I'm planning on going to the drag strip tonight. I'm just looking for any tips for racing my AUTO. also tire pressure, staging, any thing that is usefull. this is my first time racing and want to get some good times.

 

-Tire pressure: 22-24 front, 35 back.
-make sure you have O/D off
-take out any stuff you have in your car including spare tire and jack.
-go the second that the third yellow light up.

that's all I can think of... but I don't have an auto so check with somebody that does.

 

if you have your stock rims put them on
tire pressure fronts 22-23 back-leave as is
if your running NOS you'll want to ask someone else but for me this works
i am assuming you don't have a VB so
put car in 1, brake torque to 1200-1400 rpm ..
on third yellow stomp on it
put in 2 at 6000-6100 rpm
put into 3 at 5800-5900 rpm
keep foot on gas entire time
good luck

oh and DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES DO A BURNOUT, you'll cream your tranny

Ant

 

I did almost to what Ant95se did. Also, remember to lose as much weight as you can. Take out the jack, spare, subs, etc. I made the mistake of having almost a full tank of gas when I raced. Big mistake. When I raced the first time, I only got a 15.8 at 87mph. That was my first run. I manually shifted in all, but one of my runs. I found this gave me the best time. The one time I left it in Drive, I got a 16.0; terrible. It also depends on the track condition. When I ran, it was HOT! 130 degrees track temperature. I had my best run of 15.5 at 89mph at night when it got cooler. I think if I live up North, I would have got even better times. Anyway, do what Ant95se suggested. Although, if you running NOS, I wouldn't recommend you manually shift. Just leave in Drive w/overdrive off. The time I raced, I reved up to 2k and manually shift starting from 1st. I shifted at 6k rpms. A few times I shifted a bit late and got a...DOH! And yes, just go on the third yellow, don't wait until green.


Ant95se: hey, last time I raced, I did a few burnouts. Is that really bad for an auto? I think I was silly to do a burnout because like I mentioned, it was HOT! I don't really think the burnout helped me because I had the stock rims with crappy Goodyear tires. I left my tire pressure at 35 psi all around. I think that was another mistake. Talk about learning the lesson the hard way.

So, if I had less gas in the tank, better tires, lower my tire pressure, I might have got low 15s. I think with my setup, I should be able to hit low 15s consistently.

Anyway, good luck!

 

Hmm.. you gunna spray? If you have VB mod, leave it in D but if you dont, shift it manually. Everything else has been covered.

 

yeah it's bad and it wears it down but it won't KILL your tranny instantly, but if you do it consistently it is very bad.. drop your tranny pan and you will notice a lot more metal shaving out of your tranny compared to someone like me who never does a burnout and i have very minimal metal shavings...
basically you wanna have minimal weight but
taking the back seat out ? i don't think it'll do that much
if you wanna go all out take the front seat out also tho cuz that is heavy
and run with your gas light on

Ant

 

Make sure you turn all unnecessary electricals off, such as lights,radio,A/C,etc. Putting your heat on full blast would help draw out some of the hot air from your engine.

 

Pump up the rear tires to 55 psi to reduce the rolling resistance. If you have adjustable shocks you can tune them for better weight transfer.

Others already mentioned the basic stuff. Opening your hood after each run also helps keep the engine cooler. Bringing several bags of ice and placing it on the intake manifold also helps to keep your runs more consistent by keeping the intake air temperatures lower and more consistent.

Also watch a few cars run before you go down the strip. Keep an eye out for the pre-stage and staging lights so you know where to line up. Also take note of where the finish line is and where to pull off the track. You'll be going to fast to take the first exit so take either the third or fourth exit. If you're the slower car, the faster car exits first. If you're the faster car, you should exit first.

