Thanks for clarifying that for me!

I drove though the water the first time. Second time I drove around it but then I overstaged by about 1/2 car length! The guy looked at me like "where da ya think yur goin'?" and motioned to back it up. :nono: I sheepishly nodded in acknowledgement. :yes: Third time I got it right except for the etiquette part of both pre-staging first, then staging. Must remember that for the next time.

Oh, and they like the windows up before you get to the burn-out area!!
[/b][/quote] Redfire, your car is awesome stock. My 05 GT 5M dyno'ed 264HP and 279TQ stock. After 87 oct Predator tune it got 280HP and 301TQ. You should beat those #'s substantially with the mods you have scheduled.

 

With line locks, I burnout in 3rd gear for quicker heat. deep stage or shallow stage has no bearing on your ET. Your ET starts when you trigger the light and the RT is already acquired. I shallow stage because I'm used to leaving at a specific point of the light change. For me, it's just before the last yellow lights up. This give's me that split moment or 12" of staging sensors, to move forward and cut a better light. If you deep stage, you'd have to leave more when the last yellow is lit.
Just as some turbo cars at my local track just sit there when the light is green. No RT has been set yet. They sit there to spool up to see what's the best ET they can get. They can have a 5 minute RT, but their ET is based on when they leave.

 

Thanks! Are your numbers from a Dynojet?
Right now I'm seriously thinking about scheduling a cople of pulls on a dynojet so we'll all know if/what the difference is between Dynojet and DynoDynamics.
<!--QuoteBegin-169stang@May 8, 2005, 5:30 PM
With line locks, I burnout in 3rd gear for quicker heat. deep stage or shallow stage has no bearing on your ET. Your ET starts when you trigger the light and the RT is already acquired. I shallow stage because I'm used to leaving at a specific point of the light change. For me, it's just before the last yellow lights up. This give's me that split moment or 12" of staging sensors, to move forward and cut a better light. If you deep stage, you'd have to leave more when the last yellow is lit.
Just as some turbo cars at my local track just sit there when the light is green. No RT has been set yet. They sit there to spool up to see what's the best ET they can get. They can have a 5 minute RT, but their ET is based on when they leave.

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I gather that one key factor to better ETs and trap speeds is minimizing tire slip off the line?

 

With all due respect shallow VS deep staging.
When you pull into the beams, you have the option of deciding just how far to pull into the Staged light. How you stage has a surprisingly large effect on things like your reaction time and elapsed time. Staging shallow means that your car takes more time to pass through the Staged light and increases your reaction time, all other things being equal. However, it lowers your elapsed time, and increases your trap speed. This is because the timer doesn’t start counting your elapsed time until the tire comes out of that beam. By that time, your car is already moving, so you get a little "running start". Note, however, that it doesn’t give you a real advantage over your opponent unless you are a little bit quicker in your reaction time to make up the difference – remember that the race is won or lost on who crosses the finish line first, not your elapsed time! It’s possible to run a faster ET and still lose because you were sleeping at the line. Shallow staging is also more forgiving of a driver who leaves early or creeps forward a bit.

Deep staging has the advantage of putting you a little closer to the finish line, which is a Good Thing. If you find that you can’t get your reaction time down to where you want it to be, either because your car is a little pokey off the line or you are having trouble leaving on that last yellow, deep staging may help. If you’re running front tires with a very large overall diameter, you’ll probably want to deep stage to decrease your rollout, too.
To review,
Shallow Staging:
Increases reaction time
Reduces elapsed time
Increases trap speed

Deep Staging
Decreases reaction time
Increases elapsed time
Reduces trap speed
Just makes for some good reading.

 

With all due respect, R/T is how long it takes for you to react to the light turning green. You can be in the burnout box and have the same R/T if you left early enough. Yes, you'll have more of a running start, thus having a better trap speed and with all things being equal, a better ET. R/T is ONLY your reaction to the light turning green. You can only better your Reaction time by knowing your car and anticipating the green light accordingly. ET and Trap speed is another story.

Tire slippage is part of the equation for ET's and trap speeds. You can read your 60' time to tell this. The more your tires slip, the higher your 60' time. On stock rubber, 1.90 is pretty good. My best 60' on stock rubber is 1.88. Most people I see at the track with 05's are getting 2.00-2.20.
Shifting at the optimal rpm is also part of the equation as well as launching at optimal rpm. Everyone can tell you what's the best rpm to launch at, but your specific car may be a little higher in the rpm or even lower.

 

So I'm on the slow side of average then with 2.163, 2.160 and 2.171.
Is heating the tires up more going to help?

 

For me, it seemed to help. Some here think that the stock tires cool off between the time you do a burnout and actually launch. I disagree. When I burnout, launch and come around to getting back in line, I have rocks and stuff stuck to the tires. I believe it heats them up enough for better hooking. Your 60' times will decrease when you get more comfortable with launching. You just need to really learn what your car likes. To learn it, you really need to remain consistant when trying different things. Try different things like: making sure the tire pressure is consistant-say, 18psi, launch at exact same rpm, then shift at different rpm points. See which rpm your car responds best too. Once you find your shift points, always shift at that same rpm. Then go to launching at different rpm's. I was moving at my rpm's by 500's to find out which was most ideal. You'll find a sweet spot where you have opitmal less wheel spin and optimal less bog. Let's say 4500 rpm's was the best (based on 500 rpm increments). Then move your rpm's by smaller increments until you find the best to launch (I was moving my rpm's by 100's). Once you have your shift points and launch rpm's, play with your tire pressure. Down here, I found 18 lbs to be the best. It will change with the air temp. Some guys at the track that bracket race, have this little gadget that reads elevation, air temp, wind speed, etc. They say they got it from Summit ($120 or so). I won't be getting one, just passing on info. If I went to anything lower than 18lbs, my 60' didn't decrease and my trap speed would decrease. It's like your finding a formula that your car likes. Once you find it, the trick is to keep that formula consistantly. Once you do any new mods, that "formula" changes and you start all over again. Currently, I'm looking for that formula all over again. Good luck.