i was wondering do springs make a big difference in launching and in traction? If wich ones. Not really looking to lower the car but i would like to get some nice new red springs all around i think they would look good with my koni yellows. The car is a 97 trans am m6 car 4.11 gears and ive got panhaed bar lca’s torque arm i got all that stuff and im running the nt555r nitto drag radials and i cannot hook. So looking for ideas. Thanks

I guess thats a good idea

Here's why it's hard to make radials work at the dragstrip with a manual trans...
Radials basically need to dead hook, as they will tolerate very little wheelspeed. Lets imagine launching with no clutch slip at all, engine rpm with a dead hook on the starting line would equal "0". For simplicity, lets say a car has a constant acceleration rate in 1st gear and the potential to reach it's 1/2 shift point of 7000 rpm at about 2 seconds into the run. If starting line rpm equals "0", and rpm 2.0 seconds in equals 7000 and acceleration rate is constant, at 0.5 seconds engine rpm would be 1750, at 1 second in engine rpm would equal 3500, and at 1.5 seconds 5250 with the tires dead hooked and no clutch slip at all. Obviously dead hooking alone is not the answer, as our engines don't make any power at zero rpm. You NEED some controlled clutch slipping to keep those radials dead hooked without dragging the engine down too far, as there's just no way any combination of spring rate and/or suspension adjustments can possibly absorb enough engine rpm over a long enough time frame to make the radials work.


Here's how adding controlled clutch slip can help-
To a point the longer a clutch slips, the more time the car/engine has to gain speed/rpm before that clutch locks up, which in turn means engine rpm does not get dragged down as far. Lets apply the above example to a magical engine that has a completely flat torque curve of 500 ftlbs from 1500 to 5500 rpm. If that engine's clutch only slips for 0.5 second, rpm gets dragged down to 1750 after launch and that engine is only making 166.6 hp at the low point of the bog. If the clutch were to slip for a full second, rpm only dips to 3500rpm which effectively doubles it's power production to 333.2 hp thru the low point of the bog. In the real world the difference would be even more dramatic, as it's pretty unlikely the engine would be making 500 ftlbs at 1750.


When it comes time to shift, the problem for radials then becomes the fact that the rotating assembly must almost instantly shed about half of it's stored inertia energy due to the ratio change. If that excess energy is dumped into the chassis/tires all at once, there's a good chance that extra energy will be enough to knock the radials loose, resulting in far less productive instant spin rather than effectively propelling the car forward. Adding a ClutchTamer makes it possible to spread that inevitable energy transfer over a longer time period, reducing it's peak to a level that doesn't knock the radials loose. Also because the car is gaining speed during those periods of controlled clutch slip, the overall amount of energy that must be dumped due to the ratio change is also reduced.


Adding a ClutchTamer makes it possible to choose a clutch with plenty of torque capacity for the application, one that might otherwise grab too aggressively for a radial, then allows "dialing in" longer clutch slip as needed to raise the bog rpm without reducing that clutch's overall holding ability. You might try to accomplish the same thing with your foot, but you will find it impossible to achieve the same degree of precision no matter how well trained the foot.

A bias slick can also help solve this problem at the track as they can tolerate some spin and still recover. But it's way more fun with radials on a street/strip car, as you can drive thru the gate and make passes without the hassle of swapping tires. There may be other ways to make a radial work with a manual trans, but my way works pretty good.

Grant