 

ok i'll have to try some more of these things next time i go. i hit traffic, it was hot, it was crowded. It was a bad day. I was VERY nervous seeing as it's my first run ever, AND i only got two stinking runs in all day, worth 4 hours round trip My best of the day was a 16.088 but i shifted out of first early and had a BAD launch, 60 ft = 2.5?? IF i can get that down .2-.3 tenth and not be nervous and shift better i'll have a 15.4. It was hot and MY car was hot. i left the hood open but it was just so hot and from 2 hours right off the highway it never got cooled off. All and all it was a bad day, except, On the way there on 495-N a guy in a 96 SE 5-spd flagged me over and talked to me, he saw me do a blow by at 110 chasing an Audi and he knew i wasn't stock, i was weaving through traffic and going kinda quick, he said he couldn't keep up with me. He finally caught me and we talked for like 5 minutes, he said he was having problems finding aftermarket parts and i told him about this site and he said he would come here and check it out. Really nice guy and a nice experience. Can't wait for maxus, i'm filling my fender well with Ice IN BAGS so my CAI gets nice cold, COLD air

 

dmbmaxima88:
I'm the 5th gen owner that was at New England Dragway yesterday. That was my first time racing also. I managed to get 5 runs in. My best run was 16.030 at 86.78 mph with 2.463 60'. My best 60' time was 2.454 on my last run of 16.053 at 86.82 mph. I might go on July 4th. I have to try reducing my front tire air pressure to 22-25 psi to see if that helps my 60' time. Good luck next time!

 

ya i definetly NEED to get my 60' times down. i will bring my pressure down next time and BRAKE TORQUE the $HIT out of my car. I can get mid 15's i know it. 15.4 would be nice. When i get the nitrous and UDP i won't have to worry about this though

 

o/d on or off wont make a difference. ive tired racing with it on/off. i leave it on.

taking out ur spare and jack wont make a difference either. at least not a notable one.

i also tired setting the heater on full blast..nothing happen just got my car all freakin hot...

ive raced another max b4 and he was maually shifting and basicly ran the same as what i ran. and i left it in D.

one thing always to remember run on ur stock rims...
it made a difference of .3 for me...

 

First of all, I never took out my spare or jack. I always raced my car in full "street" trim (with the exception of pulling out the drivers side cornering lamp in hopes of letting a little more cold air under the hood)
Run with just about 1/4 tank of fuel. Let the engine cool off to the point that the intake manifold is cool to the touch (open the hood, shut the motor off and wait a bit).
When you get to the line, no burnout is necessary (although I usually did just a quick spin of the tires to clean all the debris and stuff off the tires).
When staging, I would just bring the revs up to 1100 on the tach (just above idle). Hold the revs there until ready to go. On the last amber, release the brake and stand on the gas simultaneously. This will "flash stall" the convertor, and you will leap off the line. If you have just an intake, your shift points should be 4500, and 4500. Moving the shifter at those speeds will give you a shift rpm of 5000 and 5000. If you have an intake and Y-pipe, you will move the shifter at 5500 and 5500. This will give you a shift rpm of 6000 and 6000.
I personally have gotten my best et's that way, with just a Popcharger, Stillen Y and HKS muffler. On an otherwise stock (but loaded with stuff) 95 GXE automatic. When I had the car, I had the quickest ET in the Northeast for an auto.

15.1 @ 91 mph (2.18 60 ft) with the above combo.
15.1 @ 94.96 mph (2.52 60 ft) with the above and a JWT ECU and rebuilt tranny with 2200 rpm stall speed. (Almost 0 traction on this run)

 

I was waiting for JimW to chime in ..

Jim i've gotten lots of advice from you about drag racing for auto's but this is the first time i've seen this ..

Shift out of first and second at ONLY 5500 ? i thought the usual was 6000 out of first and 5800 out of second ?
I will have to try manual shifting at that early rpm the next time i go to the track ..

Ant

 

You may be correct, it's been over a year, and I'm trying to recall everything that I can remember. Sorry bout that.
I remember that with the intake/Y-pipe combo, I was able to run to higher rpms before shifting. IIRC, the redline is 6700 in the VQ max? If so, then I was shifting at 6000 and 6000, and by the time the tranny completed the shift, the tach was hovering just aboove 6500.

