Drag Racing tips needed for Saturday......Rookie here

[HP]

Even searching the subject, you may come away confused.
But a starting point(compromise), which would generally be
'accepted' by all, would be 5lb more in front, and 5lb less
in rear(in the burn-out, temp. rise will more than make up for loss). Beyond that, there is a lot of disagreement, and you
need to research, and make up your own mind.

 

[MES]

My advice for your FIRST time is don't worry about all of that tire pressure, shifting, etc. Just drive like you were taking an onramp to a highway, lift & shift @ 5,500-6,000 concentrate on hitting the gears and getting down the track. After you get use to running down a few times, then try the tire pressure, shifting points, burn out etc. to get some better times. If you get mid 12's @115-118 for your first time, you did good

 

[HP]

What MES said is correct, practice launching without smoking the
tires, practice shifts & practice shifts until its second nature. The most damaging thing(other than hitting the wall)
can be hitting the wrong gear, or a bad shift that damages
your shift fork or synchros. For fun get a G-Tech/Pro ($149.00), stick to your windshield, and practice 0-60MPH times.
Before you run at the track, go as a visitor in the pit(or around the starting area) and watch the staging lights and the
cars launching, the more you are familiar with- the more you
can relax and concentrate on launching, and shifting correctly.
Forget about the power shifting, until you have everything else down, your transmission will thank you.

 

[Tom Welch]

Hello,

a few quick tips;

Set stock tires to 22 rear and 35 front.

Do not run cold..warm up the rear end and other fluids and make passes at about 180 water temp. Failure to warm up the rear end will damage the clutches that make your posi unit work(if you drive the car to the track you will be fine). Do not cool the engine by icing the intake with ice bags as water will puddle in the intake tray and upon acceleration can seep through the engine transmission mating surface and onto your flywheel and clutch.

WHEELSPIN IS YOUR ENEMY. There is a fine line between blowing the tires off and bogging the engine, and it takes practice to find the right amount of clutch slippage(will not hurt anything) to get the job done.

track conditions make a major difference..a poorly prepped track is worse than driving on a street.

DO NOT BURN OUT WITH STOCK RADIALS. All you are accomplishing is tearing up the track surface for the real race cars, as a matter of fact you are going to find small "dog tird" looking pieces of rubber on your tires after a water burnout which are rolled up pieces of rubber from the track surface. You will not get maximum traction with them stuck all over your tires.

DO NOT ALLOW ANYONE TO DRIVE YOU THROUGH THE WATER BOX, OR GET WATER ON YOUR TIRES....DO NOT DO A WATER BURNOUT. Water will get in your treads, fenderwells and when you stop at the starting line, gravity will create a puddle under your tires....

shift at about 5500 and SHIFT INTO 4TH GEAR.

Do not speed shift, it is possible to wheel hop from speedshifting the 1-2 and sometimes the 2-3 which can cause failure of your stock half shafts depending on track conditions.

There is alot more to going down the dragstrip than meets the eye. Try my dvd or vhs to help answer your questions.

Best of luck,

Tom
Http://btrviper.com

 

[JH23JOB]

I'm going drag racing for the first time with my '96 GTS on Saturday.

When shifting through the gears, I was told to never let up on the accelerator.. Is this true ?? Wouldn't this slip the clutch ?? Yeah I want to do well, but I also don't want to break anything.
I was told to keep the car as cold as possible. Just fire it up and run it down the strip if possible, before it has a chance to warm up ??
Also tire pressures on stock Mich pilots: I'm hearing conflicting reports on this........29psi, and some say 23 psi Hmmm
Anything else you can think of would be a great help too

Thanks !!

 

[GTS Dean]

What is it with you and Evan Smith? Your crap gets really old.

What have YOU done lately behind the wheel of _your own car_?

 

[HP]

What happened to that grudge match between Pauls and 1bad? Or
was that Pauls - I can't remember.

 

[Tom Welch]

I cc'd this from another thread because it seems as if Joe(1bad) just won't give up on beating down the average viper owner who just wants to go to the dragstrip with his viper and has a few questions.

1bad,

I always expect and appreciate your comments, even if you rely on the merits of others to make your points.

As for Icing the intake, a cold air charge is no secret in racing and there are alternatives to ICE Bags, like cool blankets that can lay across the intake. I have seen them used on LPE cars.

I prefer to have ACTUAL conditions when I race, as do many of the regular folk(not superheros like you so profess)as it is difficult at best for a Viper owner to haul a cooler full of ice bags to the track in trunk.

Question..Why would someone want to run stock tire pressure knowing that the contact patch is smaller than with tires set at @ 23 psi, but want to ice down the engine for the last bit of power?? Im confused.

