04Terminator

Brett,

I'm not sure about your drag racing experience, but better traction normally results in lower trap speeds. I'm not sure I can explain why, but each individual car will almost always trap lower with a better 60' but ET better. That's experience, but someone other than me will have to explain why. I'll see if i can find an answer that makes sense.

necrocannibal

iTrader: (5)

If you guys are spinning your tires that far then you need to not go to the track on bald *** tires. My SS at 650 rwhp would not spin the tires at the track that much.

04Terminator

Brett, you are corect about traction and trap speed to a point. Bolting a set of slicks onto a high horsepower car will certainly get you better 60' times and better traps initially. This is because you are using more of the available torque and horsepower available. However, once you've gotten past street tires that are being blown off, things change.
It becomes challenge to get the best ET when getting serious about drag racing, since ETs combined with reaction times win races, not trap speed.
Speed is a measure of the horsepower. 60' times are more a measure of torque and how well it can be applied to the track for traction.
It's not math, it's physics and the laws of motion that determine how it all works out. since force = mass x acceleration, the lower the mass, the easier it will be to accelerate it to a given speed. That's why you always hear so much about HP to weight ratios since the mass of the car affects the rolling resistance due to tire to track friction losses. The chassis setup for any given mass also greatly effects how well the static weight is tranferred from the front axle to the rear axle at the hit of the throttle. that's why so much time and money is spent on making the chassis work correctly to get the mass in motion as rapidly as possible without generating excess tire spin. Depending on the engine, you actually want some tire spin to keep from pulling the engine rpms down so much at the launch but you don't want so much spin that the traction fails and you get tire smoke . This is the balancing act between trap speed and 60'. In a drag race it's better to spin a little less, thus lower trap speed and a better ET.
In a perfect world you could hook up ALL the power (torque, HP) to the track and keep the engine RPMs perfectly in the power band. If this can happen, you would have the highest trap speed possible for your car AND the best ET. Unfortunately, nobody/nothing is perfect in this world.

Maybe that helps...maybe not.

WHPLASH

iTrader: (22)

Dougs tires are brand new street tires. Not ideal for the track by no means.

And I'm sure you're not running street tires.

allngn_c5

iTrader: (3)

We'll just have to wait and see what my car does with the DR's that should be getting sent to me soon. Traction should be greatly improved and I will try not to short shift as much. Definately going to stand on it until I am 100% sure I am past the end of the track. Don't want to let off 100 feet early. I now know there is plenty of time to stop. I was a little intimidated too my first time out. The 2 hour wait in between runs didn't help much either. Not trying to make excuses just pointing out my limited 1/4 mile experience. The only other time I was at a track was years ago in an AUTOMATIC. Later

allngn_c5

iTrader: (3)

Keep in mind this wasn't a track visit that I was attempting to get 100% out of this car. I just wanted to get a feel for the track, and a good idea of what the car can and can't do. You could call it a series of shakedown runs. I also didn't want to break anything my first time out. I promise after the first run on the new DR's I will give it everything she has. Only driver error will keep me out of the mid 11's then.

SDB

iTrader: (7)

for a point of reference...friend has a stock 02 Z06. Everything is Bone stock except for the varram intake. Stock tires, tune, pulley, etc. It ran a best of 1.70 short time, 12.0 at 117 mph at Muncie IN. on a test n tune night. He powershifted each gear and launched perectly. Same day another friend with 03 Z06 ran 12.5 at 114 (did no launch well or powershift). 02 Z06 driver can drive the 03 just as well as his car, so cars are the same in this instance. That's about 1/2 second with driver mod!

Just get some tires, and before you go to the track, always check things out like tire presure (front at 44 psi and rear at 30, never lower than 25 on plain ol radials, maybe 18-20 on drag radials), clean ain intake and filter, fresh plugs, etc.

Should run 11.6 at 124 I expect when you get it down to a 1.8 short time on the bfg's.

SDB

germeezy1

Yeah I have never ran my car at the track but the previous owner was having tranny and traction problems especially on the spray. I may never take it to the track because on mine the rear end is the weak link in the drivetrain. But DAMNNN!!! You sure can drive those times are amazing, we are talking about a C5 Z06 right? But I would think with DR's the car should be 10 second capable on the spray.

germeezy1

The quicker you run (ET) the less time you have to get up to speed (trap)

I need to borrow some of you guys and just get a # in the 10's and that will be my last drag racing for the car! I would love to run DR's all summer long but they don't make them in 20 inch sizes.

allngn_c5

iTrader: (3)

Sounds like some good advice. I'll repost after my rims and tires get here.

Pray

iTrader: (7)

04. I totaly agree with what you are saying. I was trying to say the same thing in a different language. If your chassis set up or tires are not up to par for the power you have and you can not go WOT from hit to quit then you will loose MPH. Spinning, letting off, spinning on shifts ect. If you can go WOT and the car bogs or you do not have enough power to pull the gears then you will loose MPH. That is all I was trying to say. You do need some tire spin to keep the RPM's up at the launch. You will usually only see a car loose MPH with traction in the 1.40-1.60 60ft range. That is where the fine balance of MPH to ET comes into play. So I agree that with ultimate traction you will have a quicker ET and loose MPH. But with marginal traction or none at all you are loosing both ET and MPH.

Doug. You will get it figured out and that car will run like a raped ape. Good luck with it. Keep us posted.

Brett

Deuuuce

I'll throw in my $.02

Good kill. Doesn't sound like it was stock but I doubt it had a pulley either.
Figure a stock GT500 will trap 112mph and as high as 116mph. Add a pulley and tune and that is usually, what? 100hp on that motor? With a pulley, it should be trapping near 120mph or higher. Your 120+mph trap speeds rock.

OP: 5th is an OD gear which means your rate of acceleration would drop off even more than 4th, a 1:1 ratio. So its possible if the car you're racing doesn't shift to an OD gear, it could close that gap. Bottom line - once shifting the 5th, the race s/b over and if it's not, it's too fast anyway for the street.