One thing I remember very well. My VQ auto loved the cold, and HATED the heat. The hotter the temp, the lower the shift rpm. With the auto, if I moved the lever at 4500 it would shift at 5000. So, if you don't have a intake/Ypipe then you would definitely have to shift at a lower rpm. Spinning the motor faster just wastes time.
I also remember that my best time was run when the temp was in the mid 60's and the engine was cooled off thoroughly.

 

OKay could you do this brake/accel thing and not shift? Cuz I hear shifting doesn't really make a difference most of the time. I dunno I will try to give it a try......... I plan on going July 18th. Plus I will have the UR underdrive crank on by then.

 

Your et is very dependant on what your 60 foot is. If my 60' is more than 2.32, there is no way I'm getting into the 14s. It's amazing to me that you guys launch at such low rpm (you've got no choice), but can get some really good ets. When I launched at 2000rpms, I would run consistent 15.2s@92 with 2.3X 60's. Once I upped my launch rpms to 3500+, my 60's got into the 2.2X range and my car dipped well into the 14s.

The autos problem is the lack of torque multiplication and launch rpm. With NOS, the auto is quite a deadly combo because of substainial torque increase. Most NOS autos run as good as most NOS 5 speeds.


Dave

 

You mean now I gotta go get a bottle?! I need NOS...two of them...by tonight! LOL!

 

My personal experience has shown me that shifting manually allows me to hold each gear to a higher rpm than the transmission will do on it's own when left in drive. In drive my car would shift at 5000. Shifting at higher rpms dropped about .2-.3 off of my et.
Also, just an FYI. I had my final combo of intake/Y-pipe and exhaust for over a year. My et's were 15.5 when I first started with that combo, and by tuning my driving, I went from a 15.5 to a 15.1.

 

Thanks, Ange! I will give it all a try...somewhere safe but not on the track first so I don't have to pay out the butt LOL.

 

DMB-what mods were you running at the time w/ your 16.0? My 60' are really terrible, why? i have no idea. Anyways, my 60 is usually 2.5, 2.4 if im lucky. All my 15.5 runs were w/ a 2.5 60' so dont feel bad. Only one of my 15.5 runs had a 2.42 60' which chocked me myself. I was running a CAI and Chrome rims at the time. I hope i cheered you up!

 

http://dodgegarage.www2.50megs.com/traction.html

 

no, now i want to blow my car up, i have CAI, Y-Pipe, and light 16's. I dont know what i was doing wrong, except it was very hot and my intake was still hot to the touch even after the wait and leaving the hood open.

 

DAMN!!! Do you mean to tell me that even with my stock A$$ GXE Auto and Orange Corners, I could beat you in the 1/4?

 

What times have you been running Deez? You wanna run me?

 

no i'm trying to say that it was hot and i was nervous. last week i beat a 15.9 1/4 car by a good margain. my intake was so hot and i was having a bad day. like i said there was a 5th gen there running 16.5's with a OSCAI and a 16 best.

 

Yeah, I ran two 16.6's but that was with a passenger. I'm disappointed that I couldn't get under 16 on my other runs. It was hot at the track, and I want to get my 60' time (2.4-2.5) down somehow. What kind of 60' times are 5th gen automatics getting?

 

I am just messing with Steve, but I would like to see what I can get out of her.

 

why run on stock rims?? should you do this even if you have a lighter aftermarket rim??

 

unless they are considerably lighter then yes. i don't bother on mine because they are light and maybe worth a tenth off. 17lbs a piece for my aftermarket rims, it's the weight AND the inertial momentum, the farther out the weight is the harder it is to turn. think about this, 10 lbs on a 5 foot bar or 10lbs on a 10 foot bar, which is harder to lift?

 

And purge your system with some White Castle burgers to shave off even more weight

 

cuz 17s are harder to push. stock 15s are like 38lbs...i think i remember a post saying volk te37s(very light rims) are around 36lbs with tire. getting off the line will be a lot easier with 15s, and your car wont struggle. also ive noticed running with my 17s on, puts more stress on the tranny, cuz i can smell burnt tranny fluid after a run with the 17s. and i dont smell this when i swap in the 15s...