First time draging this thing

[ohsigmachi]

I went to the drag strip for the first time last night. First the bad news... I suck at it. The good news is I got less sucky as the night went one.
The track was pretty greasy and Nitto NeoGens in 205/40/17 don't make a good drag tire.

I'm leaving my reaction times off to keep some small amount of self respect.


1st run:
Spun all the way through 1st and some of second, then bounced off the rev limiter in 3rd:

60' ..... 2.687
330' ... 7.632
1/8 .... 11.865
mph ... 55.67
1000... 15.579
1/4 .... 18.638

2nd run:
Bogged of the line and missed the shift to 4th (I know I know WTF right?)
about 100 yds before the traps. But somehow I still managed to improve my ET

60' ..... 2.702
330' ... 7.678
1/8 .... 11.822
MPH ... 59.38
1000... 15.351
1/4 .... 18.408
mph ... 71.67

3rd run:
best run of the night still had wheel spin in most of first but not second.
60' ..... 2.506
330' ... 7.246
1/8 .... 11.289
mph ... 60.82
1000... 14.740
1/4 .... 17.696
mph ... 76.96

4th run:
Really bad wheel spin again, so I short shift from 1st to 2nd. This was my highest trap speed of the night however.

60' ..... 2.641
330 .... 7.501
1/8 .... 11.577
MPH ... 60.22
1000... 15.017
1/4 .... 17.964
MPH ... 77.10

My coworker came with me and sat in the car for the first two runs, so the faster runs are minus a 200 lb passenger. I had zero wheel hop but just couldn't hook on a slick track with less than sticky tires.

[Kremithefrog]

Keep practicing. I ran 11 flat (1/8) in my atx zetec, so you definitely gotta work on the launches. You should be able to cut atleast 2.4 60 foot even on 205 neo gens and a not so great track. And shift gooder.

[ohsigmachi]

Kremi,

the next test and tune isn't until october so I will try to work on launching this thing. I'll also probably use some of the track stick spray for the tires next time (and maybe new tires).

My car is really not setup for the strip. My baer brakes (13in) and 17in wheels with low side walls are all setting me up for failure right now.

[ContourGuy9817]

such a heavy combination. needs tce.

[IonNinja]

what RPM are you launching at?

[tedBalog]

what RPM are you launching at?

You took the words out of my mouth. I can launch at 3-3.5k and not have too much wheel spin.

[ohsigmachi]

right around 3K, but I have a Bulldog box trans with a Duratec final drive, so that combo on a zetec is really torqey down low.