Several new PB's today, I think I'm getting to know my car

OLD_GOAT

forum member
Joined
Oct 13, 2012
Posts
96
Reaction score
0
I put this in another forum, but didn't get much feed back.

Up until today, my PB was 12.758 @ 112.79 which was ran in + 800 DA a couple of weeks ago at Royal Purple Raceway.

Mods.are lower control arms, line lock, MGW shifter, GT 500 mufflers, and FRPP tune.

No doubt, I've not been highly thrilled with the FRPP conservative tune, however (at this time) I'm playing it safe with the possibility of losing my drivetrain warranty with another tune. I've also posted since day 1 my problems learning how to race with a manual versus an automatic (http://www.s197forum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=92246). As one who's come from the GM world and automatics (2005 Pontiac GTO, 2009 Corvette, 2009 Pontiac G8 GXP) this taking the manual down the quarter is far more difficult than any automatic ever was. I'm at the point I don't care who I'm racing and I don't care if what kind of reaction time I have. It's me versus my car, not me versus the other lane. That will come with more seat time.

At this point, I've probably made around 25 passes at Royal Purple Raceway (RPR) and about 5 passes at Evadale (about 15 miles north of Vidor, Texas).

So today is the first time Evadale has been open since last year, and some of my buddies have always told me that unlike RPR, you can almost run back to back. Well, that's not completely true, however I made passes at 13:15, 13:24, 14:13, 14:50 and 21:04. The reason the long time between 14:50 and 21:04 is that I left and drove around 50 miles to a casino in Lake Charles, lost $100 at the craps table, got a $35 buffet and drove back out. I got back around 17:30 and waited in line until 21:04 due to track shutdowns.

Anyway, let's see if the Old_Goat has learned anything about his car that he didn't know last time.

Well, as a matter of fact, I did. I had usually ran with traction control off or advance track off (where you hold the traction control button down for 8 seconds). I read somewhere that you should hit the traction control button twice quickly that puts you in advance track sport mode. Until today I'd never ran in this mode before.

So, let's see what happened. DA, right at +928.

12.555 @ 112.90............1.926 was the 60 foot time

A brand spanking personal best by .2 over last time. Same mods, air pressure in the Pirelli stock 235 x 18 tires was 25 pounds. Seat of the pants told me this was a good run, but you never really know until you read the slip. I was in the right hand lane. I tried to make every launch at around 2500 rpm and shift at around 6800-7000 rpm. First ever 1.9XX on the 60 foot time.

Well, lets' circle right back and make another run, but in the left lane. As I'm still learning the car and the shift/launch technique, I'm not overly concerned with the engine temp. Corrected time was around 12.444, but I don't count corrected time, only what the slip says.

13.393 @ 110.89............2.299 was the 60 foot time Apparently I launched way too high, spinning ain't winning. Let's forget this crappy run and do another one. I don't know if it's me or the lane, but I'm staying away from the left hand lane for the rest of the night. Most likely it's me. I can see one lane a bit better than the other, but not worth .37 on the 60 foot time.

Boy, I'm not liking this a bit at all. I let the car cool down for a while and make this run about an hour later.

12.600 @ 112.87............2.000 was the 60 foot time Yea, another one better than the PB before today.

Time to make one more pass, the DA on this one was around +835.

12.559 @ 111.83............1.945 was the 60 foot time It looks like another really great run.

Time to take a break and see how long it takes for the casino to get the $100 I had allotted for the craps table. Well, it took around 10 minutes, and then I bought a buffet and ate a nice big dinner. Back to the track to make two or more passes. Well, shades of RPR with several shut downs. The track was supposed to shut down at 8pm, but that never happened. I made my last pass at 21:04 and the car was about as cool as it gets. DA was right at +73, however the humidity was around 94% which is terrible.

12.533 @ 110.54............1.933 was the 60 foot time A new personal best. The run felt better than the other runs that day, I mean the car was just jumping. I know it was only .02 better than the first run, but it felt a lot better than the first one.

Conclusion, I'm very happy. Imagine this, I'm learning the car, learning the manual, learning the launch techniques.........and if you throw out the one terrible run, I made 4 runs from between 12.533 and 12.600, which means I made four runs within .067 of each other. Not bad at all.

12533SLIPDAINDICATEDSMALL.jpg
 
Last edited:

skwerl

tree hugger
Joined
Aug 6, 2011
Posts
16,197
Reaction score
1,145
Location
central Florida
Glad you're having fun with it. I only started drag racing a year and a half ago and went through the same curve. Getting close to 200 passes now so the consistency is there, but still pushing new boundaries with every new mod.
 

psfracer

billy badass
S197 Team Member
Joined
Apr 6, 2007
Posts
10,917
Reaction score
82
Location
Valencia, CA
Does anyone know if the advance track mode is on 2011 cars, or is this new for 2013?

