Wow I was totally unprepared for what would happen at the track on Sunday. From what people were saying it was 42deg and had a 20mph head wind, both are believable cause it was damn cold and windy as heck. The car makes 431whp 398tq on Firestone wide oval 295 street tires.

1st pass I tried to launch the car at 2700 rpm 22psi in rear tires. Wheel hopped terribly in 1st so I let off and shifted 2nd which netted the same result. It was so bad it scared the crap out of me I thought I broke the rear so I shifted 3rd and coasted to the end. End result aborted run.

2nd pass I kept tire pressure the same and decided to roll out of the whole instead of launching it. So I did netting a 2.5 60' lol tried to ease on the gas but it wheel hopped again 1st and 2nd but this time when I short shifted into 3rd I stayed in it once the wheel hop was over. This netted me a dismal 14.1 @ 109. Need a new strategy

3rd pass I increase tire pressure to 25 psi since I dont wheel hop on the street and thats a little closer to street pressure. I roll off the line again netting another 2.5 60' I ease 1st about 1/3 throttle with no wheel hop. shift 2nd and hammer it big shock bad wheel hop so I feather the throttle to sift 3rd and get back in it. I spun 3rd a bit but just stayed in it. result is a 13.9 @ 110. Damn!

4th pass tires still 25psi roll from the start ease 1st and 2nd with only a little wheel hop cause of part throttle and hammer 3rd with again a little tire spin. Result 13.4 @112

Last run do every thing the same but test 2nd a little more and it held ok as well did 3rd getting me 13.1 @113.

I have a lot of practice a head of me and this was the 1st time I was able to go to the track and at least shift. But my next course of action is to get some sticky tires like et streets and harden up the rear. Doing this should help with my traction/wheel hop problem I hope. I know the time are absolutely rancid but any constructive comments/help?

 

Something is wrong.

Clutch? Slipping/not releaseing?

Driver error

Or,...are you sure the car makes that power? Those are stock times, with a not soo great driver,...to put it into perspective.


Whats your 8th mile?

 

Did you even read his posting? His car has a bad wheel hop problem, which was made worse by the cold weather. This is a common problem with C5s. I too am considering new rear bushings and/or shocks.

 

Severely doubt the clutch is slipping felt like it was holding fine and holds on the street/highway. I know the feel of a clutch slipping from when my stock one died and it did not feel like that at all. Actually on the highway on the way home a buddy from the track who was faster there ran me and I walked away decently. Driver error I am sure has a lot to do with it. I saw the car on the dyno when it was tuned. 1/8th mile times are as follows
1st 9.8@76
2nd 9.6@83
3rd #'s didnt print right it says 1.4@0.00
4th 9.0@87
5th 8.7@89
When I give my description of having to roll off the line and not give hardly any throttle in first and only about 1/2-3/4 in second I am not kidding.

 

Sorry to hear about that bro. I know when I ran 12.02 @ 123.6 mph 2.11 60 I was pissed. I didn't have the wheel hop you experienced, I just spun. 305 35r18 Nittos Drag Extreme. They hook great on the street, but didn't do **** at the track.

 

I made about 30 passes this year. The run flats would hop terribly launching barely over 2000 for me, unless feathering the clutch. My best 60' on runflats was 2.19.

Switched to MT drag radials @ 15 psi. Launched at 5200 with no wheel hop and a 1.88 60'.

 

So it looks like I need to install harddened output shafts and get the ET streets. The car is my DD so the worst nighmare was me wheel hopping real bad and breaking the rear. I thought I did that the first run it was so violent. The ABS light came on and the DIC was telling me service TCS and ABS and Thats Why I put it in 3rd and coasted I thought my day was over. I got it in the pits and things felt ok so I turned it off and then right back on and the light and DIC display was gone. So I figured it just got real pissed and nothing broke.

 

Looks like you are making good power with that 113 mph. Just need work on the launch. I had an 07 Corvette with bad wheel hop. I installed Z06 shocks and totally eliminated WH. My 08 does not have wheel hop. I also installed a Z51 rear sway bar for better traction. Keeps the car closer to level at launch which allows both rear tires to hold better.

Some tracks are not prepped very well. Could be part of the problem. However even on a poorly prepped track you should not get WH.

