I went to the track again Friday, the 13th. It was supposed to be cool, and I was hoping for a new personal best. I was expecting DA's to be in the -300 range. My last trip, DA's were in the 1900 to 2000 range, so was expecting to pick up a little over 2mph. My target for the night was a 13.6@103. I didn't get it. Not even close.

I decided to try a new launch technique. I've always sidestepped the clutch, and I figured it was time to try feathering it. Over the past week, I practiced, with the car off, synchronizing the throttle with feathering the clutch. I applied this technique to all 9 runs. I got 2 mid 2.2's, with a few 2.3's, and the rest being 2.4's. Even with feathering the clutch, I had massive wheelhop. Worse than I've ever experienced.

Maybe I feathered the clutch too quickly; I don't know. What I do know is track prep was aweful, and my tires were not up for the occasion. It was so bad, that I was free spinning the rears at the top of 1st and 2nd, and sometimes in the middle of third! On street tires! I don't mean that I spun when I changed gears; I mean as rpms climbed north of 5500, the rears just broke lose! FYI - I had lowered the rear pressures to 29psi.

So, with the poor launches, I didn't get any good ET's. My best ET of the night was a 14.1. Horrid. But what saddened me the most was my trap speed. I trapped 101's back in the 80's, and in the high 40's, I was still trapping 101. Part of that has to be my spinning; I don't have any other explanation.

I also had problems making the 1>2 shift again. Fortunately I only missed this shift on two runs. But because of this problem, I was granny shifting 1>2; this didn't help my ET's or my traps.

To demonstrate how poor the track was hooking, I'll cite three examples. First, was a friend in his 03 z. He's got pullies, pop charger, and test pipes. His best runs at this very same track came a year ago, in ~70 degree weather; one 13.7@103, and a 13.5@105(he had removed his passenger seat on that run). He normally cuts high 2.0's to low 2.1's. Friday night, his best was a 13.9@102, but the rest ranged from 14.0 to 14.4, depending on 60's. And he trapped mid 101's all night, except for that lone 102.

There was also a yellow C5 vert, 6MT. His only runs were three back-to-back 14.4@100's. He said his best at that track(in that car trim) was a 13.2@106.

And there was a late 90's white cobra that was cutting 2.2's/2.3's. I ran against him for my 2nd run(actually out-trapped him by over 2mph). I asked him afterward what he normally cuts, and he said 1.9's on street tires.

Is it possible that we all just had bad nights? Yes. But I think it more likely that it was track conditions.

Oh - to demonstrate my shifting issues, here is a timeslip against that 03z.
Gate - Me - Z
60': 2.396 - 2.339
330': 6.331 - 6.171
1/8 ET: 9.447 - 9.239
1/8 MPH: 80.51 - 80.70
1/4 ET: 14.316 - 14.087
1/4 MPH: 101.35 - 101.03

We were pretty much side-by-side, but when I shifted from 1 to 2, he jumped over a car. After that I played catch-up the rest of the way. I cut a slightly better light than him, so at the end of the track I was half a car behind him.

Look at the 330'. That shows the difference right there. He just outshifted me.

There are two glimmers of hope. On my third run, I tried shifting 1>2 quickly, and missed it. I still trapped 100.6mph. And the other: yesterday, driving around town, I figured out that if I shift at 6600 rather than redline(in 1st), I can nail the shift.

Basically, I was pissed Friday night. Pissed at my launches. Pissed at my slow shifts. Pissed at my traps. Pissed that I was only picking up maybe 21mph in the last 660'. Just pissed. I was so pissed that I didn't turn on my computer until this morning.

I've still got a lot of work to do. But I do know there's more left in the car.

And the lesson that I learned - kumho summer tires don't like WOT at anything under 55 degrees.

 

Wow

you pulled a 330 of 6.33 and then at the 1/8 a 9.44 at 80.5mph

Your car pulls really hard!!

My slips show that I almost always pull a 6.2-6.3 330' (my 1-2 shift sucks too) but by the 1/8 I am at 9.6 at only 74-75mph!!! And then at the end im 4 tenths behind you.

So im wondering is your car just considerably stronger than stock or is mine weaker....5mph in the 1/8 difference with nearly identical 330s!!!

Also...my 2-3 shift and 3-4 shift seem pretty damn fast....i sure hope that isn't where I am losing the other 2 tenths by the 1/4....

Either way, your car pulls really hard, and I wouldn't be too pissed about those times!!

 

I know what you're talking about with the traction problems. I had those days with my Maxima. I spin fairly bad in 1st, hit 2nd and spin, and hit 3rd and spin a bit. From the seat of the pants, it felt like the clutch was slipping because the rpms shot up so fast. It turns out the problem was residual oil on track from a differential break a day earlier.

Trey, with as much as you go to the track and your ET goals, why in the world are you still wasting your time with street tires? I don't get it? You'll never be as quick as you should be if you still run street tires. Drag tires are consistent and will always pull significantly better ETs than street tires, regardless of temp, track prep, etc. I think you'll find that a set of 16" 300ZX rims and MT DRs will lower your ET far more than any other mod on the car.