Thats a great ET for running stock tires at 25 psi. Where did you get your DA calculation from? With 94 % humidity, the other factors must have been very favorable to get only a +73 DA.

On your 12.555 pass, what was your mph at the 1/8th?
 

46Tbird

forum member
Joined
Oct 13, 2011
Posts
1,226
Reaction score
2
Location
DFW USA
Does anyone know if the advance track mode is on 2011 cars, or is this new for 2013?
The '11/12 cars also have Advancetrac Sport Mode. I've found it to be even more intrusive than the standard mode in my '12 GT as far as cutting power during drag racing, but it appears other people are having luck with it. I just turn the entire Advancetrac off, as my manual trans car can't even do a burnout in any other setting.
 

OLD_GOAT

forum member
Joined
Oct 13, 2012
Posts
96
Reaction score
0
Does anyone know if the advance track mode is on 2011 cars, or is this new for 2013?

I'm not sure, maybe some others can help you.

Thats a great ET for running stock tires at 25 psi. Where did you get your DA calculation from? With 94 % humidity, the other factors must have been very favorable to get only a +73 DA.

http://www.dragtimes.com/da-density...1&day=4&year=2013&getweather=Get+Weather+Data

On your 12.555 pass, what was your mph at the 1/8th?

8.164 @ 88.39
 

psfracer

billy badass
S197 Team Member
Joined
Apr 6, 2007
Posts
10,917
Reaction score
82
Location
Valencia, CA

112.90 - 88.39 = 24.51 mph difference from the 1/8th to the 1/4, which is what I would expect, and that was at a higher DA (+900)

Then your new best (after the casino run lol) the mph difference from the 1/8th to the 1/4 was only 22.13 mph--which I was going to mention seemed low, but I wanted to see the mph difference of the other pass first. So only a 22 mph difference, in better DA (+73). I wonder if the car was heat soaked somewhat since driving back from the casino? Or perhaps you lifted just a bit early? I guess my point is that could have been a high 12.4X.
 

46Tbird

forum member
Joined
Oct 13, 2011
Posts
1,226
Reaction score
2
Location
DFW USA
Or perhaps you lifted just a bit early? I guess my point is that could have been a high 12.4X.

I have noticed that if I short-shift my car early in a run, the speeds will drop quite a bit.


Example, I used to shift into fourth just before the end of the eighth and would run 87/88 mph. But if I hold third through the half track, it will trap 89/90. This translated in my quarter mile speeds too; they went from 112 to 114. Stock GT, 3.73s, 28.5" tall 305/35-20 drag radials.


OP - Congrats on figuring out your car, it is very satisfying.
 

OLD_GOAT

forum member
Joined
Oct 13, 2012
Posts
96
Reaction score
0
I wonder if the car was heat soaked somewhat since driving back from the casino? Or perhaps you lifted just a bit early? I guess my point is that could have been a high 12.4X.

The car wasn't heat soaked at all. The wait to run was over 3 hours and I rolled the car most of the way. I didn't lift early at all as I cross the line in 4th gear right at 6800 rpms.
 

psfracer

billy badass
S197 Team Member
Joined
Apr 6, 2007
Posts
10,917
Reaction score
82
Location
Valencia, CA
Well that is weird then---to trap only 22 mph higher from the 1/8th (which is low) in only +73 DA, when you previously trapped almost 25 mph higher earlier in +900 DA.

So nothing was different between the runs (as far as what you did driving?). In those two runs your 60' was only different by 7/1000ths.
 

OLD_GOAT

forum member
Joined
Oct 13, 2012
Posts
96
Reaction score
0
Last night I went back out to my 'home track', Royal Purple near Houston. I'm pretty sure by now that I'm in my comfort zone with racing the car. Here are the runs.

12.55 @ 113.61..........1.980
12.56 @ 112.97..........2.041
12.57 @ 113.28..........2.058
12.64 @ 113.44..........2.085
12.76 @ 112.72..........2.076

Basically I ran the same at night at RPR as I ran in the day at Evadale. The DA on my best run was at -339 and was the first run of the night. There was no heat soak on the car as the runs were around 45 minutes apart. Last night, even though the DA was in the negative, the humidity was very high.

I think that I may have maxed out making runs on the stock tires. I've made 4 runs with 1.9XX sixty foot times and it seems I'm just beating on the car without getting good results. Now, I'm not arrogant enough to think that a better driver wouldn't get better results, however I think a really good manual driver may get my car into the 12.4's, but not into the 12.3's.

So, unless we get some really dry and cold air, I may be done for this season, unless I decide to purchase some drag radials.
 

Support us!

Support Us - Become A Supporting Member Today!

Click Here For Details

Sponsor Links

Banner image
Back
Top