well, i am going to make my first appearance here shortly... i am going to a 1/8th track sadly , but its close and lots of people here go...

I am wondering what to do before running,

1. I know to set tire pressure correctly, but what would correctly be for my kumho supra's 225/45/17's to run on the track,

2. also i know to keep the intake stuff cool, I am actually having my car flatbedded out there... just warm the engine slightly and run (also keeps my clutch cold)

3. i am resetting my ecu and driving hard on it to have it adjust to that before i take it...

what else ?

I just had LSD installed (vlsd tranny) so my 60' should be ok which is crucial on a 1/8th track..

 

oh yeah, one other thing.. i think everyone says to launch on the last light before the green... does that mean, as soon as i see that last yellow light to go ?

 

I usually set my Kuhmo tires around 20-22 psi or so in front, and 40 psi in the rear, and yes, at the last yellow GO!

 

you can shed a few pounds by taking out your spare, jack, tools and carpet from the trunk. good luck!!

 

Please tell me you are kidding about the flat bed trailer. Thats usually reserved for cars that are running in the 10s and lower. No offense but if you roll up with a flat bed and you're running in the 15s (which you probably will be) you'll be laughed at. Number two, the wait time between runs is usually long enough that your car woulda cooled down anyway. Number three, I really havent found too much difference between how hot/cold the car is if I raise the hood or not raise the hood. Infact I monitored my under the hood temps near the intake and they were usually around 110 degrees when I was runnin.

Running 17s is not a smart idea at the drags. They have such skinny footprint and are heavy its gonna cause you to spin and slow you down cause of rotational mass.

I used to "race prep" my car by lowering tire pressure, emptying the crap out, but now I race in full street prep, with complete stereo, and all the trash and all in the car. I know some people who take out the seats and floormats to race but to me thats not worth the effort. I have my sturts set to full stiff to minimize weight transfer since we are FWD, but thats my street prep anyway so no adjustment there.

As for the lights, I usually leave the when the 2nd to last yellow light is done 1/2 way lighting. My R/T's are usually in the .5 to .6 range. I also shallow stage, so this makes a difference as well.

Just practice practice practice.

 

What if the 17" wheels I am running at the track are lightweight, like the Volk TE37 or something in that range?

I guess another question is that if you have a 15" wheel/tire combo that weighs 30 lbs vs a 17" wheel/tire combo that weighs 30 lbs, which would be better to be driving on the track with?

What is shallow staging?

 

Even if your wheel/tire combo weigh the same, the smaller wheels have less ROTATIONAL mass (and intertia too?) therefore spin much easier thus quicker times.

Even if the larger wheels were still lighter, you'd be MUCH better off going with a wheel 2'' smaller.

 

Eric I ran my battery down at the races on Sat from using my bottle heater and electric fans so had to leave the car running for the next run in the staging lanes and it made no difference in time so you are right. Makes me feel better though to know its cool. Not sure that is worth anything though.

 

thank you all for the replies.

as far as my 17" wheels, they are my konig tantrums, not the lightest in the world, but the problem is I only have my stock 15" '95 SE wheels to compare with. Those have all-season, not good condition 205 or 215 tires, compared to kumho supra 225's... I feel like I spin a lot more on my stock rims, but would I make up for a slower launch by the less weight , in 1/8th mile? I will probably try running on both sets of tires.

as far as my car needing to be cooled, I do not care thaaat much about the car being cool, (yes i want it to be..) but the clutch i have in it right now, if it gets very hot, then it slips badly. and it is a 1 hour drive out there, so I would have to wait 2-3 hours for the clutch to cool if i drove it hard out there, its kinda impossible to explain, b/c no one understands a clutch that will sometimes chirp third, and other times slip... I need ACT but i think at the same time i replace clutch there is a possibility my car will b/c s/c'd so I want to see what i run before and after... and if my car is cool or not run on a lot, it performs awesome.

what is a good pressure for kumho supra 712's 225/45/17 for NORMAL street use? as far as pulling stuff out of my car, I already do not have my spare tire, b/c I had it removed for a custom audio install, which has 1 15" plus the amps... its as light weight as it could be though (as far as the wood and stuff) so not much gain or loss from weight in the trunk all things considered.

thanks for the help.

 

Your 17" tires are probably in the 40 series which means they're gonna have a skinnny foot print compared to a 55 or 60 series tire. Also, with the larger the rim, as somebody else said theres more mass on the outer diameter of the wheel, so that is harder to drive then if the mass was near the center of the wheel.

Shallow staging is when you pull up to the line and the instant you set the stage light off you stop. This may hurt your R/T times but since you have 4" or so of play while that light is on, that means you are alraedy moving at 1 mph or so it will cut your ET down and bring your MPH up a teeny tiny bit.

 

Don't almost everyone shallow stage? I know I do and most people I know do the same. I did a late stage once, my reaction time was great, a .525, but the 1/4 time and trap speed suffered.