Hey guys!

So I decided to take my stock manual 14 5.0
To the track, and race against my buddy with his auto 13 V6.
He had a few runs over me, as this was my
Virgin pass.
At this point I didn't even know how to do a proper burnout or break stand with a clutch, as my previous and only car was a 98 front wheel drive stick shift civic with 98 horsepower.
The only way I'd get that thing to burn any rubber is if I removed the tires and lit them on fire.

Anyway, I'll post our times. I'm in the right lane on both passes. First pass was with no burnout and going on green. The second pass (after some coaching from an old timer),
Was a proper burnout in second, and snapping off the line on the second yellow on the tree.

Enjoy!

 

Run #2

Again, I'm in the right lane with a burnout and TC off this time.

 

Also, what does "left 1st" and "right 1st" mean at the bottom
Of the time slips?

 

I know climate and experience come into play but you should be trapping higher than 100mph stock

 

That's what I thought. The elevation is 2200 feet and it was between 5-10 degrees Celsius on that day.
My first pass I grinded second gear pretty hard and had to ease off the throttle to enter 2nd gear. I thought I did better on my second run, but the timeslip says otherwise.

Stock car.
Stock tires.

 

yes, shoot for trapping between 106-110 mph on everything being stock.

Left 1st, right 1st means how much ahead of the other lane that car was when crossing the finish line. So as an example, you crossed 1.26 seconds ahead of the right lane on your second run. That number won't be exactly the difference between your ET's, because reaction time comes into play too. As an example, your reaction times were better on both runs.

 

Thanks! That was the info I was looking for.
I'm thinking about getting a smaller rim (18") with stickier tire, a wheel
Hop reduction kit, put my CAI on this weekend, get a tune, and try to improve my shifting and driving skills and hopefully I can trap 110 mph and be at 12.5 for 1/4 time.

 

Nice improvement from your first to your second runs. I think most folks should be happy with those numbers on their first time out.

 

With those temps, you'll have massive traction issues, so not too surprised. All about improving and this car with a MT in the cold is tough to launch because the tires just want to light up. At the drag strip it's hard to get any real heat in the tires with cold OAT's.

SHould be able to get into the low 13's at ~110mph though with that car with good traction.

What gears to you have?

 

I'm pretty sure I have 3.55's, but I'll need to double check on that one.
There was big improvement on my launch because an older more seasoned drag racer gave me some tips: 1) traction control always off (obvious) 2) start and finish my burnout in second, and when I finish don't let my tires stop in the puddle of water and cool down, but to roll forward a few feet so they stay hot.
3) probably the best one, was that it was a 'half-second tree' and to leave on the 3rd yellow. By the time I react the light will be green.

 

The gear will be listed on your window sticker options side,. if it's not listed then you have 3.31's.
Never drive through the water box always go around, driving through leaves water on your front tires which leaves it on the ground for your rears to go through. Once your around back into the water.
Also a car on street tires does not require a huge burnout, usually a simple quick spin to clean them off is good enough. (I personally drive around the box get lined up and do a quick 5 second dry spin)
Leaving on the last yellow is all about getting a good reaction time which is important if your racing someone of equal competition. Just remember reaction time has no effect on your ET it measures the time from the green light to when your car leaves the stage beams.
My best time in this car so far was my first ever run in it. 13.29 @ 110mph and that was spinning badly into second and hitting the limiter going to third. So don't worry about your times so much as just have fun trying to improve them.

 

Yeah, your mph is way low. are you sure you're revving the motor out? Even at your elevation, you should be over 105.

I'm busting 90 mph at the 1/8th and 115 at the stripe. That's on a 3.73, 28" drag slick and the Ford Procal tune, full load Premium car.

Here's what I do: stage the car, bring revs to 4500, release clutch so it's just lightly dragging and on the yellows on a .400 Pro tree, I hammer the gas and drop the clutch simultaneously. You'll want to lower the rpm to say 2100 but, use the same technique. If you're on a Sportsman tree, leave on the last yellow. The car has so much windup you'll hardly redlight that way.

The advice you got from the old timer is solid.

12s are EASY on this car, in stock form.

 

The advice given earlier to avoid the waterbox and just do a quick spin is good. On street tires, too much heat will actually cause more spin. Your enemy is dirt, stones and water on street tires. So if you can, just drive around the water box, back up just a bit to in front of , and then just do a really quick spin of the tires to get the cleaned off.

Even on drag radials, people burn way too much on them. I have MT ET streets, and I'll do 3-4 seconds at the most. Just enough to heat them up a little bit. While everybody else is burning all the rubber off their tires. And I never spin while launching. Albeit I also have 305's on my car and it's an auto. So it's probably easier to launch.

But the best rule in getting better at drag racing is to adjust your variables the slightest bit each run so you know if what you are doing is working. Start with a very slight spin to clean off your tires. If that doesn't work, increase the time by a second next time. Keep increasing until you see it actually working. It's possible that it won't work by burning them longer. And you're better to look at other causes of your spinning at the starting line and reducing the time you spend burning out if you find increasing it doesn't help.

Same thing with tire pressure. People think lower tire perssure translates to better traction. That's not neccessarily true on street tires and larger wheeled radials. Reducing tire pressure increases the contact patch. But in a low profile radial, there's not much additional tire to contact the pavement. I run 25-26PSI in my ET Streets since they are 18". And again, not once do I ever spin my tires. Again, though, I have an auto and 305 tires. So you'll have to find your best combo that works with your car.

 

I don't know if the track computers on these cars are accurate or not, but my '14 GT auto did 13.2 @ 111 without the tree(auto start). 0-60 was 5.2.

 

I ran my wife's stock 2010 4.6 auto GT convertible on heavy 20" wheels quicker than that. You just need to practice. Prep at Castrol for the street legals is usually not that great.