...on the track sucked big time!!! i did 16.2...that was my best...what the hell? there was another dude with csvt and hsis best was like 15.9? 100% humidity, 167F degrees, 20ft above sea level. name of track was Capital Raceway in washington dc metro area...
but why so slow? my gtech gives me 6.7 0-60, and now i am so dissapointed...is that normal? please make my day, coz i just wasted $20 and lots of gas for nothing.
FIRST times to the track are often FULL of let down. People simply aren't as good at competitive based driving as they would seem to think (or have been built up to believe).
Simply driving on a road and rowing through the gears "quickly" doesn't mean that you are "great" at driving that car. The tested times often (if not always) reflect PROFESSIONAL drivers. Those that do nothing OTHER than drive a car to its limits.
Most people buy a car and see that it CAN do the 1/4 in 15.2 (14.9, etc) and belive that means by starting in 1st and going through 4th you will make the car do the same. There is a LARGE difference in YOU doing it, and the car being CAPABLE of it.
Take what you DID and work on it. Get those 60ft times down. ignore your reaction times, they don't affect your ET. Practice.. with it, you will be cranking out some respectable times, VERY SOON.
i don't have the slips with me but i will post them tonight (they are in my car) so you can tell me if the 60ft is good or not. i dunno, i was with couple of friends. all were there for the first time, and they did 14.9/15.05 with their vw gti's...that's almost a second faster...but check back on that forum when i post the times.
what's ET by the way? how is reaction time affecting the total time?
R/T does not affect your ET (finish time..) in ANY way, shape or form.
you could sit at the light for 30 seconds and still run a 15.2
60' times...
2.4 .. meh
2.2 normal?
2.1x much better
2.0x WOW
>1.99 WATCH OUT! (not gonna happen... not likely anyway..)
Cut atleast a 2.3 60' on street tires. And hit every shift like you hate life.
ok ok ok... so here is my best run...
R/T -- .227
60ft is 2.386
330 - 6.897
1/8mile - 10.593 @66.55mph
1000 - 13.706
1/4mile - 16.372 @84.77
but that wasn't my best run....the best one was 16.240 sec with 60ft @2.505
...so are you saying that this is the time, and i should not subtract or add the R/T time?? and if R/T is below .5 that means its a fault start, right?
Your RT has nothing to do with the rest of the numbers.
Just work on your driving, cuz with them numbers, I could smoke you with my old escort. Ain't good. It's alright, a svt ain't the easiest car to drive, but practice makes perfect.
Take the R/T OUT OF THE EQUATION!! Don't add or subtract anything! The bottom line, is the bottom line!
What rpm are you shifting at? Is your clutch worn out? What mods? 16.2 is slow as balls.
Mark
mods? no mufflers. resonator dosen't look stock, but is probably a cheap replacement. k&n short ram, and a superchip module which seems to make no difference...and pirelly pzero nero m&s all season tires 225/50R16. its a 98 csvt.
clutch was supposed to be changed at 65K miles, now I have 104K miles. i don't think it was worn. but i've had the car for 3 years. i know that when its hot and humid the car is slow like [censored]. same when i drive it in traffic for long time. and today was a combination of both. 100% humidity and lots of traffic to the track...gas tank was almost full...with 93ocatne.
well i will go again. the gtech once have me 14.9sec @101.1mph. i took the gtech on the track, and ran it so i can compare its results and the once from the track...they were always faster on the gtech but just a little. for instance if i did 16.3 on the track, the gtech will give me 16.27. so i know i can do better, but i guess it will be next time...i will make a post again once i go to the track for the second time
well i wanted to ask how you guys launched and at what rpms you shifted gears? i launch at about 2k+ rpm, and sometimes i slip the clutch, sometimes i don't...depends. and i usually shift at about 6550rpm where i pass my maximum hp...does that sound reasonable?
Shift right before it hits redline. Early shifting hurts you. I haven't taken my svt to a drag strip, so no launching advice yet.
Originally posted by Kremithefrog:
Shift right before it hits redline. Early shifting hurts you. I haven't taken my svt to a drag strip, so no launching advice yet.
