So I ran the car a couple weekends ago at the local track (SIR) for the third time ever. First time was during the summer of 03 right after I got the car and when it was bone stock, I had never been to the track and had just learned to drive stick about a week before going Needless to say I ran a best of 15.4 @ slow.turd MPH
After some drag radials, 3.73's and the rest of my mods I managed to take that down to a 14.9... Obviously I still had no clue how to drive and can't wait until I do. The new best was a 14.3 @ 95.33 with a 2.080 60'. The only difference between this run, and the previous was the last best was during summer also and this was this time of year.. also I lowered the DR's to 24psi this time, was running 35 last time I will run them at about 18 then probly around 16 or so to see how that does. I was using a crappy little portable tire pressure gauge and it said 20 on it but was 24 when I got it home so ionno. Anyways, so I have about .28 left in the 60' or so with a good burnout (I just spun them once or twice last time) and 18psi and a little practice. This was a friggin breakthrough for me cuz I was so unsatisfied with the car until now, who knew it was just the fact that I was an awful driver :thumbsup:

 

What a great post! You will no doubt get the Most Improved award. Nice to see someone making soo much improvement. As the saying goes, "the best mod is practise".

With the DR's, you need to shoot for a 60 foot of 1.8...that should be your goal. You should be able to launch that puppy around 4500 rpms. Dropping your 60 foot from a 2.0+ to a 1.8 should take almost 0.4 off your quarter. You should be able to pull down into the mid 13's with your setup....I would say that should be a good goal for you.

Do you speed shift yet? Probably not based on your post. That's fine. I only speed shift from 1st to 2nd as there is no risk of missing a shift and that is where most of the benefit is comming from as compared to other gears.

What altitude are you racing at? You may want to correct your times. If you are at say 1500 feet, your corrected times will be deep into the 13's.

Your trap speed is a little slow....this is why I think you may be at some altitude. You should be trapping at 98 - 99 with your mods. Certainly, a 100 would not be out of the question.

Did you pull your passenger side headlight out? That is good for 1 - 2 mph in the trap...it creates a ram air affect. What rpm are your shifting? I hear 5600 is the best shift point from most guys with a 5 speed and stock cams etc... I have seen lots of posts from guys who shifted at redline, then tried at 5600 and picked up some time.

 

BTW, with my mods (I have a Vert) w/o nitrous, I ran a 14.2 at 1000 feet in late august (90+ degrees). Corrected, it was a 13.7. I trapped at 99 mph. My 60 foot times on street tires and "stock" tire pressure is always a 2.0X. Never broke a 2.0. Next time out, the pressure is comming down on the tires...I hope for a 1.8 as my goal. Nitrous? i have no times yet.

 

Why dont you speed shift all the gears? i powershift everyone with the stock shifter. I have missed once. and this is my first stick car. but seriusly you can drop 2-3 enths by powershifting. anyhoot, those are decent times for your car and your driving ablitity. But if i was you i would use 18psi in the radials and heat them and dont luanch at 4500 thats way to high. maybe 4k and slip it out the hole. then learn to shift that baby fast and it should go 13.6x. good luck.

-dustin

 

I don't power shift all the gears because the risk does not outweigh the reward. most of the benefit comes from the 1-2 shift which is impossible to screw up. Worse case is you throw it into 4th by misstake...while not good for the 1/4 you risk no damage to the motor or trany. In reality, I pretty much power shift the other gears, I just let off on the gass a bit for the 3rd and 4th shifts. For second, it stays on the floor.

The bottom line is that if you want the best possible time, you need to drive like you just stole it from your wife's boyfriend (take minute to take that one in).

 

I hear ya, nothing wrong with that, i know alot of people like that. But honestly once you do it once and know how to do it you will hardly miss, and if you do you can normaly tell its not gonna happen and stop yourself. Atleast thats what happens to me, i can feel it hit the point between 1-3 and i know i ****ed up so i dont let the clutch out. But i didnt teach myself that i can just tell and i do it. But maybe i am just special

 

1.8's is my current goal, that sounds pretty good to me. I'm learning to shift as fast as possible, I have a short shifter and dont have the extension handle so it is real short, but I still have seen video's of people shifting like 4 times as fast as me, so yah.. I am at 3075' altitude racing in Tucson, AZ at about 80* and no humidity. Not sure what that corrects to. Do you think 1.8's is still a good goal considering the alt difference? I think that is what has my trap speed so low too.. I still have the air silencer so when I pulled the headlight for the first time out there I noticed that it was sealed until I pulled out the silencer anyways so no, didn' t pull the headlight. I shifted at about 5500 last time, i will have to try 5600 next time. I also launched at about 4000 and 4500 half and half, netted the best 2 60' slipping the clutch from 4500, but that will all change after lowering the tire pressure another 6psi and actually heating htem properly. Thanks for the props man, it really brought back the mod bug when i was reading that slip on the way back to the pits :icon_joke

 

Oh, and I am sure you get it often, but I have to ask about the avatar.

 

Your altitude changes EVERYTHING! Wow! That is a pretty good run.

Go to www.modulardepot.com. Join the forums and then find the section where you can enter the data from your time slip. You will need to know temp, humidity, and altitude. Plus in all the numbers and it will generate a corrected time for sea level.

While the temp of the run was not too bad, I have to believe that your 14.3 will correct DEEP into the 13's. Your slow trap is DEFINATELY due in part, if not all because of altitude. I am not smart enough to know how it affects 60 foot times, but I would bet that it does too.

Run the numbers and then let us know.

 

That was from a visit that I had with the President on Octaber 6th with my wife and oldest daughter. We were ask by the President to meet with him as he wished to ackowledge us for our volunteer efforts for children with cancer.

In Jan 2001, we lost our then youngest daughter to leukemia after a 6 month long battle. She was just a mere 17 months old. Shortly there after, we founded a non profit organization called Home of Their Own and have since raide over $250,000. Our org provides isolation housing for kids recovering from bone marrow transplants. It is a GREAT service that is sourly needed. We have a facility in Hershey, PA.

 

already a member there for a while, found this site from that one actually. Anyways, thanks, forgot about that calculator. 13.5's, jesus, and that is in the worst case scenario for the weather because I have to estimate a little cuz it was so long ago. Guess I'm not doing as bad as I thought Need a little more work though, still think i can at least bring down that 60'. Can't wait for cams. Getting a set of VT stage II cams next, then picking up that venom kit I talked with you about. Hmm, wierd, cuz if I can get that 60' even to a 1.9, which I know I can, my et should end up around a 13.9, but that would correct to a 13.2-3. Wow, can't wait til this saturday, more practice to come Lowering tire pressure to 18, then 16 to compare, burning the tires til I just barely start to see smoke, then slipping the clutch from 4k-4600rpms, and shifting at 5600 rpms. Any other tips?

 

Wow, thats awesome, I was just gonna say that is some impressive photoshop work, LOL, but i guess not

 

just remember to check your tire pressure after each run because after a few runs the psi goes up 1-2 psi. 16-18 is a good number to stick to. ive hit 1.9* 60' times and that only yielded me a 13.5 at 103. then again i dont have drag radials. have you treid raising the pressure in your front tires reduces drag a little bit. i always bring mine up to 42 psi. since i have a auto i do 2nd gear burnouts and let em roast for about 5 seconds.

 

Never tried raising the fronts no. I will have to try that. I can probly do 2nd gear burns too cuz of the 3.73's but I just started learning to do them and will probably just stick to 1st gear, Hopefully I can get a good burn finally and see how these tires really work. I'll make sure to make another thread once I get my new times after this saturday no matter how I do. Thanks all