I have a friend with a pretty well built Pontiac G8 GT, he and most of my coworkers who know him are itching to see us run against each other. While he likes to street race I refuse to do any thing other than run at the strip. Problem is I've never been there before and I don't know what to expect. So any tips for a first timer would be greatly appreciated. I'm not expecting to win, I just don't want to embarrass myself or loose control and hit the wall. Oh yeah forgot to mention I'll be driving this:
http://www.injectedengineering.com/J...ne2003Cobra-48
http://mustangworld.com/ourpics/News/select4522.htm
http://www.mustangworld.com/ourpics/News/select4616.htm

 

So your driving the cobra? Pretty awesome looking ride. 700whp is what I gathered from the link. I would expect to win with that. You could go to the track by yourself or with some buddies before you race him just to get a little experience. That way there is no pressure an you can get comfortable. Also, when the light turns yellow, go. If you wait for green you r/t will be garbage.

 

Make sure to burn you tires well so your rear tires will be clean and hot if not you'll be stock at the star of the drag or slide all race,

 

Yeah the cobra is my daily driver, and I belive its actually around 600 rwhp with out the nitrous and the previous owner just estimated +700hp at the crank

 

So you're driving a supercharged Cobra with nitrous, and you're worried about losing? WTF is in that G8??? I always thought they looked pretty good, but I had no idea they posed that kind of threat...

 

How did you realize that you need a nitrous and al those mods, if you Never had a strip before? Just wondering no offense

 

I'm not expecting to win do to my inexperience and lack of traction, even rolling in 2nd it likes to break loose and in a 1/8th mile I wouldn't have much room to catch up if he hooks up and I don't. Also, the G8 has nitrous although he says that he isn't going to spray(I'm not going to spray either), full off road exhaust, LSXR intake, cam swap, and i'm sure there is more that I'm not remembering. I believe he said that he is making around 550 to the wheels although I can't remember if that was on spray or not.

I didn't plan on getting such a heavily modified car, but when I down graded from my 2010 GT with a M90 SC I decided I wanted a 03/04 cobra. All I could find were gray or red verts and I wanted a coupe and really wanted sonic blue and then I stumbled on this one.

 

Are you able to put stickies on the back or is it run what you bring sort of thing? If you can hook up at all I would think you could win. He will have some traction problems also. Are you running 1/8 or 1/4. Even if you lose, you can still compare your trap speeds and find out if more experience would have let you win.

 

We will both be on street tires, 265/35/18 front and 285/35/18 rear Nitto 555 and I believe he has 285/30/20 Invos on the rear. We're running a 1/8th mile so not a lot of room to make up for any mistakes, although I'm really not concerned with winning, if any thing it's more for fun for me and it'll give my co workers some thing to talk about. Also with that kind of power and the traction issues I'm sure to have, would I be better off trying to launch in second?

 

What size gears are you running in the rear?

 

stock 3.55

 

I'm not sure if you would be better in 2nd or not. Is 1st even a usable gear in that car with that much power. That is why I would just head down to the track one night prior to running him if possible. Just to figure out the best way to go at this race. Even if you lose your car is better looking and it's still a BAMF

 

That Cobra would destroy a G8 GT.

G8 is a mid 13 sec car, a cobra with those mods is a mid 11 sec car, leaves quite a bit of room for driver error.


Edit: just saw that you are talking 1/8 mile, so you are correct it doesn't leave much room for error, but even so you could short shift the gears considering you make more power than his peak by 3500rpm.

I say take it easy off the line, short shift at 5000 rpm which you are making 200hp more than him at that point and you should have no worries.

 

Something just doesn't seem legit about this whole thread.

 

What doesn't seem legit about it?

 

Whipple cobra on spray against a G8? No competition at all. Is the cobra your car? Just a confusing thread here.

 

The cobra is mine, it's actually my daily driver. As far as the spray goes, I have no plans on using it and want to delete it but I've been too lazy to do so. The reason I'm not counting on beating the G8 seems pretty simple to me, I've never been to the strip, I've never even tried to race any one before, I've only had the car for about a month and a half so I'd say I'm not really used to the car yet. But I guess we'll see how it all works out this Thursday. I think I'd rather expect to get beat and be surprised if I win than to be disappointed with a loss.

 

What rear tires are you gonna run?

 

the only set I have, 285/35/18 Nitto 555

 

stay out of the water box. give them a quick spin to clean them up, either way you look at it you ar going to spin of the line so control it best you can and then beat that b***h once she hooks . really you are going to have play with your launch a little but she should pull like a beast once she is moving. I wouldn't worry but then again the driver is part of it.