Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Dyno and Drag launching an atx

whats the best way to launch an atx? ive kind of been experimenting around and still cant run faster than 17's with a duratec

Interesting

First off, don't be downed by your track times. The point of the track is to run your car before and after any changes.

Secondly, there could be a few things you can check. Throttle Hang, appropriate air pressure in your front and rear tires (amount of tread; but that's obvious).. I'm sure there's more I just can't think of at the moment.

If we're talking about a stock automatic Non SVT Duratec, that number sounds to me to be in the right time frame. Before any modifications to my car, my 0-60 mph time was something like 11 seconds.

I was hoping for some answers too but this is what I found. hold the brake and the gas to about 2000 rpm and let off and floor it. Not the best for the car, but unless you do it at every light, it won't hurt to do it every once and a while. I think its called brake lag. otherwise, if you just floor it off the start my turtle will probally keep up til it hits 4500 rpm. But I heard 0-60 in 8.6 seconds form magazines, but thats also by professional drivers. I got 11 seconds just flooring it without brake lag or anything so it might be possible.... any other suggestions?

Thats what i did, xcept i don't have a tach, so i had to guess. I just held the gas and brake down at a decent rpm level, and let the brake off and floored it. Now, i have a zetec and i ran 18.2 at 76.8 as my fastest time , but only a K&N and autolite double-plats and ford racing wires as engine mods. I also kept the overdrive off, which helped.

If you are going to partake in going to a track.. do yourself a favor: look in to wheel hop, and how INCREDIBLY HARMFUL it is to your car (ie.. It's not the best for your car, but if you don't do it at every light... etc) not saying that that poster was referring to it, however statements like that can be misleading and portray a feeling of unimportance on the entire event.

in a nut shell... don't hop...

keep your rpms at a point just below hopping. as you begin moving, you want your goal to be: keep your rpms up, but don't hop or spin. Ideally, once you are out of the box, your secondaries should open up and off you go. shoot for the quickest 60ft time you can. Each tenth in the 60 is about equal to 2/10 in the 1/4.

Also remember that your reaction time has NOTHING to do with your 1/4 time. you can sit there for 2 minutes after the staging lights go green, and still run a 16.


Stats for your car are readily available throughout this forum (dyno&drag)

Ray
Ray

Hold brake and gas. It's only gonna go to the stall speed (2500rpm i think) no matter how far you have it floored. I think somebody (unisys maybe) found that getting the motor mounts loaded up and launching at that point is best. I don't really know how to feel that point, it mite just be a duratec thing.
Anyways, ran 11 flat @ ~65mph 1/8 mile with 17" wheels, stock cam gears, and stock hood.

I gotta try this =)

FWIW - After driving my '96 for 9 years and 165,800 miles now, I have found that setting the OD off, braking hard and throttling to about 2200-2300 (not quite full throttle) and then dumping the brake and flooring it simulateously will result in spinning the front tires for about 1 1/2 revolutions on dry, clean, flat, 70-80 degree asphalt. The tires then hook and off you go. This is with 24" OD 225/50-15 Dunlops on 15X7 alloys. Bigger diameter tires will, of course, reduce your acceleration. It's like running taller final drive gearing. For drag racing, run the shortest tire OD you can without tire spin.

My only mods are listed in my signature area.

While we are on the subject, is there a way to install a lower ratio final drive gear ratio in an ATX? I have an '05 Escape that I would just love to put a lower drive ratio into.

i managed to do 16.251@85.42 mph completely stock, with my brother in the car with me. I did the brake thing, but the key is cooler air getting to the engine. It sounds silly but my first run was 17.4 and to drop it to where i was i just iced the intake, which gave me cooler air...yada yada yada...