Mercutio

Since I drag race at most once or twice a year I must admit that I'm not that good at it. I made three quick passes tonight in preparation for an event tomorrow, and my best effort was a 13.97 at 107.5. The 60-ft time for that run was 2.23. I'm running on Goodyear GSD3 street tires. Obviously my car is making good power I just need to get it out of the box quicker. If anyone has tips for racing on street tires (pressure?), shift points or launch technique I'd love to hear it and drop a few tenths tomorrow.

punishmentcycle

iTrader: (6)

what did you do to keep the wheel hop down?

Mercutio

I tried launching very conservatively, not too far above idle. That bogged a bit. The worst wheelhop was on the 1-2 shift in my first run; it hopped all the way through second gear...long enough that I thought "I should back out of it but surely it'll hook back up soon and wow it's still hopping maybe I really should lift naw this can't last much longer (bang bang bang bang) oh look the rev limiter. As I say, I'm not a great driver when it comes to drag racing. Autocross is another story, but I just don't have the drag racing seat time in this car to be confident in my techniques.

Mercutio

Oh, and I should reiterate that the event is TOMORROW, so I'm looking for driving technique/tire pressure tips only, not which parts I should install in the future.

FWIW I have the Specter bushings and they don't seem to be of much help.

itsslow98

iTrader: (18)

no need for burnouts, feaqther the clutch from about 3k without dumping it. i have to admit that 2.23 is lower then my 60'. i honestly dont think its gonna get a whole lot better without hoppin so good luck. i havent managed to get mine to not bog down for a split second after i come off the line.

punishmentcycle

iTrader: (6)

.

FWIW I have the Specter bushings and they don't seem to be of much help.[/QUOTE]

see i just dont know what to do with the hop issue...if its wet out the car hops just driving normally..its really starting to **** me off. let alone when i actually get on the throttle.
im not dragging the car but damn dude i wanta drive it! so from here on out im on a mission to get the rear figured out before i dump any money into making the car faster..and a 7grand rearend cant be the only fix..im mean geeezzzz

punishmentcycle

iTrader: (6)

good luck at ur event by the way...

and the cars bogging off the line because of the throttle by wire...rev it a few times just before the launch to get the actuator going..u might have to slip the clutch at the top just a bit to keep the spin/hop to a minimum..but it should help ur 60 with some practice

Mercutio

Thanks to everyone who posted advice. Sunday I managed to be the first car on track for practice. The air temp was 50 degrees--good weather for power and the track prep was good. I lined up for my first pass and the car hooked much better than the day before. I could tell instantly I had a decent run going if I didn't do anything stupid. After I managed to get the 1-2 shift right I knew it was going to be a fast run (at least by my standards). I ran a 13.63 at 108.5 with a 2.13 60-foot time. That ET, trap speed and 60-foot were all my bests for the weekend. Things went downhill after that in terms of time. I was running brackets and dialed in 13.80. In the first round I faced a good friend of mine in a near-stock 95 T-Bird SC 5-speed. Those cars wheelhop almost as bad as the V does, BTW. He dialed 15.90 and at the line I absolutely destroyed him, .071 RT to his .605. He hopped in first and second so I passed him before half track (I actually thought he broke I passed him so early) and backed out of it so as not to break out, coasting to a 14.75 at 86.99. In the next round I faced a seriously quick Marauder dialed at 11.50. I had a hunch to change my dial to 13.90 so I did and after a poor launch I ran a 13.91 at 108.4. That would have been awesome except that I redlit by .146...not sure what I was thinking there. Anyway, that ended my weekend but I have a new best MPH and ET in the car so it was a decent weekend.

Mods, by the way, are K&N kit, ported TB and Corsa.

jerrad

iTrader: (5)

Nice time and MPH!
What did you launch at?

Mercutio

To be honest I never really looked at the tach but I'd guess that on my best run I launched right around 2k and tried slipping the clutch. I made over a dozen runs and had one other 60 foot of 2.15 yesterday but I never got back below 2.20.

ETA: I have an in-car camera and will try to find my launch RPM when I watch the video tonight.

punishmentcycle

iTrader: (6)

nice times..

Mercutio

It's difficult to be certain but as best I can tell on the video I launched between 1750-2000 RPM.

jerrad

iTrader: (5)

Cool. Back to the turns I guess? lol
Awesome run.

Mercutio

Yeah...I may drag it again at SSHS9 at Commerce in November but we'll see. I live over 3 hours from the closest 1/4 mile so I just don't make it out very often.

jerrad

iTrader: (5)

3hrs is a long haul just to make 4-7 runs.

Hendrix-Engineering

Great results,sorry i didnt see this sooner,i always like to act as if there is an egg under the gas peadal and your trying to roll it without crushing it,you want to feed it just enuff clutch to keep the car moving but trying to keep the rpms up as well.The 1-2 shift is going to wheel hop theres not realy any way to avoid that with the stock axles,i would recomend letting off if its bad.Good luck on your next trip im sure it will be a little sooner now LOL

liqidvenom

iTrader: (2)

you might want to feather it out of the hole at 3k or so.

Mercutio

I forgot to mention it but the only thing I did to prepare the car on Sunday was inflate the front tires to about 41 psi and deflate the rears to around 27. It was just a wild-*** guess...it seemed like a good idea at the time.

onebadcad

iTrader: (1)

Damn glad you could drive it home, a few tips for you:

1) Forget about DRs, if the V gets grip with these you will lose your rear
2) Never drop the clutch!!!, maybe okay if you still have warranty
3) Take it out slow at 2,000 , if good, go with 2,500 on next launch, 3,000 launch will be your max, 2.10 60' is about as good as you can get on stock HP
4) 3 hour haul, you are committed, get there earlier and let the car cool down
5) What mode did you run in, I would never tell anyone to ditch all controls, but Competitive Mode at least
6) Not sure when your motor does on dyno, it probably is not max power at 6,600rpms, so find out and make this your shift point
7) Rear tires can go down to maybe 20psi
8) Shut off the A/C, probably does not help, but makes you a baller
9) Make sure you run with 93 octane if available, do not think you will get much with an octane booster, but again you will be a baller
10) If you want to go hardcore, ditch the rear seat, get rid of the spare if you have one, open the hood between runs and throw some ice bags on it, run on 1/4 tank of fuel, etc... or keep it simple, as more runs will get you where you want to be

Good luck next time.

Mercutio

Thanks. I'll address your points one by one:
1. I don't race often enough to justify buying wheels & drag tires, especially when I have a set of Team Dynamics rims & Hoosiers dedicated for autocrossing.
2. Agree completely.
3. Sounds reasonable.
4. This is why I don't race much. At that point it makes more sense to stay overnight.
5. I ran with all stability & traction control off.
6. According to the (wildly optimistic) dyno I used my car made 357 hp and 343 lb-ft. According to the graph power is above 350 from about 5600 to redline. Torque peaks around 5000.
7. Okay, finding a pressure that works for street tires was one of my main concerns.
8. I always keep the AC off, even in the pits and staging lanes so that the compressor won't drip on the track.
9. My car drinks only 93, naturally.
10. I ran with a 1/4 tank but I'm not into stripping the car of weight. When I tell someone what my car will run I like to know that it will run that time exactly as it sits at any given time.

Thanks again for the advice.