1st outing at drags...any tips/advice?

[98TLS]

For the last few years local car guys have run a drag meeting out at the airport of our little town down South NZ,its got pretty big with cars from far and wide..every year ive gone out and had a look and had given some thought to entering this year on the bike but her indoors is keen for the experience so thought i would take the GTP (BA) out there and we do it together,not expecting to set the world on fire time wise but if i am going to do it would like to do as best as i could,BAs not modded other than previous owner did the exhaust front to back and had it dyno tuned,when i bought it the thing came with rubbish tyres and in fact had one of the fronts develop a spilt (belt seperation) so replaced em with Toyos,ones on the back were the same brand as front but so much tread left i have kept them...is there really any point for a 1st time out bloke to put the Toyos on the back and what sort of time should i be aiming for in the old girl?Any other tips appreciated.

[Legit290]

Go really fast

[98TLS]

Originally Posted by Legit290

Go really fast

Indeed...well as fast as an overweight oldish Falcon will go.Havent hit the search button re 1/4 mile times for a BA and factor in the pilots getting on some what am i looking for time wise?

[Legit290]

First time out ..relax. Dont put pressure on yourself. Dont worry about the guy in the other lane. Give the tyres a bit of a warm up with a little burnoit. When the tree drops, hit it on the last yellow. Traction control off.
Auto or manual? Probably mid 13's?

[JC]

Originally Posted by Legit290

First time out ..relax. Dont put pressure on yourself. Dont worry about the guy in the other lane. Give the tyres a bit of a warm up with a little burnoit. When the tree drops, hit it on the last yellow. Traction control off.
Auto or manual? Probably mid 13's?

My first time was 13 March at Sydney dragway. I had an experienced drag dude with me, so he helped with what we had to do (checking in, scrutineering, etc), and also with prep for the car.

Make sure all fluids are full - they help lubricate things and should stop anything messy from happening (like overheating gearbox etc, though it will only be 14 seconds of acceleration at a time max).

On the day, drop tyre pressure down to about 25 psi - this will depend on track temp though. On a 30 degree day, I was running 19s (275/35/19 and later 245/35/19) at 26psi and found that to be the best pressure to balance between grip and hopping off the line. I did one run at 23psi, and it just tramped off the line, which resulted in my slowest time of the day (only 0.4s between fastest and slowest though). You will need to experiment a little, but don't keep chasing pressures - once you find one that allows a good burnout, and lets you get off the line with minimal tyre spin, stick to that pressure.

Now, to get off the line fast, you need grip. On a dedicated drag strip, they put down sticky stuff which helps, but what helps more is heat in the tyres - not too much, but just enough. I was crap at doing burnouts at first (toop scared I might break something), but by about run # 8 of 12, I got them down pretty good. I turned TC/DSC off (hold button for 3 seconds) , left foot on brake and keep it there, and then right foot on go pedal - keep revs at around 4500rpm if you can, and once you see smoke out the back, keep it going for around 2 or 3 seconds, and slowly ease pressure off the brake to creep forward while generating the smoke for another 2 or 3 seconds.

In terms of launch - I didn't even bother stalling the ZF up. I put it in D most of the time and did left foot brake, right foot on go pedal, and when the third light went orange, left foot came up and right foot went down, and away we went. With hindsight, I could've stalled the auto up to about 2000 to 2500rpm for a quicker launch, but I didn't want to break anything at the time, so I just left from idle. I used perf mode a few times, but didn't find a lot of difference in ET - though fastest time of the day was in D in the morning with a fair burnout (not good, just fair). I didn't even try manual mode (doh!). The afternoon runs with the smaller tyres were better in Perf mode than D (but that's with better burnouts too).

I ran 12 passes. 6 @ 12.1xx, 3 @ 12.2xx, 2 @ 12.4xx (hint, don't change from D to Perf mode on a ZF halfway down the track - the bloody thing doesn't know what to do), and 1 @ 12.5 (too much axle tramp resulting in a 2s_ 60ft time, and you can't recover from that.

