Drag tire ****** questions!

[Nadine UK GTS]

I'm looking to get my first pair of drag tires, was going to go for 17" MT street radials, in the hope of hooking up / better traction at the strip!

I've no drag tire experience...if you had 2 'identical' launches in the same car, but, one time with MT radials, the next time with MT bias ply, how much of an improvement in 60' time and hooking up could you expect to get with the bias plys? ...Thanks. (ps. I know not to mix bias ply and radials!)

 

[FE 065]

Re: Drag tire ****** questions!

I don't know that bias ply slicks would be better for sure..

I talked to one guy recently who did a 1.4_ 60' time with Pilots. Accidentally! - He wasn't paying attention at the line, and when he noticed the tree had gone green, he just left in a hurry without using his usual starting technique.. (He hasn't been able to duplicate that 60' time again!)

Overall, my guess is most of the work is done just getting some slicks on the car, and whether you use drag radials or bias ply might be better determined by how you get to the strip, and how much extra tires/wheels you want to carry along with you and change(!) once you're there.

 

[treynor]

Re: Drag tire ****** questions!

Interestingly, this question was tackled recently in a different magazine. They compared the BFG g-force drag radials against the M/T ET Streets, and found that the differences were measured in hundredths of a second. That matches my own experience at the track - my 345/30-18 DRs hook just as well as my 11.5x26-16 ET streets.

My $.02: get an extra pair of 18" rear wheels and the BFG DRs.

 

[BigCarrot]

Re: Drag tire ****** questions!

A lot of it depends on the side walls. I know for a fact that the 18in BFG's don't hook as good as the ET Streets with a taller side wall.

 

[ChicagoGTS]

Re: Drag tire ****** questions!

Nadine, was that your bid for the forgelines on ebay? If so, small world! I didn't put it together until I read your post about 2 minutes ago. Sorry to have outbid you, but I needed those bad! I've been watching that auction since monday.

If I had known it was another VCA guy, I would have laid off.

~Matt~