edit2: just in case it wasn't clear...my title is a joke. (well, except for the time) I know the poor 60' contributed to my time. I hope the title isn't scaring people from leaving feedback.

haha...that was my first run ever. I went to a dragstrip near Rochester, NY Friday night for the test and tune. Very laid back place, tech "inspection" was done by yours truly, and paid $12 for 3 hours of racing, and could have gone back to back runs if I wanted. However, I wanted to cool off my car to try to get a little bit better times. This was probably the best possible way to get into drag racing. Total, I got 10 runs in. edit3: I actually got 11 runs in, and the place was so laid back that I went in shorts and a tshirt.
My first run was basically right after getting to the track, after driving for about 45 minutes or so. That's the run I talked about in the title. Specs for that run follow:

R/T - 1.243
60' - 2.658
1/8 - 10.498 / 70.03
1/4 - 15.995 / 90.07

I didn't launch, spun first completely, but still beat my friend in his 99 Cougar (2.5L 5MT). Second gear pulled him HARD. I also had 38psi in my front tires.
Anyways, I promised myself, after about 5 runs of sub-par 60' foots, that I wouldn't spend another cent on mods if I couldn't drive better. By then, I was getting the hang of launching, and was getting 2.4xx's.
I finally was able to cut a few decent 60' foots. After getting a 2.3 60', I ran the car to a 15.3 and 90.xx. Then my best run came, last run of the night:

R/T - .704
60' - 2.320
1/8 - 9.867 / 71.60
1/4 - 15.269 / 91.23

I'm pretty happy with this times. I was on a FULL tank of gas, jack and spare were NOT taken out. Basically, fully loaded SE and street trim++ (I had everything in my car from cd's, to Haynes manual). I'm not a light guy either, about 220lbs. edit: forgot to say my mods. K&N panel filter, hacked air box, suspension, 5G clutch and STS. Those are the only things that would've affected the time.

I also didn't shift to fourth, which apparently I should have been. I was confused - I recalled reading that hitting fourth will raise mph in the 1/4, but I thought it would negatively affect ET. (As in, shift to fourth, increase mph, increase time, but I now know that's not the case).
Also - How should I launch? I revved to 3k rpms, and slipped the clutch. I feel like there should be a better way to launch to not kill the clutch so much. On another note, the 5G clutch held great, and didn't even smell after all the runs.
Anyways, this was a LOT of fun, and had been meaning to go for a while. Here's two pics of the night, really a lot of fun.



By the way, what's the link to the website that you can input the date and location, and they give you the weather specs for the night, such as barometric pressure? And what about elevation? I believe nealoc posted the link in the past.

 

NYIRP!!! i went there the week before for my first time ever. I pulled a 15.2 with a 2.49 60'. I got 15 runs that night!

 

Yup! that's the one. Great place, very laid back, and a lot of fun. If I wasn't ending school in a week and a half, I would say we should meet up sometime there! ohwell, maybe next year.

 

www.dragtimes.com i think thats the site your thinking of, pretty good times too!

 

Well, I was thinking of something else, but ended up using weather.com to go back and get hourly reports of the weather specs for that night. Thanks for the comments! I was pretty surprised just how bad the first run ended up, and it proved to me just how much seemingly "little" aspects of the race matter so much (launch, quick shifting, etc.).

I can't wait to go again, and this time I'll actually prepare to go racing. As I said, full tank of gas and no weight reduction. We literally decided split second on Friday night to take advantage of the test and tune.

 

definitely need to shift into 4th gear. And slipping the clutch is really the only good way to launch the car on street tires.

oh yea, what rpm were you shifting at in each gear?