I also forgot to turn traction control off on one run - I pressed the button but didn't hold it. Guess what that did? Yep, cut engine power during the burnout, resulting in no burnout, and a funny sounding engine - I thought I'd broken something until I saw the DSC light flickering on the dash and then I put 2 + 2 together. The end run was a low 12.4 on effectively cold tyres.

Now, as for what tyres to use - my initial morning runs were on a set of used Kumho KU39s - quite a grippy tyre in dry and wet. I got my best time on these in the morning (12.127).

I also used Achilles ATRs - which are just OK in the dry, and awful in the wet, but when heated up with a decent butnout, gave as much grip as the Kumhos - the results were a best time of 12.178 on the ATRs

So unless you have a set of ET Streets or something, just run what you brung, and you'll do fine.

Sorry about the long post!

[deesun]

I will continue on from JC as a virgins tale of a night at the drags. Mine was at Willowbank test n tune on Wed 23rd. I am not sure weather we are more lenient up here but I was surprised at the scrutineering or lack there of. The process was line up at gate by 530, gates open then drive up to gate, tell gatekeeper your 1st time, they give you a sheet to fill out and direct you to scrutineering. The yellow sheet needs very basic info not even someone to contact in case of emergency, lol. Scruteneering was a lady at a desk under a Oztrail canopy, checks paperwork, helmet, stamps your wrist as entrant, pens a number on your palm, gives a map of circuit, advises miss the water or do a burnout, where timesheets are tells you to line up in a lane and have fun. As far as I know no one checked the car bar a bloke wrote the number on screen and pass window. My first time and I was on front row with four others waiting till 6. At 6 a bloke comes over and directs you to lane. I say 1st time he looks tells me lights sequence and i'm up. Holy cr@p.
XR6T, runs li LPG, tuned 270 at the rears, no other mods, rears low on tread. Loaded it up to 2000 2500 and when the orange came on foot to the floor and hang on for dear life, eyes like saucers. 13.5 first run, second 13.2, from there 13.5 and 6. Swapped to petty for a 13.4. Then two totally stuffed starts back on gas as I think I was trying too hard to launch loading it up too much and lost traction. No burnouts for me. Still on street tyre pressures so if I go again I will lower them to about 20/25. Kept TC on for the night as I am a scaredy cat. All up a good night, two oil outages of about 40mins each slowed proceedings. Finished at 915ish.

[99AUXR]

Originally Posted by 98TLS

For the last few years local car guys have run a drag meeting out at the airport of our little town down South NZ,its got pretty big with cars from far and wide..every year ive gone out and had a look and had given some thought to entering this year on the bike but her indoors is keen for the experience so thought i would take the GTP (BA) out there and we do it together,not expecting to set the world on fire time wise but if i am going to do it would like to do as best as i could,BAs not modded other than previous owner did the exhaust front to back and had it dyno tuned,when i bought it the thing came with rubbish tyres and in fact had one of the fronts develop a spilt (belt seperation) so replaced em with Toyos,ones on the back were the same brand as front but so much tread left i have kept them...is there really any point for a 1st time out bloke to put the Toyos on the back and what sort of time should i be aiming for in the old girl?Any other tips appreciated.

When is this and how you get on? Good seeing you the other day car looked tops by the way.

[marcyeo]

If you're not too concerned about reaction time I wouldn't bother about leaving on the yellow or green even. The timer doesn't start till you break the laser line, so take your time, get your rev's up and leave the line when you're good and ready. It helped me get a better 60' time as well, not worrying about the guy in the other lane.

Tried like JC just leaving off the line without stalling the ZF. Found the fastest time was stalling up to 2000rpm, also if possible making sure the revs continue to climb when you let go of the accelerator, rather than trying to leave it at on 2000rpm.

Auto - left in Perf mode, TC off.

