTF, seriously, why the Hell are Pro Stock drivers allowed in the amateur CCCA event) so what a shock they were .02 on their R/T and .07 on their dial in. However I was flat footed on my launch, .22 - did better on my dial in of 13.300 (as I couldn't get a good launch I just took my best known time).

Given it was 4 PM and the first round of CCCA had just started it seemed very unlikely there would be any test and tunes.

I really tried everything - after I broke loose on the 1-2 shift I dropped my shift torque to 50%. Dropped my rears to 25 psi, traction control off, heater on full blast, AC off, etc. etc.

Drag radials will be here by the 5/7 event, hopefully better times - I'm hopeful with the good 1/4 mile speed - but with 60' times in the 2.1 to 2.2 range I've got to get the spin under control.

[GRRRR8]

Sometimes lowering psi in a street tire makes it worse. DRs with a good burnout should fix a lot of your issues.

[Seattle09GT]

Sometimes lowering psi in a street tire makes it worse. DRs with a good burnout should fix a lot of your issues.

Thanks Charlie, I started at 28 psi and then on the fourth run when I hooked up a little better I had dropped to 25 psi. I'll be on Nitto's next event on 5/7 - I may take 5/6 off from work to get to Bremerton for 3 PM so I can get an afternoon of test and tune in before, weather permitting.

[laserred]

Yeah I agree with Charlie, when I had my 13.0 day, I was doing everything to get my car into the 12s.. I put 55psi in the fronts, and dropped the rears from 39psi to 29psi even though it wasn't spinning (how's that for track prep??) and the car actually slowed down in the 60', 1/4, and lost almost .7mph with everything else the same, and the DA had actually improved. Also, don't be surprised if once you get DRs and some hook that your MPH will fall off- the bit of tire spin actually helps MPH because it gets the RPMs up some, but ET suffers.

When I had my Mustang, I dropped a solid 2-2.2mph because there was absolutely no wheelspin anywhere, but the ET dropped almost 3 tenths. It was quite a rush launching on a full 26" slick with a factory clutch, factory T5, SVO aluminum driveshaft, and full factory rearend with 3.73s, holding the RPMs at 6200 and just flat out dumping the clutch. I do believe I'm the only guy in history to pull the front wheels 10" off the ground on his way to a stellar 13.50@98mph pass!! LOL