But not when launching!!!! With the factory clutch, and with the miles on it, I wouldn't launch anywhere above 1750rpm. This is hard to do because when you let off the clutch your instinctive response is to hammer the gas. As you probably know from experience, the car will hop all over the place when you hammer it from the launch. This will absolutely kill your differential and you will be towing the car home. You have to slip the clutch out slowly when you are launching the factory differential. Resist your urge to push the pedal all the way to the floor in first gear until you are around 5500rpm. Shift into second gear firmly but watch out for the wheel hop again. From then on, row the gears like you are in a conoe ready to go over a waterfall. Shift right at the redline. You should be shifting into 4th gear about 200 feet before you cross the finish line. Watch your tach the entire time (as well as the track). No need to be watching the speedo.
Prep your car for the track: Don't show up to the track with a full tank of gas. This may be disputed but I've never ran a better time due to 93 octane versus 87 octane fuel. 101 octane on the other hand is a different story.
Remove your spare tire/jack/crap in the trunk/and hell, the rear seats while you are at it.
Try different tire pressures. Pressures at the track will differ greatly depending on humidity. Don't make super dramatic changes. You will probably find that if you do, you will get slower or more wheel hop.
The R/T (reaction time) only shows how fast the front tires leave the light in relation to the tree going green. The clock does not start recording your E/T (elapsed time) until your tires leave the light beam. So, when someone said the R/T doesn't mean anything about your actual time, they are correct, Because the clock doesn't start until YOU leave the line. Understand now???
Hope this was not overkill... 
if your just out there to see how fast your car is and have some fun, dont bother with all the weight reductions because it can all be negated by a simple launch, unless you can launch the same way every time, there isnt much of a point.
Originally posted by Pale Horse:
Originally posted by Kremithefrog:
Shift right before it hits redline. Early shifting hurts you. I haven't taken my svt to a drag strip, so no launching advice yet.
But not when launching!!!!
Why would you shift when launching?
Just from playing on the street, I'd launch at atleast 2200rpm. My car doesn't hop when launching at this (or even a bit higher rpm). Of course you don't just dump the clutch on these cars. Though I also have heavy 17"s and a bit low on torque at the moment.
Originally posted by Kremithefrog:
Originally posted by Pale Horse:
Originally posted by Kremithefrog:
Shift right before it hits redline. Early shifting hurts you. I haven't taken my svt to a drag strip, so no launching advice yet.
But not when launching!!!!
Why would you shift when launching?
Just from playing on the street, I'd launch at atleast 2200rpm. My car doesn't hop when launching at this (or even a bit higher rpm). Of course you don't just dump the clutch on these cars. Though I also have heavy 17"s and a bit low on torque at the moment.
Go to the track, it is very very very different, a lot harder.
At least at my track.
I've been to the track, but not with the svt, but I know how it is. Yes different from the street, but still, atleast with my car, if I launch below 2000rpm, I'm not going anywhere.
Originally posted by 8000RPM:
well i wanted to ask how you guys launched and at what rpms you shifted gears? i launch at about 2k+ rpm, and sometimes i slip the clutch, sometimes i don't...depends. and i usually shift at about 6550rpm where i pass my maximum hp...does that sound reasonable?
I launch at 3600 rpms, and dont let the secondaries close. I shift as late as possible, often times it will jsut barley hit the rev limiter before I slam it into next gear....
But ive only been down a dragstip twice, with a best of 15.7 Looking to improve that shortly....
Originally posted by Pudmunkie:
I launch at 3600 rpms, and dont let the secondaries close . I shift as late as possible, often times it will jsut barley hit the rev limiter before I slam it into next gear....
Thats the key to the fast Contour launch, keeping the secondaries open. On the strip its real hard, because there is so much bite, launching like that is really rough, if it spins, it'll hop, but if you just bog out your wasting time, so slipping is the key. Shifting at 6900 every shift is key, and being quick and smooth. Its a real good clutch even stock, so its not like the pedals gotta go to the floor to change gears. Watch THIS video, the first clip is a granny launch, the second is pretty aggressive, and the third is really aggressive. Might give you some ideas.
BTW, I've never been able to launch mine at the track like I can on the strip. Street launchs are nice, because I can just let things spin in first, on the track, I hit such hard wheel hop I actually jammed the shift linkage with it on one run, not good.
And a final thought, the mph on the run listed above looked really really low, my stock 98 SVT with 135k miles trapped 90mph with really slow 1/8th miles, me thinks you've got something holding you back.
