First time drag racing... Bah

[Roadkill]

Ok, I ran at the local street drags last night and it was definitely a lesson in learning. I seemed to have a hell of a time hooking up at launch and as the evening progressed, it seems that it got worse and worse for me. Ultimately i would try dropping the clutch at 2200-3000 rpm (tried different strategies) and ultimately i would just sit and spin while the other cars would take off, once i hooked up then it would be a game of could i catch up to them before the quarter mile ran out. Very fricken lame.. I was running kumho 17's on the rear and they were definitely picking up all kinds of rocks and crap on them.. i am wondering if I was not heating the tires up enough prior to luanching. as the night progressed it would feel like my tires were dipped in grease when i tried to take off.. even low rpm launches and i would sit there and spin the first 10-20 feet before the tires would grab.. I would say that 90% of the cars there would get the jump on me off the line because of this.. sometimes a Serious jump to the point where i could not catch em.
My second gripe is that it seems as soon as my tranny heated up it became EXTREMELY hard to shift gears.. anyone know what the cause of this?? I am gonna have my gear oil changed out first thing this next week. I know once the tranny cooled down i was able to shift fine again.. I'm assuming that this shifting issue is not normal. Btw, my tire pressure was about 22 lbs
Input??

 

[99 R/T 10]

Did you go throught the water box? If so, that was the problem, because you don't get rid of all the water doing the small burnout prior to lining up, and as you stage, the water falls all around the rear tires and causes the loss of traction on departure.

 

[GTSnake]

How about try launching just from idle? I've had the same problems as well but I just feather the throttle and not mash it off the line. What were the track conditions like? Did it have a lot of loose gravel?

BTW did the Kumhos sand blast your wheel wells?

 

[Roadkill]

How about try launching just from idle? I've had the same problems as well but I just feather the throttle and not mash it off the line. What were the track conditions like? Did it have a lot of loose gravel?

BTW did the Kumhos sand blast your wheel wells?

there wasn't a water box.. It was just wierd as it seems my tires got slippier as the evening progressed.. I did not try any idle launches, perhaps that was my downfall.. i did try dropping the rpm on the launches though and it didn't make a difference..

 

[Vic]

I was having trouble getting into the twelves, until a salty old dog told me to start just like I would on the street. (From idle, letting the torque get the car moving)

This may not be the best technique for every car set-up, and it may not be the best technique for every driver. Heck, it might not even be the fastest way to start...But it got me into the high twelves on my third run. Now to work on the shifts, and maybe I'll get into the mid to low 12s.

Make sure you do a burn-out, to clean the tires. Are you convinced you need to rev it at the start? If you do, make sure you modulate the clutch, to minimize wheel spin.

 

[HP]

It may be a long shot, but look under your car and make sure you're not
losing fluid(oil, transmission,?) It doesn't take much oil on the tires to
cause traction loss.

 

[MES]

FYI I couldn't get Kumhos to hook any better than stock pilots at the track, they work great on the street but at the track I haven't have much luck. Best I've managed was 1.90's 60' Also throughout the night the times would get worse because when you first get to the track the tires are hot from the drive then they cool down and lose grip. What were your 60' times? 90% of the fast cars at the track run some sort of drag tire or slick so 90% are going to leave you at the start. The only way to compete is to join them and get ET streets and skinnies 1.50's all night long