Went to the track... what a day.

gashog

gashog

Member
Dec 26, 2006
139
0
16
Fresno, CA
#1
So i've never been to the track before... ever. It was 102 that day and probably about 95 or so when we made our first run. I was nervous as hell, and had high expectations. I was really expecting to do better.

Tell me it was the weather or something guys.

1st Run

R/T .572
60' 2.403
1/8 9.546
1/4 14.558
MPH 99.35

2nd Run

R/T .709 <--- oops.. snoozing.
60' 2.345
1/8 9.464
1/4 14.582
MPH 97.87

3rd Run

R/T .560
60' 2.393
1/8 9.612
1/4 14.660 <--- missed 3rd
MPH 98.78


First run i feathered the clutch out at 3500 and spun crazy and hopped bad when i hit second.

Second run i slipped out at 2500 and hopped second bad also.

Third run i slipped out at 2000 and bogged it then went, again wheel hop in second.

Advice for better times? I had a great time all together for sure. BREDn07 was there with me, thanks for getting me down there man.
 

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#2
Well, you popped your own track cherry. Don't be to hard on yourself, at least you're trying and asking for advice. Three words for ya: practice, practice, and more practice.

There are alot of variables to deal with (weather, track conditions) when going to the track. Fiddle w/tire pressure if you are using drag radials. It's taken me 12 passes and a cam swap to figure out what my car likes.
 
#3
gashog said:
So i've never been to the track before... ever. It was 102 that day and probably about 95 or so when we made our first run. I was nervous as hell, and had high expectations. I was really expecting to do better.

Tell me it was the weather or something guys.
Click to expand...

It was the weather, trust me. 95-102 degrees? There is no way you could run 13s in that heat and a stock GT is capable of that.

Advice for better times? Try again in October when it is cooler.
 
#4
Looks like you need a set of lower control arms to eliminate the wheel hop. These will help get you 60ft down even with stock tires. Like Wade95 said practice, practice, and then practice some more, get you 60ft down to between 2.1 and 2.0 and you should be running 13s. The heat may have slowed you car a couple of tenths also, here in florida I ran 8.5 - 8.6 in the 1/8 with the temp high 70s then I went again and only could manage 8.8 with the temp in the high 90s with lots of humidity.
 
#5
Wade95 said:
Well, you popped your own track cherry. Don't be to hard on yourself, at least you're trying and asking for advice. Three words for ya: practice, practice, and more practice.

There are alot of variables to deal with (weather, track conditions) when going to the track. Fiddle w/tire pressure if you are using drag radials. It's taken me 12 passes and a cam swap to figure out what my car likes.
Click to expand...

Thanks man, I will mess with the tire pressure. I dont have drag radials yet, but plan on it.

Joe Fan said:
It was the weather, trust me. 95-102 degrees? There is no way you could run 13s in that heat and a stock GT is capable of that.

Advice for better times? Try again in October when it is cooler.
Click to expand...

I will definately go out again when it's cooler. There are only 2 tracks that I know of near to me. One that's 100 miles away (the one that I raced at) and another that's 200.

TheMaster said:
Looks like you need a set of lower control arms to eliminate the wheel hop. These will help get you 60ft down even with stock tires. Like Wade95 said practice, practice, and then practice some more, get you 60ft down to between 2.1 and 2.0 and you should be running 13s. The heat may have slowed you car a couple of tenths also, here in florida I ran 8.5 - 8.6 in the 1/8 with the temp high 70s then I went again and only could manage 8.8 with the temp in the high 90s with lots of humidity.
Click to expand...

I will look into LCAs for sure. Could wheel hop be from shifting to fast? too slow?
 
#7
Not the weather, it's your driving. You are off a full second from what the mags state they ran with our cars AND those tests are done with full tank of gas and stock PSI...

So, put your traction control on, dump the clutch and see what you run. Next bog it out of the hole and see what you run. Eventually you'll find the happy medium. Some tire spin is good.

ps. it's easier to run with a full tank of gas, you can hammer it out of the hole, she'll hook easier. The extra weight won't kill you.
 
#8
V. Barbarino said:
Not the weather, it's your driving. You are off a full second from what the mags state they ran with our cars AND those tests are done with full tank of gas and stock PSI...

So, put your traction control on, dump the clutch and see what you run. Next bog it out of the hole and see what you run. Eventually you'll find the happy medium. Some tire spin is good.

ps. it's easier to run with a full tank of gas, you can hammer it out of the hole, she'll hook easier. The extra weight won't kill you.
Click to expand...

WHAT!!!! are you trying to say the weather was no factor. Sure his driving may need some work but 95+ temps probably high humidity and I think both tracks in his area are much higher than sea level.. His DA number was probably over 5000

If he gets me the weather data and the name of the track I will correct his times for him and show you how wrong you are.
 
#10
...but the mags say...
I don't care what they say! All I care about is what the #'s are at the end of MY run...
If they get improved upon by either better driving or more parts, then I know I'm doing something right.
 
#12
I ran the data according to weatherunderground.com and used the calculator on MD

temp= 94

humidity = 30

baro pressure = 29.78

track alt = 635



The conditions you ran in SUCKED your DA number was 3390

your corrected times = [email protected] for the first run you posted..


V. Barbarino said:
I live in the high temp high with humidity capital of the US!!!! Fort Lauderdale!!!

I know how weather affects these cars.. His problem is not the weather, it's his driving.
Click to expand...


Well why don't you explain away the corrected times I just did... I have many many passes under my belt so I know what I am talking about.. Sure his 60 ft was not good and he needs some work on that but he ran in awful conditions..
 
#13
I once saw a calculation of the 1/8 mile to the 1/4 mile, it was way wrong. No math is going to tell you what his time should be. When he goes to the track 5 more times, then and ONLY then will he know his true track time. A sampling of 3 runs is bs regardless of the weather.
 
#15
High heat is definitely a killer of decent 60' times on factory radials! I'm glad the Mustang Club I belong to starts racing at 8am and ends at noon before the real heat and humidity set in.
 
#16
V. Barbarino said:
I once saw a calculation of the 1/8 mile to the 1/4 mile, it was way wrong. No math is going to tell you what his time should be. When he goes to the track 5 more times, then and ONLY then will he know his true track time. A sampling of 3 runs is bs regardless of the weather.
Click to expand...

BS.. I have been drag racing a long time and collect weather data for all my runs and I am very consistent at the track and I can tell you that correcting by DA number works. Nothing is 100 percent exact but this is the only way you can compare runs from different days. Hell even at the same track a slight drop in baro pressure and cause you too loose some power.

For example on run I did last year in my 01 gt I trapped at 101.3 and the baro pressure was 30.01 The next week i went to the same track same temp and humidity and was only trapping around 100 so I was wondering where my 1 mph went so I started messing with the tune. still no matter what i did I was .1-.2 short and 1 mph off on my runs so when I got home and ran the weather I found out that the baro dropped to a bit over 29 and then I ran the correction and thats where my 1 mph and .2 went.

The math converting 1/8 times to 1/4 times is not going to be accurate because there is a lot of variables and it is total guess work. Totally different thing then correcting for sea level

What i have gotten from this thread is you do not know much about comparing runs in different weather conditions.
 
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