Originally posted by acammer:
Shifting at 6900 every shift is key, and being quick and smooth.
My car won't hit 6900. It barely hits 6750. Sometimes it redlines even below that, but I think that's my car's problem.
Redline IS 6750.
Unless its been tuned out, that is.
Originally posted by Ray:
Redline IS 6750. Unless its been tuned out, that is.
I don't know if you noticed it, but my car doesn't always hit redline. I think it's the precats being clogged up as my dyno eluded to with the low torque. I'll probably get headers soon to fix it. I wanted to have the choice between DSP and SM for autox events, but I think the headers will shoot me to SM only. I reckon it's worth it.
Originally posted by Kremithefrog:
I wanted to have the choice between DSP and SM for autox events, but I think the headers will shoot me to SM only. I reckon it's worth it.
Why would the headers put you into SM? You don't need to keep any cats to run in SP.
well, i gotta say thanks to all the input. yeah, i wasn't slipping the clutch, coz i don't want to wear it out that fast. and also i am afraid to shift from 2nd to 3rd coz, i already changed one tranny and don't want to change it again...cant afford that kind of thing.
so i am going to the track tomorrow night. looks like it will be about 100F with 100% humidity...yeah, sucks, but i promise i will slip the hell out of that clutch and if my car is capable of getting me hope, i will report my new times. i know the svt should do like 14.9-15.2, and i have some mods, so i hope to improve my time...i will go with almost empty gas tank, take out my subwoofer out...jack, spare and etc...hell, i will even take a crap before i go
)
any last recommendations, other than slipping, launching at 3600-3900rpm, keeping the 2ndaries open and shifting fast and hard at redline????
p.s. hope my car survives
If you are worried about breaking your car, maybe you need to consider your differential. It is stock, correct? If so, wheel hop is your enemy, and you may not be able to launch enthusiastically without sacrificing some margin of diff safety.
If you rev higher, shift harder/quicker, hit 15.6 ETs but still do not break anything, you had a good day at the track. (OK, ANY day you drive home from the track without needing a tow is a good one.)
Originally posted by PDXSVT:
If you are worried about breaking your car, maybe you need to consider your differential. It is stock, correct? If so, wheel hop is your enemy, and you may not be able to launch enthusiastically without sacrificing some margin of diff safety.
If you rev higher, shift harder/quicker, hit 15.6 ETs but still do not break anything, you had a good day at the track. (OK, ANY day you drive home from the track without needing a tow is a good one.)
Well Put ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
If You wheel hop even once with a medium to aggressive redline, then baby it the rest of the night off the line.
ok, so im still alive. so is my car. better numbers for you all..
60 -- 2.225
330 - 6.521
1/8 - 10.142 @ 66.94
1/4 - 15.803 @ 87.65
that was my best and last run. i know i can do better coz i hit the rpm limiter on 2nd and the nose of the car went down hard, so i know i lost time there. my freind with his csvt did a 15.5 @ 79mph i think, but he beat the hell out of his, like there's no tomorrow. still slower than i expected. can a stock svt go 15.1-2?? it turned out that i had to launch at 4k rpm with slipping the clutch and shifting after red line...and before i never went near the red line. i always shifted ar 6500rpm...i guess i don't want to change my tranny again. maybe i should be more abusive...
You had a pretty good 60' time, considering street tires and stock diff/suspension. I was leaning more towards shifting being the reason for the 15.8
, but was going to give you the benefit of the doubt that the weather just sucked that bad. You get better with every trip to the track, so better luck next time!
Mark
okay, so this is actually a funny story, i read this post and decided to give the track a try for myself with my csvt...ive been to the track once before in my 67 stang like 5 years ago...and let me just say that i pulled the same time...and i was so let down on my driving
60' - 2.573
330' - 6.968
1/8 - 10.556
MPH - 68.54
1000' - 13.628
1/4 - 16.258 @ 85.62
i cant blame the weather...it was a pretty decent night...i just sucked balls at launching
the first time i ran my svt at the track i ran a 16.32. I was pretty dissapointed until i saw my friends time, he drives a moded 03 nissan sentra spec V. He was only turning high 15.9's and a 16. Usually he runs in the 15.1 range. We were racing head first into a 40 mph headwind from an approaching storm though. Havnt been back in 6 mos so i dont have my slips anymore.