 

Don't feel bad. C5's aren't exactly designed to hook so well on the strip.

Everyone I've talked to raves about the Pfadt coil overs. Although that is an expensive route to take, it would eliminate wheel hop and help dramatically w/ your handling in general. I would take that route before I spent too much money on shocks, springs, rear end and tires. Just me though.

 

I had a real bad tire hop issue with my '02 Z06 and went with a pair of MT ET Street Radials. No more tire hop and with 385rwhp I was able to pull a 1.64 60' (many times in the 1.6x range) with a best of 7.5 in the 1/8th. My '00 with BFG DR's putting down 510rwhp on spray was netting some 1.58 60' times. Z06 suspension on the Coupe and no suspension mods on the Z besides lowering it. Kooks LT's, high flow cats, Borla Stingers, B&M Ripper, tune, and the zip tie mod on the Z.

Good luck. And one more .02....get rid of the Wide ovals. I had a set for less than 100 miles and sold them. Look up actual tread width compared to some other tires...they are not as wide even though it says it's a 295.

 

My cousin told me once he went to all Z06 suspension it ended his wheel hop however he was stock power wise and never tracked it. I do have Z06 sways but I doubt it does a whole lot. I have read that a good set of tires such as the MT's will stop wheel hop that is why I mention using them. I am just afraid to launch the car with my power on a sticky tire without upgrading the output shafts. I would love to pull some 1.7-1.6 60' times that would lead to a real nice ET. As for the wide oval tores I have noticed that it looks like they have a funny lip leading to the edge of the wheel so I can see them not being as wide as another 295 contact patch wise at least. Thanks for the input guys it looks like I am thinking correctly by wanting stickier tires.

 

You need more seat time bro. The wheelhop can be avoided with changing your technique. The best thing you can do is go down to the track with someone who has some experience with vettes.
As mentioned above, stickier tires, will help with wheelhop if you do a proper burnout, but I don't think that's your issue. You should be able to launch the car without wheelhop even on street tires.
The width of the tires and the suspension has nothing to do with it. Keep practicing and read up on some techniques like the ones Ranger posted. You should be able to cut 1.9x-2.0 and some low 12's on street tires before going to drag radials. Goodluck

 

Yeah I know I need seat time to work on my launch especially in a car like a C5. I have read Rangers launch tecniques numerous times. I know a lot had to do with my pitifull launching but at some point at least some of it would have to have been out of my control. I mean even in 2nd gear if I was at all hard on it I got wheel hop and I dont think that has anything to do with the launch but I am not an experienced drag racer by any means. It sucks the track is over 2 hours away other wise I would be there all the time. Since the car is all together now I can start practicing more next season.

 

It's not your launch techique its in the suspension my father has the same problem with his 99 c5 m6. He is going to try koni fsd shocks we will see if they help with the wheel hop.

 

Sounds good bro. We'll help you out. Just be sure to take advice from people who actually run their similar cars at the strip. You'll get alot of poor info otherwise.

 

Yeah I know some Fbody and munstang guys and none of there advice will help me and my IRS.

 

I’ve had good luck with the stock runflat tires and stock suspension. 99% of the time I don’t experience any wheel hop, and I’m able to run low 1.90 sixty foots.

Just an observation: after many, many ¼ mile passes one thing I’ve noticed is that the only time I get wheel hop is when there is water on the track. If the person in front of me gets the track wet from the burnout box I get bad wheel hop. If the track is dry I never have any problems. If you don’t do your burnout correctly, i.e. burnout in the water, you can get water in your rear wheel wells that will drip down onto your rear tires as you are launching and going down the track.

There are tons of variables in getting a good launch. Try to hookup with someone at the track who is turning good times in his or her C5. Hopefully they’ll being willing to watch you run and give you a few pointers.

Good Luck!

 

Every run got consistantly better, and your mph was close to where it should be. It's pretty obvious it was driver skill that got better as more runs were made. I wouldn't worry about it too much, just keep practicing.

 

I believe you missed the fact stated in his first post that he’s putting down 431 RWHP. He is about 10mph slower than he should be.

I agree with more practice things will improve.

 

True I expected MPH of about 118