 

I ran 1st to redline (about 6500 rpms), shifted second at around 6400 rpms, and too third all the way out. I was just confused about what someone had said about using 4th, and didn't check before I went.
I just need to perfect my clutch slip on the launch I guess. I had NO tire squeal out of first on my best 60' times, so I know i can be faster out of the hole. I was just trying to control spin since my first two runs I spun badly. I seemed to work for my first time, but I'm confident I'll get a 2.2xx 60' by the end of the summer.
I was slipping the clutch from 3k rpms. I feel like I could've added more gas and less clutch though, so we'll see how I can bring down my 60'. Maybe I'll try 2500 rpms for launching next time.
Thanks for the reply UNCDooD!
By the way, here's the breakdown for the weather conditions for the night. My best was ran at 9:55 pm.

so temp was pretty good, but I guess humidity could be better, right?

Also, just for fun, does anyone have a 0-60 mph calculator that uses 60' time as one of the inputs? That'd make it more accurate, and I was just curious, and haven't had any luck googling for a calculator.
Another thing: is there a specific place where I can find the elevation of the track above sea level? I'm going to go google that right now, and see if I can find a calculator to see what I'd run at sea level (again, just out of curiosity).

edit: elevation is 1024 ft above sea level. Googling now to find that calculator I wanted.
edit2: found what I need, sea level times would be a tenth+ lower and a mph+ faster. Oh well...I'm happy

 

my best ETs and mph came when i shifted into 4th gear at about 6100 rpms. give that a try and i bet you you will hit a high 14-second pass if you get a good launch.

 

I will definately try that before I put on my exhaust hopefully. I want to get the best run stock possible. The one time I tried to shift into fourth, I missed (didn't grind, but hit the "gate", and never got into gear; just let off to avoid grinding), and coasted across the finish line. That run ended up to be a 15.3xx at 87. Thanks for the advice, I'm going to be sure to get into fourth, and to also launch more aggressively, now that I know how to modulate wheel spin off the line.

I would love to go 14 sec stock...but I have a horrible exhaust leak in my flex that's driving me nuts, and a WSP y and 2.5" catback w/ 5G muffler sitting at my house begging to be put on. I don't know what to do...I don't know if I have the will power to strive for 14's with the mods sitting at my house. Plus, the opportunity to get a good run in the summer is slim due to weather...ahhh, I don't know. Too late to be thinking about this though.

 

I use www.wunderground.com for all my weather calculations.

Then you can use http://wahiduddin.net/calc/calc_da_rh.htm to calculate your air density altitude.

And you can use the rule of thumb (every 500 feet you gain in air density altitude, you gain one tenth) to figure your 1/4 mile ETs.

Also, wunderground tells you the elevation for a particular city.

 

I think I did use wunderground.com to get the elevation...I just googled the zip and "elevation" and it came up. Man I can't wait to go to the track again. I missed last night, which ended up being a perfect day, but I had to submit a final project before 9 pm which I was working on all day yesterday, so I couldn't get there. Plus, I had just as much gas as I left the track with last week (I don't drive when I'm at school...she just sits...). Thanks for the reply.

 

elevation: http://www.city-data.com/

good runs BigLou !

 

Thanks man

Oh yeah, any word on that in car vid I pm'ed you about? I should have downloaded it when I had the chance. Thanks again.

 

Definitely nice runs.

The temps were great, but the barometric pressure was kinda low. I usually won't go to the track unless the pressure is up over 30. It plays a role in how strong your car will run.

 

Thanks! Yea, the temps turned out great, but I noticed the humidity was kind of high (don't know how much of a role that plays when the temps are cool though), and I really didn't know how to think of the baro. pressure. But thanks for the comments!

 

i ran a 15.2 with my auto on a hot *** day. shouldnt you be faster then 15.2?

 

man im having trouble finding it, might have to go back and look through some cdroms to see if i have it, somehow its gone and i dont see it on my pc. lame !

 

List your mods....because I have none that increase my horsepower. Plus, it was my first time at the track, with a lot of extra weight, and I can work my 60' down more.

Oh well, don't spend too much time looking for it. Thanks anyways. Looks like you have to make another one...