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[The Asshole]

My best time was 15.288@100 MPH. And that was with a .8 rt and spinning through first and second gears.

100mph?  what you got in that thing mike?

I've never understood the correlation between times and speed...Like it doesn't make sense how you can reach 100mph and it take you 15.288 while this one guy I know crossed at 14.572 at only 96.29.  Ok the reaction time was .171, but still.  Same guy did 15.326 at 96.16 with an r/t of .722.  Comparing the numbers, it looks like r/t has almost a direct correlation to the total time (if car/driver is consistent) but I still don't understand how 4mph faster w/ essentially the same r/t can yield practically the same 1/4mile times.  What am I missing folks??

It's all about wheel spin...


If you are spinning, you're lossing time... you can still hit speeds that correspond to lower times by the end of the 1/4... but you can't make up for the time spent spinning your wheels....

Traction + reaction time > HP all day....

what he said

[mikeminnillo]

to answer your question, mark, its a 12v vr with a .50 trim t3/t4, 8 psi.  and it really is all about wheel spin.  when i was at sea level (basically stock car), i ran a best of 15.3@90 mph.  like barry said, you cant make up for time spent spinning wheels.  or a shitty reaction time.  which is why though i ran pretty much the same time as at sea level, a 10 mph faster speed means that once i finally hooked up, the extra power was finally able to shine.  similar to the fact that my roommate (in an 04 cobra) ran a 15.5@107 on his first run, being sideways and spinning through first and second gears, but on his second run, he controlled the wheelspin better, and managed a 14.4@110.  its all about figuring out how to control that wheel spin.  mark, dont you have a LSD?  that should definitely help you off the line.  my problem was that in first and second gear, as soon as i spooled up, id start spinning the wheels.  maybe some better tires/lower tire pressure will help.

[Barry]

How I control wheel spin:

[Blakester]

Reaction time doesnt effect et. The clock doesnt start untill you brake the beams (the car moves)

[Blakester]

My best time was 15.288@100 MPH. And that was with a .8 rt and spinning through first and second gears.

100mph?  what you got in that thing mike?

I've never understood the correlation between times and speed...Like it doesn't make sense how you can reach 100mph and it take you 15.288 while this one guy I know crossed at 14.572 at only 96.29.  Ok the reaction time was .171, but still.  Same guy did 15.326 at 96.16 with an r/t of .722.  Comparing the numbers, it looks like r/t has almost a direct correlation to the total time (if car/driver is consistent) but I still don't understand how 4mph faster w/ essentially the same r/t can yield practically the same 1/4mile times.  What am I missing folks??

It's all about wheel spin...


If you are spinning, you're lossing time... you can still hit speeds that correspond to lower times by the end of the 1/4... but you can't make up for the time spent spinning your wheels....

Traction + reaction time > HP all day....

what he said

That car that ran the 14 at 96, what was it and was it n/a? and what were your and that other cars 60ft's

[mjohnson]

Mike - yes I've got an LSD. I also lower the tire pressure and feather the clutch. Also have a 2step/wot box installed.

It's a ko4 on a 1.8t with w/m and the above mods.  I've got some other bolt ons here and there. I'll have to look up my 60ft times when I get home.

[mjohnson]

Mine is car 215

[scurvy_bandit]

I was the yellow car.

[mikeminnillo]

Why such a low trap? Trying to hit your dial in? Never been a fan of dial in. If you had to let off to run a 14.7, you should be running much quicker.

[mjohnson]

Well yeah, keep in mind that this was my first day at a 1/4 mile track and had never done bracket racing before, so I was just following some suggestions which said 14.7, even though I figured I shoulda gone for a quicker time at first and adjusted as necessary.  I had also turned up my boost a smidge so I could reach my <14.5 goal but was not able to test its effects before the elims (I was like 3 cars too late for the last run of the time trials). Oh well, learning experience.  Still tons of fun anyhow..

I plan on hitting up some wed night test n tunes with gabe and andrew at bandimere to pick up some more tips/tricks from gabe and see just how fast I can make a ko4 push this buggy here at altitude.  I'm already impressed with the 14.57 on pump gas on a daily driver set up.  So I'm curious to see what happens if I remove some more weight, turn up the boost, and add some go fast juice 

[scurvy_bandit]

You have the 100 octane program right?

[mjohnson]

You have the 100 octane program right?

