Ok guys, ran the 1/8 mile last night. My times are very crappy but I have a few very good excuses as to why. Gonna list all my times in the order I ran them, then give my excuses.
Run 1 - Sadly, this was my best run. Up against a small car (it was a Mazda I think) with an LS1 and a manual, his ET was 9.302, spanked him!
Reaction .719
60ft 2.032
ET 8.987
MPH 78.906
Run 2 - I don't remember what kind of car I ran but his ET was 9.967.
Reaction .487
60ft 2.328
ET 9.362
MPH 79.99
Run 3 - I tried with the traction control on, didn't help much. This was against the LS1 Mazda again, this time he ran a 11.142.
Reaction .664
60ft 2.24
ET 9.269
MPH 80.568
Run 4 - This was the closest race. It was a Buick something or other, had no badges on it. I have no idea if it was Turbo or not. He ran a 9.177, I barely beat him.
Reaction .205
60ft 2.064
ET 9.108
MPH 81.113
Run 5 - I was up against the feared 4cyl Mustang, old and beat up, LOL. He ran an amazing 13.358!
Reaction .995
60ft 2.12
ET 9.088
MPH 79.976
Ok, now that I've posted the crappy times, here are my excuses for them......
I'm on 225's, I had some very very serious traction problems. I honestly wasn't aware of how bad my wheels were spinning until today, there were a few people from work at the track watching the races (I didn't even know they were there until today) and they told me about it. It was describe a few different ways to me. One guy told me that my tires spun all the way through first gear and quite a bit into second as well. I had another guy tell me, who was sitting about a 1/3 of the way down the track, that when I passed him, my tires were still spinning. I had another guy tell me that he could hear my tires spinning over the sound of the open headers on the LS1 on the car I raced on the first run. :eek2: I think this is the biggest reason for my crap times.
Next excuse. I am a total newb to drag racing. This was my first time ever at a drag strip. I went in not really knowing too much about it. Well, this is very embarrassing honestly, I am very sure that I was letting of the gas early. It was dark and I had absolutely no idea were the finish line was. On my very last run, I noticed the light on the side of the track the lights up when the finish line is crossed.:egads: I have no idea how much time this was costing me, but it hurt me for sure.
I think I would do very well in an actual quarter mile. I was hitting third gear right about the same time I was crossing the line. The car pulls hard in third.
I think my biggest issue is traction, I imagine a significant time reduction would be had if I could hook. Not only do spinning tires not accelerate a car very well, they also make the engine bounce of the rev limiter and ultimately, the transmission (mine anyway) will shift early. If I'm able to hit a 8.9 with my tires spinning a 1/3 of the way down the track, then, OMG if I can hook. Turning the traction control on didn't help, it keeps the tires from spinning, but at the cost of power and boost. The traction control was bogging the engine down for a few seconds and then, when the ECU decided I had traction, the car took off, pushing me into the seat.
Anyway, I'm not disappointed. I have a tremendous amount of room for improvement and, I had fun. And, I won every race, which was cool. I turned quite a few heads. While waiting in the pit lanes, I would pop the hood to let out the heat, quite a few people did double takes as they walked by.
There's a few guys at my work who are into racing, I'm in the process of trying to source some slicks. I will probably go back next week regardless.
Let me know what you guys think.
Khris
