First trip to strip w/ ta write up

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pHEnomIC
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First trip to strip w/ ta write up

Post by pHEnomIC »

Well All in all, I was a bit bummed on my e/t and 60's but I was really impressed on my trap speed. I have all the details in here.

02 trans am, 6speed, 3.42, firehawk rims, pirelli street tires 35psi all around, lts, ory, dynomouth, lid, bellows, ported tb, !spare, !emissions, !some interior panels and rear seats, !frontswaybar, !stb.
LCA,s, phb, SLP Bilsteins, Eibach prokit, 1le rear swaybar.

I consider myself a pretty good stick driver but I never had track practice. I had my lt1 z/28 a4 at the same track last year and did a 13.9 @ 101

High of 76 degrees.

This is the 2nd time at the track, 1st time with my 6speed. Here's the story:

Drove 1 hour to the track, right away run w/ no preperation and run my best e/t of the day 13.4 @ 108.29 (2.159 60'). I watched an incar vid and i hit the limiter twice (possibly in neutral) but i wasn't powershifting. I launched easy w/o revving up.

I had a few crappy runs and had to bail once because my clutch slipped. I then had a few good runs averaging 13.5 -13.6 @ 108 - 109. Most of the 60' were 2.2 - 2.3.

My last run I ran 13.5 @ 110.75. I was delighted w/ this trap speed. I launched at 2200, modulated a decent launch and powershifted every gear.

My car feels like its just revving in neutral once i get the tires spinning and i can spin through 1st, 2nd, and some of 3rd easy. I had to be careful not to break em loose or the run was shot. I noticed though that even w/ a good launch, this car was a lot more squirly than my z, it is all over the place.

I really would like to shave off some 60' times and get my car into the 12s.
I generally shifted just under redline and quick precise shifts. At first i launched w/o revving but later i worked myself up to about 2200 and modulated the clutch and gas to minimize spinning. I noticed that at wot shifts right under redline the rpms fluctuate which may mean the clutch is going. My clutch may be on its way out as well but it still has some life.

I didn't try any runs shifting any lower, but should i possibly try shifting lower?

My tires are almost shot so i may be picking out some drag radials. Anything I should try technique wise next time i go? Do you think 12s are possible with my setup and how would i achieve them?
2002 SOM T/A m6
1997 Black Z/28 a4
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jomotopia
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Re: First trip to strip w/ ta write up

Post by jomotopia »

sounds like fun :D
pHEnomIC wrote:I didn't try any runs shifting any lower, but should i possibly try shifting lower?
if there is more torque at the rpm you will be in after shifting, than there is at the rpms right under redline, then probably a lower shift will help. i know when ppl talk about dragging the STi they say they get better times shifting at 6000 instead of the 7k redline. but i guess it all depends on the power band of your car.
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Post by Johnf514 »

If you could dyno the T/A, you could pinpoint that powerband and shift just after it's peak. You might be able to look it up online as well. That'll be faster than shifting at the limiter.
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Post by screenname »

New tires will make a huge difference in your times. They'll be able to grip better coming off the line. If you have the money, why don't you go for some wrinkle-wall drag radials? Those get virtually no wheelspin off the line, and they grip hard to the very end. That's what they use in Top Fuel dragster racing - if you watch the tires in slow motion, they literally wrinkle up as the power is transmitted.
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Post by LS1Leader »

Drop your tire pressure. 35 psi is way too high. I use a range of 25 to 28 psi, my buddy uses 21 psi hot.

Did you do a full burnout, or just scrape the dirt off the tires? My buddy swears by full burnouts, but a lot of the ls1tech folks say it's better to just scrape the dirt off the tires and avoid the water box if you're on street tires.

Try running nitto drag radials if you can, and if you have the spare cash, get a set of cheap 16" stock wheels from a Firebird. They should run a little bit quicker. DRs could easily cut a couple tenths off, though.

Very good call on the mods. Taking out the front sway bar helps a lot, as does the LTs and lid. If you're going just for drag racing, get the stock springs back in there. The softer in the back, the better.

Last time I went, I had horrible times, b/c I was screwing something up every single time. Breaking traction at launch, short shifting or hitting the limiter, too much air pressure, etc. etc. I also had a beefier front sway bar and heavy, wide tires in the back when I didn't need them. That, and I only got three runs in. :roll: Powershifting seemed to hurt more than help, as I broke traction every single time, and the tires weren't gripping well.

Pretty decent 60' times for a first time out. You can get it down to 1.9 or 2.0 with a few more runs in current form, I think. Not bad for a first time out on overinflated street tires, though. :)

EDITED: to clean up post.
Last edited by LS1Leader on Tue Jul 25, 2006 5:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Standardshifter »

Still amazed at how much top-end the LS1 has, what a great motor... 110 mph is sweeet...

Go on cool, dry night, get a solid launch on new tires/drag radials, and you should be in the high 12s.
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Post by LS1Leader »

The older the tire, the better. :D
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Post by screenname »

LS1Leader wrote:The older the tire, the better. :D
How does that work?

If the tires are old and bald...
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Post by LS1Leader »

Balder = more grip on the dragstrip. :) You've got more surface touching the pavement, and less wiggle on the tread blocks, because they're not as tall anymore (they're worn out now). Think of a Mickey Thompson DOT legal drag tire. It's flat rubber, with a couple very fine lines cut in to make them DOT legal.

On some tires, the deeper rubber is harder, but in my experience, I haven't seen that to be the case for most.
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