It is easy to run 11's on a prepped track in a stock viper. We have done it many times. The average drag strip on a Wed or Fri nite test session is not prepped and the surface is usually worse than the average street, so to profess about a magazine test bed at a sea level, closed session, prepped track with optimum conditions is not only considered bogus boasting(in my book) but it undermines the efforts of the average Viper owner who takes his car to the track on a typical tuning session. You make these guys feel like if they can't run 11.70's with their stock Viper then they ****. Give the regular drivers on regular tracks a break, please.

With that said, Ice down your intakes if you can without creating a hassle for yourself. Make sure that you do a few "dry hops" to sling the water out of the intake webbing before you get to the front of the staging lanes or when you launch water will spill all over the starting line and ruin the track surface for those folks behind you.

Don't be upset with a 12.20 in a stock viper at sea level, thats what the RECOGNIZED magazines have listed in their data base for a Gen II viper.

Again, best of luck to all, give drag racing a try, you will love it.

Tom Http://btrviper.com

 

[Doug Supercharged Vipers]

Not only does icing the intake increase horsepower but it elevates torque tremendously. Cooler intake manifold temperatures provide a denser intake charge allowing more air to be packed into the cylinders, hence, power is increased. It's almost like adding an intercooler to your N/A engine. Racers that utilize nitrous oxide as a power adder don't have as much need for icing but can vouch for the positive power increase by lowering intake temps and packing more oxygen into the cylinders. Removing "heat soak" from your engine is a sure way to improve power output no matter how simple the procedure may be. Of course when using ice around the staging lanes or preparing for a pass down the track, it's imperative to use caution not to allow ice water to come in contact with the wrong surfaces. Just ring-out a moist towel and place it under the bag of ice to catch the water.

It's been my personal experience when running street tires to err on the higher pressure side, OEM radial tires don't track very well with too low of a pressure because the center patch area tends to buckle decreasing the tires contact surface. There is a difference between hazing the tires and doing an extensive burnout. It's important to bring a tires temperature up to the track surface temperature to allow the tire to adhere to the surface. If the track is hot and the air is cold, you may want to extend your burnout to increase your tires temperature. A lot depends on the ambient temperature and the tracks surface temperature. It is important to do your burnout with some heat in your drivetrain. What I find to be a real rear-end killer is doing a "dry" burnout. No water or moister during a burnout will shorten the life of the clutch packs in the differential.


Regards,
Doug Levin

 

[1TONY1]

1 Bad, is Evan going to be at VOI? There is not any magic in settling this debate. Also did everyone see my post and suggestion for VOI?

 

[JH23JOB]

Sorry it took so long to get back to you guys. I really appreciate all the helpful tips from you. Anyhow, I managed to get a best run off at 12.61 seconds @ 115mph with a 2.11 60ft time with 29pounds of pressure in the rears. I could do nothing but smoke the tires off the line everytime. Did I mention that this '96 GTS is totally stock ?? They made me drive through the water, and do a burnout before launching it. That time was the best of 12 runs for the day, and there was a 2002 Z06 Vette there too, and his daily best was a 12.74 which made me feel pretty good. I'm going again on the 7th of Sept. What should I do differently to hook up better ??

 

[JH23JOB]

I actually would make 2 passes, and then let her rest for 45 minutes before doing it again. What else could I do to cool it down before running it each time ??

 

[Tom Welch]

Yea! its just that **** simple, put that bag of ice on the intake and you too can run 11.70's with your stock viper.

Joe remindes me of my wifes lamaz instructor, she had never had a baby herself, but was convinced about if you breath correctly even while that coconut sized head was coming out of your cooch, you would not be in as much pain. Whats your best run,
1 bad???????????????????????????????????????????????????????
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[J DAWG]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by 1bad gts:
LOL.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I am assuming this stands for Lots of love
Thanks for all the tips guys.

 

[Tom Welch]

Joe,

You freakin geek..no one here has ever professed to be a professional except you, but you are the first to admit you ****, ....remember a few months ago when my customer slayed your ignorant asp, or was that someone else driving for you again? Who cares about what evan does, these folks want to know how they can get the most from their stock cars on a given nite, not what someone does with a "supercar" on a prepped surface in perfect conditions. So PLEASE, put the crack pipe down!

 

[Motor City Mad Man]

I have seen some custom intake manifold cooling blankets for sale for cars like Corvettes and Vipers. I think they ran about $250-$300 though-but it would solve the problem from the ice bag water getting all over everything. Thinking about trying it myself because my car runs a little hot at the strip and I know I am losing power.