Tonight was the last night of the season for the local drag strip so I decided to go. I was running my slicks, but it didn't matter, because they didn't bother to prep the track. My slicks hooked ONCE, and the other 4 times they spun almost as if they were street tires. I was rather ****ed. I did set a new personal best though on my first run of the day. BTW guys I set my MEVI switchover to 5000 tonight (I had previously been using 4600) and it feels better to me.


Run_____1_______2_______3_______4_______5
RT_____.637___.602____.536____.648____.359
60____2.059___2.094___2.120___2.005___2.104
330___5.869___5.940___5.921___5.860___5.989
1/8___9.050___9.170___9.099___9.060___9.203
MPH___77.30___76.25___77.33___76.38___76.15
1000__11.820__11.972__11.860__11.837__11.992
1/4___14.157__14.341__14.206__14.179__14.359
MPH___96.71___95.07___96.77___96.55___95.10

As you can see my 60's and ETs for the night were all over the place. I did set a new personal best of 14.157, only .03 behind SmokinOdum for the quickest all motor max run.

Tonight, my OEM clutch wasn't an issue, traction was the issue. I started the slicks out at 27psi. On run 2 I tried 25psi, and on 3, 4, 5 I was at 23psi.

My favorite run of the night was my 3rd run however. Even though it was my worst 60' of the night, look at my ET. If I had gotten out of the hole on that run I would have run a 14.0 for sure, maybe even a 13.9. Didn't happen though, dang.

Weather for the night was decent. Cool but humid. Run 1 was made in about 70 degree conditions, runs at the end of the night were at about 60 degrees. Humidity right now is at 87% though, so that didn't help.

Kills for the night at the track were, in order, a 67 Camaro 327 (15.7@91), a 70's Corvette (16.1@85), Mustang Mach 1 429CJ (15.3@94), 95 Mustang 5.0 5spd (14.3 @ 96, CAI, Exhaust, Pulleys), and an 80s style VW Jetta (15.8@84, stripped out, headlight removed, etc.)

For comparison purposes, the quickest GTP of the night was a 14.7@92 (3.4 pulley, exhaust, intake, DHP PCM), ALL the LS1s were trapping 99-103 which is weak by LS1 standards but is what they always pull at my track, week in, week out. Kenne Belle supercharged 5.0 Mustang AOD running 13.3 @ 103 on drag radials, my friend's bolt on 2001 Integra Type R running 13.9 @ 99 on drag radials. I think my track is slow, or the drivers around here just suck.

On the way home I raced a 3800 Supercharged powered Fiero GT with 3.4 pulley, exhaust, intake and 5spd manual tranny. This car ran 13.7 @ 98.9 at the track on a 2.15 60', so he DEFINATELY had me on the low end. On the highway though, the 3800 fell flat like they always do, and from 90-130 I put 1 length on the guy at which point I ran out of gas and my car started chugging so I had to let off. Not bad considering he was a quicker car at the strip, and at this point I had all my extra weight back in my car. Seats, extra wheels, 40lb floor jack, 20 lb hydraulic jack, stock jack, spare, etc. Don't ask why I had 3 jacks in my car, its a long story.

EDIT: DAMN I hate how this message board compresses all the spaces down to just one... I have to fix my little timeslip table now.

 

so close!!! Just wait until winter and when they finally prep the track

 

Your slicks didn't hook up in 70-degree weather? That's strange. Great times though, a little colder and better traction and... well you've heard this enough by now.
-Cyrus

 

Wow impressive times even though you dont seem too thrilled with em.

What kinda 60 ft times you run off the slicks?

2.2's or so?

 

2.2s with 2.1s on occasion. Which is why I was mad about the 2.1s I got tonight. The slicks were just spinning, no matter how hot I got them, and no matter the PSI. Traction was just hit or miss. Maybe they still had a little water on them when I was launching, I dunno.

 

23 psi in your slicks! You should be running no more than 15 psi. A lot of guys run 10 psi.

 

why do you carry so many jacks in the car? Do you help old ladies on the road?

 

At a track that is well prepped, I DO NOT break the slicks loose at 25psi. The grip and go and I pull 2.00 60' times all day long. Grip is typically not a problem, but on this night it was. Running 15psi kills my trap speeds, I've run much worse times on low pressures like that. I don't have nearly as much power as most of the guys running slicks, so traction usually isn't as much of an issue. Usually.

 

27PSI is too high check and see. It should be below 20PSI. I know I dont own slicks but you can always ask around. I am sure it should be like 17, 18 or 19PSI. But congrats on you new time.

 

Neal, congrats on your new best time!

hopefully at byron on the 5th you can get some traction and some good launches.

 

Soooooooooooooooooo close! You'll get it eventually... Good job!

 

Thanks guys for all the input. I too always thought 20+ psi was way too high for slicks until SteveChicagoSC (350+ FWHP) told me he runs 23+ in his, and hes got TONS more power than me. So I tried it and it worked great, and my traps went up too. This weekend though, it wasnt working. I should have tried lowering them some more. I hooked once, but the other times I could feel them spinning for about 30 feet and then grabbing.

 

Huh, most of quicker FWD cars at my track run 12-15psi. They yank off high 1.8s and 1.9s. 23psi seems way too high.


Dave

 

You said in your first post that you only hooked one time. Regardless of how well the track is prepped or not prepped you got to do what the occasion calls for. If you are not hooking at 23, 15 or what ever you got to try something different. Granted your mph will go down with less pressure in your tires but you got to hook up or your et will surely suffer without traction. Even up to 30 psi in slicks is fine as long as you are hooking. 30 psi may inmprove your mph but mph really means nothing. Et is what gets the win light!

 

Right. I started at 27, just trying it out. 2nd run I dropped it 2psi to 25, 3rd run I dropped it to 23, hoping to hook but not kill my top end. My 3rd, 4th and 5th runs were hot laps, less than 5 minutes between the runs. Had I had time, I would have gone lower on the slicks but I didn't have time. Sorry I didn't make that clear before. I know lower PSI would have been beneficial last night at the track but the time between my last few runs didn't allow any adjustment so I had to adjust my launch a bit. It was in vain though.

If I had a clutch that could handle hooking at high RPM I would have nothing against running lower pressures to hook, but as it sits right now, I either hook at lower RPM and bog out, or hook at higher RPM and subsequently roast my clutch. I need to find a happy medium between the two for now, between bogging and burning the stock clutch. My setup is far from ideal.