Yeah.  With the w/m I run the 100oct program all the time..even on pump gas. No issues

[VWShocker]

I'm going Wednesday again (Bandimere) if anyone is planning on being there. Got a few more things to try to shave off that .2 ET and get into the 16's before BT.

[Blakester]

How are you guys with turbo cars launching? Are you trying to leave hard. I went from 2.1 60ft's to 1.8-1.9's by leaving by coming off the clutch slower with lots of throttle.

That was in an Turbo'd aircooled car though, so it isnt apples to apples. But I have told that to other guys with fwd cars and they said it did help.

[Southcross]

How are you guys with turbo cars launching? Are you trying to leave hard. I went from 2.1 60ft's to 1.8-1.9's by leaving by coming off the clutch slower with lots of throttle.

That was in an Turbo'd aircooled car though, so it isnt apples to apples. But I have told that to other guys with fwd cars and they said it did help.

"textbook" is to rev to peak torque (regardless of NA or FI), feather clutch

[Giggidy]

yeah I hear that's great on the clutch...

[scurvy_bandit]

The trick is to keep the engine in this sweet spot from the moment you cross the starting line all the way to the finish line, without any of this peak power being wasted. Launching a car hard from a dead stop is accomplished by slipping the clutch and spinning the tires, both within reason. Power is lost here, but most engines have narrow power and torque bands, so the fastest launch will include wheelspin and slipping the clutch. The only way to find out how much slipping would be just right is to experiment at the track, holding the throttle at various rpm levels at launch to see how much juice is needed for the quickest start.

There it is... just googled it.
http://www.modernracer.com/tips/dragracinglaunchtechniques.html There is the link if any of you want to read the whole article

[VWShocker]

Hold the gas until the torque converter kicks in at about 2750rpms, hold the brake and let go on the 3rd light.

Wait, that's how I do it... Damn auto...

[scurvy_bandit]

smite

[mjohnson]

Hold the gas until the torque converter kicks in at about 2750rpms, hold the brake and let go on the 3rd light.

Wait, that's how I do it... Damn auto...

auto = gay, unless you like cheating at bracket racing... or if you've got a 10 second car..then you can pretty much do whatever you want  

yeah I hear that's great on the clutch...

yeah it's rough on clutches..but racing in general is not easy on any part of the car.  I've noticed that my stage 2 clutch is more forgiving to slipping than the stock one was.  After trashing it for 2 years (40k miles), I had gabe look at it when he put the lsd in and he said there was minimal dust.

[mjohnson]

How are you guys with turbo cars launching? Are you trying to leave hard. I went from 2.1 60ft's to 1.8-1.9's by leaving by coming off the clutch slower with lots of throttle.

That was in an Turbo'd aircooled car though, so it isnt apples to apples. But I have told that to other guys with fwd cars and they said it did help.

I have a 2step/wot box, so I prelaunch at 4k with boost built and feather the clutch as needed with the gas on the floor from pre launch until after I cross the finish line (literally).  Because I have the lsd in there, I am able to be more aggressive with releasing the clutch because I don't break loose as easy (and after the first pass, I don't do any fancy burnouts, I just roll up to the line all quiet like.  no sense in wasting rubber IMHO).

I'm going Wednesday again (Bandimere) if anyone is planning on being there. Got a few more things to try to shave off that .2 ET and get into the 16's before BT.

I'd love to go, but I'm gonna be in Seattle for the rest of the week.

[Southcross]

I have a 2step/wot box, so I prelaunch at 4k

ahh.... which reminds me, I STILL need to wire in my clutch-pedal switch

[mjohnson]

I have a 2step/wot box, so I prelaunch at 4k

ahh.... which reminds me, I STILL need to wire in my clutch-pedal switch

Glad I could help Ed 

[VWShocker]

Hold the gas until the torque converter kicks in at about 2750rpms, hold the brake and let go on the 3rd light.

Wait, that's how I do it... Damn auto...

auto = gay, unless you like cheating at bracket racing... or if you've got a 10 second car..then you can pretty much do whatever you want  

Yeah, okay... I didn't have much choice in the purchase of this car. Still dealing with the lawsuit of the asshat that rear-ended my Evo dead stop in a construction zone at 83mph, thank you very much. Thank the fire department for having the Jaws of Life available at the time to get me out. That car COULD do 10 second 1/4's.

[Blakester]

I and a few other airheads plan to go down to PMI this froday night. It would be bad ass if we could get a whole shit load of VW to tare that track up!