Here's my experience with drag radials... I make 368rwhp/363rwtq through a high strung n/a 306, so I don't have the tq off the hit like you do.
On the street I could not go to the floor in 1st gear without breaking traction, really had to roll into it easy to stay hooked up and never did get to the rug without tire spin. In second if I rolled the throttle down nice and smooth it would stay hooked up, but, if I stuck the throttle in the carpet it would break loose at about 4500rpm. If I shifted hard into 3rd it would spin the tires hard/long enough to require steering correction, if I I rolled into 3rd for a split second then went to the floor it would stay hooked up. I could hit 4th full on and it would only spin a tiny bit then hook up.
So that's on the street. Much better than regular radials, but not what most make dr's out to be.
At the track, with a T5. I forget my race weight, but, it's something like 3340.
Drag radials were a pain in the butt. I either spun, or bogged if just trying to dump the clutch at various rpm. When the tires spun they did not recover well at all. You need to get fully out of the throttle then get back into it. The bogs as you can imagine were violent (radials do not absorb shock all that well, more in a bit) and when it spun forward motion was slow. It took a real fancy hold rpms while slipping the clutch and rolling the throttle down tap dance that was hard to duplicate and easy to miss. Poor consistency and wasted runs were plenty. My 60' were all over the board, anything from a low 1.8's to 2.1's
So, if this is going to be a track set of tires only...
I ditched the dr's at the track and went back to a bias ply "cheater slick".
Instant success. The bias ply absorbs the shock of the clutch dump making the launches much quicker and less violent at the same time. Even on a poor starting line, when the bias tie would spin, it would still move the car out hard and the tire will recover all on it's own, just stay in the gas and let them gather themselves up. My 60's went from previously stated to low/mid 1.6's. Simply dump the clutch and go.
DR's certainly can be very effective at the track, but it takes a well set up chassis, convertor or slipper clutch (not good on the street) to make them work. For the guys that have the time to test, test and test some more and the finances to make adjustments (springs, shocks, convertors, clutches) to dial it all in, DR's can work really well.
I'm over all that. When I go to the track, I want to air down, heat them up and let it rip.
So, my opinion is leave DR's for street duty and the guys racing competitive classes, for the weekend warrior with a stick car, go bias, either cheater or full slick depending on if you want to drive your car to the track or swap wheels at the track.
On the street I could not go to the floor in 1st gear without breaking traction, really had to roll into it easy to stay hooked up and never did get to the rug without tire spin. In second if I rolled the throttle down nice and smooth it would stay hooked up, but, if I stuck the throttle in the carpet it would break loose at about 4500rpm. If I shifted hard into 3rd it would spin the tires hard/long enough to require steering correction, if I I rolled into 3rd for a split second then went to the floor it would stay hooked up. I could hit 4th full on and it would only spin a tiny bit then hook up.
So that's on the street. Much better than regular radials, but not what most make dr's out to be.
At the track, with a T5. I forget my race weight, but, it's something like 3340.
Drag radials were a pain in the butt. I either spun, or bogged if just trying to dump the clutch at various rpm. When the tires spun they did not recover well at all. You need to get fully out of the throttle then get back into it. The bogs as you can imagine were violent (radials do not absorb shock all that well, more in a bit) and when it spun forward motion was slow. It took a real fancy hold rpms while slipping the clutch and rolling the throttle down tap dance that was hard to duplicate and easy to miss. Poor consistency and wasted runs were plenty. My 60' were all over the board, anything from a low 1.8's to 2.1's
So, if this is going to be a track set of tires only...
I ditched the dr's at the track and went back to a bias ply "cheater slick".
Instant success. The bias ply absorbs the shock of the clutch dump making the launches much quicker and less violent at the same time. Even on a poor starting line, when the bias tie would spin, it would still move the car out hard and the tire will recover all on it's own, just stay in the gas and let them gather themselves up. My 60's went from previously stated to low/mid 1.6's. Simply dump the clutch and go.
DR's certainly can be very effective at the track, but it takes a well set up chassis, convertor or slipper clutch (not good on the street) to make them work. For the guys that have the time to test, test and test some more and the finances to make adjustments (springs, shocks, convertors, clutches) to dial it all in, DR's can work really well.
I'm over all that. When I go to the track, I want to air down, heat them up and let it rip.
So, my opinion is leave DR's for street duty and the guys racing competitive classes, for the weekend warrior with a stick car, go bias, either cheater or full slick depending on if you want to drive your car to the track or swap wheels at the track.
