ran a 14.2 @ about 97-98 mph (2.2 60').... i see others who have slower times, but higher trap speeds... what are the factors that go into traps?

 

That time looks good for the car and trap speed. What mods do you have?

 

Trap speed is a function of power to weight ratio and not much else. Atmospheric conditions play a huge role in determining how much power your car makes on any given day, and different tracks produce different results. Don't compare your trap speeds to anyone else's unless they ran at the same track on the same day as you did.

 

That was with your 50 shot???

 

Not exactly. There are several things that contribute to trap speeds.

A car with AWD may have a quick time...say the poster's 14.2 seconds, but only have a trap speed of 92 mph.
This is because they get a great launch but power drops off because it's being delivered to 4 wheels instead of two.

Conversely, a driver with a FWD or RWD only car could spin the tires like mad at the start and therefore get a time of say 15.0 seconds, but have a trap speed of 100 mph. This because although they didn't get to the stripe very fast, when all hooked up they might have enough steam to really get up to speed quickly then.

The posters trap speed seems a bit slow, but maybe the track was really sticky, your tires were't inflated the best, there was a lot of humidity that day. there was a slight head wind (which might not affect your time as much as slow the car down more as the speed increases), maybe the track isn't perfectly level and has a very small incline near the end slowing the car down a bit, or...there's a bunch of reasons that can affect trap speed.

On another day, you might run a 14.3 but trap at 98 mph. You are within the ballpark of where you should be.

 

I've been running 14.2's @ 99 mph, so you seem right on par to me.

 

You're talking about ETs and traps, he's talking about his trap speeds only. He asked what factors go in to trapspeeds. The answer to his question, assuming there are no REALLY extenuating factors such as weird non-level tracks, strong winds, or really strange gear ratios, is that your power to the wheels and the weight of your car are going to determine your trap speed. If there are other weird factors coming into play, your trap speed may not be a function of your power/weight ratio, but assuming there are no odd things happening, power to weight is the primary determining factor.

You take two maximas and run them on the same track at the same day, and their power to weight ratio and transmission type (gear ratio is what comes into play mostly with maximas) are going to be the main factors to determine which car traps higher and which one traps lower.

 

yeah... that was with everything listed in my sig.... i dont like taking anything off jsut for the track.... always run it in street trim....