[deesun]

Originally Posted by marcyeo

If you're not too concerned about reaction time I wouldn't bother about leaving on the yellow or green even. The timer doesn't start till you break the laser line, so take your time, get your rev's up and leave the line when you're good and ready. It helped me get a better 60' time as well, not worrying about the guy in the other lane.

Tried like JC just leaving off the line without stalling the ZF. Found the fastest time was stalling up to 2000rpm, also if possible making sure the revs continue to climb when you let go of the accelerator, rather than trying to leave it at on 2000rpm.

Auto - left in Perf mode, TC off.

Which car? What were your times?

[sprintxr8]

thanks for the tips

[Road Games]

Originally Posted by sprintxr8

thanks for the tips

LOL



Hulk much ?

[deesun]

So I had a second outing. No i'm not really getting the bug but I figured with getting in the low 13s with a couple of treads on the wear bars maybe with new tyres and using the few tips from other drivers I figured maybe a high 12 was possible. Then considering I would probably have to throw money at the car for something lower I would be happy with the high 12. So I tried, lowering tyre pressures to 25 from the 40 they were last time, nope no difference, I tried leaving car in Perf mode, nope no difference. Turned DSC off, nope no difference, hardly getting any ws anyway. Petty/gas nope no difference. BUGGER. Consistent yes, 5 runs 13.3s 13.5 13.4. The only other thing I can think of maybe is the new tyres only a week old and still green so will see in a month or so.

[98TLS]

Originally Posted by 99AUXR

When is this and how you get on? Good seeing you the other day car looked tops by the way.

Cheers mate,as did yours and really nice to meet you.Was all set to go out on the Saturday then the mother in law took a turn so had to cancel,they have em out at the Oamaru airport around twice a year,getting pretty big with cars coming from all over the South isle.Will sing out when there next on.

[STINKY NINJA]

If its a stockish ba gt auto ill say 14.1/14.2 at a guess,ive seen a couple at the motorplex run around those times.

[2242100]

Originally Posted by deesun

So I had a second outing. No i'm not really getting the bug but I figured with getting in the low 13s with a couple of treads on the wear bars maybe with new tyres and using the few tips from other drivers I figured maybe a high 12 was possible. Then considering I would probably have to throw money at the car for something lower I would be happy with the high 12. So I tried, lowering tyre pressures to 25 from the 40 they were last time, nope no difference, I tried leaving car in Perf mode, nope no difference. Turned DSC off, nope no difference, hardly getting any ws anyway. Petty/gas nope no difference. BUGGER. Consistent yes, 5 runs 13.3s 13.5 13.4. The only other thing I can think of maybe is the new tyres only a week old and still green so will see in a month or so.

Did you run light?
I can say that's not a good move with my stock FG XR6 T Auto, my GPS data has shown that.
It's surprising how much some weight in the back can help. Keep in mind that most of the time lost in 1st gear because of wheelspin will flow into the 1/4 mile time result (the GPS data shows it's likely to be around 85% of the time lost to 60 km/h, and even what seems like a small amount of wheelspin, can be more costly than you think).

Of course logically extra weight will slow your potential end speed and 1/4 times a bit, but I think in the real world with a high stall up (that a Turbo can benefit so much from) there's a very good chance that you could score a much better 1/4 time if you can get off with a no wheelspin launch (like my untuned car did when it achieved a 12.509 second 1/4 drag strip measured time). That is of course, if your car is really performing as it should for a measured 270 RWKW.

To get an idea of the effect of extra weight you might want to check out the Wallace Racing 1/4 mile calculator and play with a few different weights.

I had around 37 PSI in my near new standard sized Goodyear Eagle F1 tyres and I left ESP on for safety. If there is enough slip to cause ESP intervention in a standard or close to standard Turbo Falcon, I'd say the cars headed for a poor 1/4 time anyway. Best if you can get enough weight into the back of the car to avoid any slip in my view.
Finally do you shallow stage as much as possible? Sure that will give you a faster than real time slip (say 2 to 4 tenths), but I think most of the other cars fast times are also likely to have been be done with shallow stage launches.