Well, Great Lakes Dragaway had a opening weekend freebie and I decided to go. Massacio also came with. It was a fun experience and I plan to continue racing but I was very disapointed with my times. My best of the day was:

60' 2.313
330' 6.447
1/8 9.87
1/4 15.37
MPH 89.11

This was at 40 degrees, strong head wind, at least 150Ibs weight reduction, and my mods listed below. Being my first run ever and I forgot to turn the OD off. On the next 6 runs I couldn't break 15.4 w/ OD off. What is the deal? Why would I be faster with Overdrive on. Also, Why am I so slow. I thought a stock auto runs a 15.6. I reduced almost 200Ibs, gained 20HP and TQ and could only better a stock auto by 2/10ths. WTF? Do you guys see anything I'm missing. I know I shouldn't be running cold plugs but I didn't think it would be that big of a deal. I plan to go back in the next couple months with coppers and stock rims. Hopefully that will help me a lot.

 

For your mods and a head wind, your times sound pretty normal. What was the headwind like? 20-25mph is a very strong headwind and that's worth about .2 and 3mph. It's about .1 and 1.5mph for every 10mph in wind speed. An auto with an intake/y-pipe/UDP/catback, light 17s, and weight reduction should be a around a 14.9-15.1@90-92mph with a lower 2.3 60'. Sounds like you're there. Honestly, the UDP doesn't do jack. I'm running 14.4s@98mph without the UDP just like I was last year WITH the UDP. There's no discernable difference in ET/MPH at any point of the track.


Dave

 

The headwind was probably gusting to 20-25 but a constant 15MPH. Thanks for the insite Dave. The Catback isn't mandrel bent either so... Its just a setup that a local shop fabbed up. I'm still wondering why I was faster with OD on.

 

Did you see them prepping the track when you went? Did they spray down some VHT in the area where you stage before launching??

I would say not to be discouraged, you should be running low 15's easy with a nice solid launch. If you were sliding out of the hole several car lengths like I was doing at GLD, your et's are obviously going to be high.

 

The more you go, the better you'll get. My first time I ran 16.3 and chopped that down to a 15.62 the second time I hit the track.

 

I think the UDP gives more help to autos than 5sp's, simply because we barely have enough power to break traction in first anyways. Anything that can help us get up in the revs faster helps. Our gears are just too damn long

LEMAR

 

O/D on or off will not make any difference. The only thing that O/D does is prevent your car from shifting into 4th gear when it is turned off.

It has no effect on lower gears or anything else.

If you had a noticable time difference it was something else responsible not the O/D. I find that many times my first run is the fastest, probably because of the heat, especially if you make runs close together in time.

This is covered in the 4th Gen FAQ's

https://maxima.org/forums/showthread...Fd#post1232397

 

if i'm readin your mod list correct u have 1 step colder plugs and that takes away from performance na

 

Yeah, I said that I know its not good for performance but I didn't think it was that bad. I dyno'ed with these plugs in and I still made 165.5 % 173.1 Returning to stock plugs is next on the list after I finish my current brake project.

 

My first time at the track the best i could do was a 15.9 stock. My second time around with only Greddy Exhaust and a Hacked Airbox, I pulled a 15.3 . The temp my first time was around 42 and no wind. Second time was in the low 60's and no wind. I simply got better, the mods helped, but I knew how to react to the tree and learned how/when to launch and shift. Just give it time bro, you'll do better your 2nd go.

 

I understand the idea of getting used to the tree and becoming a better driver but when your auto there isn't much to improve upon in the driving talent area except learning how to launch. My sixty foot time is nothing to **** your pants about but I spun for less than three rotations and hooked up. I still have a bad sixty foot. I hope to get down to Byron in the next month after I have time and money to fix everything. I got the Auterra software working and it isn't giving me any red flags so it must be a combination of plugs and conditions.