First time out to the track. Tips to improve? - SRT Forums

jdub2k5 · 07-27-2009, 08:50 AM

I made my first trip out the local 1/8th mile Friday evening. Made 4 passes. RT's were bad but I think I understand the timing a little better. Definitely can't wait for the green light. Here are my slips. I'm "white" in all these. The red was my friend's LS1 Camaro Z-28. The mustang was a 97 SVT cobra

Stock wheels and KDW's @ 25lbs. Stock boost, only mod was an open needswings dp. I ran both 1st and 2nd out to around 5800 before shifting. Would I pick up a little time by getting out of 1st sooner? Any other small things I could look for?

BDCarrillo · 07-27-2009, 09:23 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by jdub2k5

I made my first trip out the local 1/8th mile Friday evening. Made 4 passes. RT's were bad but I think I understand the timing a little better. Definitely can't wait for the green light. Here are my slips. I'm "white" in all these. The red was my friend's LS1 Camaro Z-28. The mustang was a 97 SVT cobra

Stock wheels and KDW's @ 25lbs. Stock boost, only mod was an open needswings dp. I ran both 1st and 2nd out to around 5800 before shifting. Would I pick up a little time by getting out of 1st sooner? Any other small things I could look for?

I can't see the timeslip image (at work) so the following is general advice:

-Take out your AC relay (in the engine compartment fusebox) and put the HVAC knob to the blue side. This will circulate ambient air inside your car, and will force both radiator fans to be on at all times.

-Try decreasing your tire pressure a few lbs, and try different launch RPMs.

-WOT shifting may help shed a few tenths

-Weight reduction! It's free and easy... just take out the back seat and passenger seat. Take out the spare tire, jack and tools as well. It's a total of 8 bolts to undo the seats. Also, you should only really have a 1/4 tank of gas when you're going down the track, otherwise you are hauling un-needed weight.

-Try different shift points just to see how they work. maybe shifting (all gears) a few hundred RPM earlier may help

jdub2k5 · 07-27-2009, 11:49 AM

I did let some air out of the tires. I went down to 25 lbs, but I think I could have done a little better at 23 or even 22 lbs.

I'm comfortable with WOT shifting without having a WOT box.

I got all my junk out of the car but didn't want to go crazy with weight reduction just because I don't feel like putting everything back together.

Shift points and launch rpms are 2 things that I'm really wondering about. I bogged pretty badly on one of my runs. I had a lot of wheel hop on my last run, over compensated for the bog from earlier.

BDCarrillo · 07-27-2009, 12:24 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by jdub2k5

I did let some air out of the tires. I went down to 25 lbs, but I think I could have done a little better at 23 or even 22 lbs.

I'm comfortable with WOT shifting without having a WOT box.

I got all my junk out of the car but didn't want to go crazy with weight reduction just because I don't feel like putting everything back together.

Shift points and launch rpms are 2 things that I'm really wondering about. I bogged pretty badly on one of my runs. I had a lot of wheel hop on my last run, over compensated for the bog from earlier.

Then get the WOT box! The WOT box with 2-step will address two issues at the same time. I run one and it's awesome. Plus, you can download (for free) software to hook it up to your laptop and get even finer control out of it.

Do you remember the bog/hop RPMs?

As far as taking out the seats, you literally only have to undo 8 bolts, total. It's really easy

Neon Nick · 07-27-2009, 02:15 PM

Get some solid motor mounts to help with the wheel hop. I don't think you need a WOT box, it probably will help but I think the money can be better spent elsewhere. Although having a 2-step would be nice for launching. If you had slicks then launching becomes much easier. Getting at least 1.8 60ft's is not hard on stock turbo, just need motor mounts and slicks.

jdub2k5 · 07-27-2009, 02:41 PM

I have prothane race inserts. Forgot about those. On the 2 lauches I felt pretty good about I just spun a little, no hop. I bogged at 2100 rpm and hopped at 2600.

I also have a dsp now that I'm working with. I'm going to try to dial in the 93 tune a little before my next track day too. Hopefully I can get that to work out for me.

chrishna · 07-28-2009, 07:50 PM

are you dumping the clutch?

i get better 60ft slipping it clutch, no bogging like when i useto dump it

jdub2k5 · 07-28-2009, 11:14 PM

I am basically dumping it. I thought about slipping it but didn't make enough passes to really try that out. I'll give it a shot next time out.

When do you get out of first? I was waiting till right around 6k. Would I be better off shifting around 5k into 2nd?

jc.turbo · 07-28-2009, 11:27 PM

get a wot box... you'll be thanking yourself after a few seasons when your tranny still shifts smoothly and doesn't pop out of gear.

on street tires, launch between 1800-2200 rpm. on street tires, i'd usually hang around 25psi for pressure. you can go lower but i never gained much at the local track. try shifting around 5500 on each gear except 3rd.

you're gonna have to ride the clutch, sort of, it's hard to explain but if you sit in a car with somebody who has a great launch you'll feel and understand it.

change the thermostat if you haven't and do the free 'fan mod' or the ac relay trick described above. next mods for you: wot box, wga (Forward Motion), wideband, and a map clamp or safc. these mods will carry you quite a ways. you can even start w/ race gas and tuning the safc for more power w/o spending money on mods. or instead, water injection...

jdub2k5 · 07-29-2009, 07:19 AM

I do have a wideband and a dsp, so I don't need a map clamp. I should see some improvements next time out with the dsp (at least I hope so) since I didn't use it at all this past time.

I figure the next thing I get will be the WOT box. I'll hold off on the wga until I get bigger injectors and 3 bar map/tip, then I'll get a custom tune.

jc.turbo · 07-29-2009, 07:59 PM

good plan, you know where you're at in the game.

jdub2k5 · 07-29-2009, 11:28 PM

I try to think a little ahead. There's no reason to spend twice the money on the same end result for a few hp gain in the middle. Makes more sense to wait a little and do it right the first time. Thanks for the input. If the rain holds off I'll be heading to street night Friday at the local 1/8th mile.