Just left Las Vegas Drag Strip with less than stellar results.

Facts: 2,100 ft elevation
106 degrees at 8:30 at night (no sun)

2016 Mustang GTCS
Whipple supercharger with 132 mm throttle body
Stock tires - 255/17 8.5 rims
Traction control off (NOT ADVANCE TRACTION)
Sport Plus
Automatic
355 gears

Results:
Reaction Time - .84
60 ft - 2.005
660 ft - 8.052 @ 92.51 mph
1/4 mile - 12.201 @ 119.56

Analyze this and tell me WTF went wrong. -discouraged!!

 

Elevation and heat.

 

Stock tires aren't going to do much for your launch of 60' times either

 

"or" 60' times...

 

Can't expect too much with 106* temps. Especially with stock tires, they were probably acting like you just smeared butter on them...

 

Like others have said, at those temps the engine isn't making full power, and the tires can't grip as well either.

The only thing I'd mention is reaction time. I'm assuming full Christmas tree? .84 isn't bad for the first time at all! If you can shave .25 of that you'd be down in the 11s. That's about the only area you can improve as a driver, since your car takes care of the rest for you.

Wider rears will help too, 255s are not nearly wide enough to handle the tq your car is making.

 

Thank you all for the responses
5.monster - thank you for the advice on tires. What size do you suggest? I have 8.5 rims.

 

Hey Allen, I'm afraid you won't be able to go much wider (if at all) on 8.5s

I know a lot of guys with superchargers go at least 285-315 on the rears (at least the S197s anyway). I'd recommend a wider set of rear wheels 10.5" or wider and 305s (Toyo R888 or similar). Check into the S197 forums, lots of discussions there between blown Coyote owners.

 

5.monster- thank you for the heads up on the rim size. Guess I'll go 10.5 with maybe 395 r888 in back and maybe 9.5 with 285 front r888

 

Hey Allen, no worries. What are your goals for the car? It is a DD with weekend drag strip duty? Will you ever do road courses in it?

I ask because your goals will dictate what direction you go on front rear rims/tires, and the tire type.

This is fan, having a specific goal and researching the best way to get there

 

@5.monster- daily driver (no rain) have a Rubicon for that. Track (willow springs 2.5 mile) 2x year. Drag strip 2-3x yr. this is my 50th bday present from wifey- just a very fast dual purpose fun car! Thank you for all your advice!

 

I'd like a tire setup whereby it would not break loose at 50 mph like the stock tires do. Be able to run mid 11's at track Sea level. Not drag radials ... Blah blah blah. Cornering would be nice to. Don't care about rotating so staggered tires is ok as well

 

Best of both worlds, I see!

Ok, well, this is the time to get technical.

For straight line you want as large/wide rear tire as you can get to maximize footprint and grip. This is often done with skinny fronts, to reduce rolling resistance and weight.

Pros: Good grip off the line, more efficient use of engine power
Cons: Pushes handling a lot towards understeer, aka does not turn well.


For road course (that's what I do with my car by the way 3-4x per year at Grattan, Gingerman, and Mid Ohio ) you want a neutral (or slight oversteer) handling car. This is achieved by a few means:

Either having a square setup which maintains factory neutral (ish) balance. And then you get to play with front bar stiffness and camber to fine tune and maximize lateral grip (my car is SRA, so I can't do camber on the rear)

OR

Having a staggered setup with a stiffer rear or softer front bar.

So my point is you have to choose, or budget/time allowing have 2 different setups. Tire compound requirements are way different, tire sizes are different, wheel sizes are way different, big brakes help at the road course and hut at the drag strip....

... but at the same time

Having adjustable dampers at all 4 corners would work well for both applications, though with vastly different settings. Running a negative camber on the front would help in both applications. A stiffer rear bar will not hurt you drag performance too much, while maximizing rear grip at the road course.

See where I'm going with this? All big money pits, but where there is a will there is a way.

 

[QUOTE=5.M0NSTER;6986934If you can shave .25 of that you'd be down in the 11s. That's about the only area you can improve as a driver, since your car takes care of the rest for you. [/QUOTE]

Uhhh... RT has nothing to do with ET.

The clock doesn't start until the staging beam is broken.

You could cut a perfect .50 light or a 10 minute light and your ET would be the same.

The only difference is the number of racers that you make mad.

Less weight = lower ET. Less gas, no spare, no junk in the trunk etc.