1st time at track did awful need help/advice

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kevsstang

New Member
Mar 21, 2004
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#1
What a disappointing day. I know it was my first time but i thought i'd do better. One problem was NO TRACTION,the other was NO TRACTION. I ran 10 times my R/T ranged from .409 to .993 (yeah i was sleepin). My 60' times ranged from 2.207 to 2.983. 1/4 times ranged from 16.819( yeah i know the garbage truck passed me) to 14.60. MPH ranged from 94.69 to 100.51. All runs were on regular street tires. Burn outs were weak at best. I tried to launch at 1500 or somewhere close. I power shifted around 5500 each gear when possible. Temp wise it was in the 60"s. I guess i need advice as to what to buy, drag radials, upper and lower control arms ???? I have stock suspension. Thanks in advance for any help!

kev
 

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#2
you should be in the 13's easily with those mods your MPH isnt bad you should launxh higher than 1.5k. no need to burn out street tire there compound is to hard to make a difference. i would get some kinda street sticky tire then try to run again launch higher that will get your 60 foot times down too R/T needs work as well.
 
#3
yeah, get some drag radials. you think your reaction times were bad last thursday i went and had an awesome RT of 1.1 or something. shoot me in the face. it was still better than some kid in a brand new trans am that had a 5.5 second reaction time. the guy on the track had to tell him to go. but yeah, you should be running a lot better than that....but i guess with no traction its kinda hard
 
#4
i was hoping for 13's but well still waiting. The car ran strong I was running cars down once i got traction. Are the BFG Drag Radials good? when i get stickier tires what RPM should i launch at.
 
#9
Yeah that was rear wheel. It was done at Kauffman Motorsports. They seem to know what they are doing. What would cause the MPH to be down. The only other thing I could think of was the car was bogging when i shifted into 2nd or 3rd can't remember but with all the spinning it was just so frustrating.
 
#10
You are not alone with the first time at the track being a dissapointment. Hell, I remember the first time I went with a basically stock stang I was runnin 15's and 16's all day with the same main problem, traction. Like someone else said, there is no need to do a burnout with your street tires (unless you are forced to go through the waterbox and want to just dry them off, even then, just do a real short burnout). I think when I got my best street-tire 60' I dropped the air pressure by like 8-10 psi and launched at 22-2500. Can't remember too well tho cus I've been usin the MT ET Streets for a while, and if you have two extra rims layin around, I would have to recommend getting a pair of those. If you are going to swap rear tires when you goto the track, don't waste your money on the drag radials, just get ET Streets or ET Drags, slap them on an old set of rims, and then you can launch above 5k without any traction problems, and you will see 1.8 60 ft's or lower. The first time I ran them I was amazed at how much easier it was to launch and I think it was one of the best purchases I ever made for drag racing. Other random advice: Ice the intake, make sure timing is set as high as it can go without pinging, check the TPS, get anyhing unnecessary out of the car before goin to the track (for weight savings), and always try to have only 1 or 2 gallons in your tank when you make runs (weight again). There are also other tricks like using a short belt to bypass your AC and PS, but it looks like your main issue is your launch anyway, your car definately has the HP to make low 13's or even 12's with a good launch.
 
#11
I went to the track with a full tank of gas and didn't remove anything to lessen the weight. In the 10 passes i used almost a quarter tank. The smog pump is off the car. They were making people go through the water box don't know why? Will launching car at 5000 hurt anything? Where can i get the et streets or et drags? Sorry if questions seem dumb.
 
#13
Well some people might consider the weight from a full gas tank and crap in the car negligible, but the way I see it, when things are down the the tenth and hundredth of a second, every little bit counts. I always always take the time to clean everything unnecessary out of the car before I take it to the track, from the floor mats and radar dedector all the way down to emptying the ashtray. Are you sure you used 1/4 tank in 10 passes? 1/4 tank is around 4 gallons, and even at 10 mpg that is like 100 passes down the track. I usually try to plan it out so I get to the track with about 2 gallons in the tank, and I've never needed more while at the track, I just fill her up when I'm done for the drive home.

As far as the waterbox goes, that all depends on the setup of the track. If they force you to go through, then just do a short burnout to dry off your street tires.

Launching the car at 5k+ is obviously harder on it then launching lower, but unless there is something that's ready to break anyway, you will be fine. I have done it many many times without anything breaking and I have a bone-stock 100k+ miles suspension except for the subframes (the strut brace gets taken off at the track).

And I got my MT's at Summit a couple years ago for a really good price, and shipped to my door in like 2 days. I recommend starting there, but you can always compare prices with Jegs and search around on the internet for others if you want to hunt for the absolute best deal.
 
#14
Maybe not a quarter tank but it seemed to be a decent amount. Reason for going with a full tank was i was unfamiliar with the area and was unsure how close the nearest gas station was to the track. I left the spare in and the sound deading material. Next time i go i will remove both. If i don't get any sticky's by then what air pressure should i run, i have 225/50/16.
 
#16
Yeah, I definately understand that. I know I went with a full tank the first time as well. Some other ppl can probably answer the street tire air pressure question better, but I'm pretty sure when I had my best street tire run I had it around 34-36 psi. Those were 225/55/15's, and I'm sure every street tire is a little different so it's probably something you just want to play around with and see what works best. Oh, and another peice of advice: You will want to make sure you are going to the track on "Test&Tune" days, so you can get a lot of runs. Don't waste money and time with bracket racing until you have your system down and are running consistent times.
 
#17
The track was a test and tune for 4 hrs. They are doing it again in June. Thank you for that advice i will look around for more of the test and tune days.

yeah my driving was far from perfect.
 
#20
i know this is kind of off topic but my car had a similar setup to yous when i bought it and i switched 30# injectors for 24's and i noticed a huge difference in power also i bought a set of nitto drag radials and they hook up great would reccomend them to anyone
 
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