 

I know I know. DR's or even full slicks have been on my radar for quite a while. I'll get them, in time.

 

I normally trap 79/80 in the 8th. The car does pull pretty hard in the first 1/8, but falls off on the second half. The car didn't pull that hard, stock. Some of it is mods, but it's probably more experience and a better 2>3 shift than anything else.

As for being pissed about those times... I ran a high 13.7, and 5 13.8's, with nothing more than crawford cats and a k&n panel filter. Granted, it was 25 degrees, but my all-season tires gave me much better traction than I'm getting now. I figure with my mods, I should be in the 13.5/13.6 range, with traction and a decent 1>2 shift. Seeing as though the past two times I've been to the track I haven't gotten out of the 14's, that's depressing.

I've known that the shifter goes in much smoother at 6600 vs 7000; but I was afraid that giving up that 400rpms might hurt me in the big end. I've decided that the next trip out, It's 6600 for 1>2. And I also shift at ~7300 from 3rd to 4th; I think if I shift at 6600/6800 in third I might trap a bit better as well.

 

That 1-2 shift must be annoying as hell. I rememeber just 2 months ago having a hard time with that shift. Thank god i get it 99% of the time now and finally got the hang of it.

As u said it in your original post 13.6 @ 104 is very possible with not dusty track and better 1-2 shift.

 

Surprise, surprise......

 

Excellent post.

 

He is very special guest, he has E55 now and he is allowed to post worthless comments on every forum.

And his g35x is faster around the track than a 6MT.

 

Didn't you know having a sweet E55 makes you Super Cool and you can say whatever you want? When I come into some money, I plan on doing the same thing.

Yeah, the X even made Vettes look like they're barely moving.

 

Dude even people at E46fanatics were lauging at that guy for his worthless posts. He just keeps humiliating himself on every forum.

 

Trey, if you don't mind could you explain the diff. between your previous launches and the "clutch featering"? You mention prior to this you've "sidestepped the clutch", I am not sure I understand what this means...I am assuming that it means you basically dumped it as quickly as possible but I'm not sure. The first (and only time) I took my car to the track I could tell my launch was what needed the most help; most of my 60' times were in the 2.3's, my best ET was 14.7 and best MPH was 98 I think (stock 04 6MT Coupe, save for z-tube and drop-in K&N, Roja 19's...)

I would have been really happy with 14.1 myself but I know you've done better.

Also sort of on topic...I was browsing my350z.com yesterday and looking thru various drag threads, and there's some bone-stock Z's getting into the high 13's, and I am not sure I get that. I didn't think a Z was that much lighter than our cars...but low 14's and high 13's seem pretty common for stock Z's and most Gs here have a fair number of mods just to get there.

 

Yes, by sidestepping the clutch I mean I would come off the clutch as quickly as possible. My launch method was pretty basic: let out the clutch to the point just prior to it grabbing(I don't recommend this to anyone that's not very familiar with his car), revving to some predetermined point, then stabbing the throttle as I came off the clutch.

I tried spending more time coming off the clutch, but it didn't help. I went back to the track again last night, and my launches weren't any better. Feathering the clutch is the "proper" way to launch; my problems have more to do with temperatures and my summer tires.

As for the differences in the z and the g; the z's are lighter, so they will be faster. Also, the z's have a shorter wheelbase, and most of those guys don't have the problems we do with cutting good 60's.

 

I mentioned that I went to the track again. I knew I would be beating my head against the wall launching; but I was hoping to get some better trap speeds. It didn't happen.

I didn't have the same problems with spinning the tires at the top of each gear as I did last week. I also had my best night out driving since last December. I started out short-shifting 1st gear, to get the hang of the shift. After a few runs, I had ventured to shifting at redline in 1st. By the end of the night, I was able to powershift all my shifts, something I have not been comfortable doing since the new flywheel was put in. This was hands down my best night driving(not launching) in almost a year. I was just on. And yet, with temps in the high 40's, I was only trapping 100mph, when I could read my traps, that is. The sensors were messed up at the track; at the beginning of the night, the left lane showed 1/4 trap, but not 1/8 trap. The right lane showed 1/8 trap, but not 1/4 trap. By the end of the night, there were no traps whatsoever. There also were no 60's, or 330's. But there were ET's. Because of my troubles launching, I was stuck with a series of 14.3's and 14.4's.

To demonstrate how much better I was driving, I had cut 2 tenths off my 330 the first few runs of the night(taking into account sixty foot), compared to the prior week. At least, when the 330 was being printed.

But I just don't get it. I didn't trap more than 100 all night long, as far as I can tell. Cheryl was trapping 95, with I think 1 or 2 96mph runs. My friend in his srt4 was trapping 95 with a couple of 96s. His wife was trapping 97 in her 06 mustang gt 5 speed. A guy in his 06 GTO 6MT was trapping 100mph. But then, there was a magnum srt8 that was trapping 109 and 110.

It's just blowing my mind. I'm trapping slower now than I did when it was 80 degrees out. Same track. Only mods are the new test pipes. And I wasn't driving nearly as well then as I did last night. Nowhere close.

I hope to go to the 1/8 track this Thursday to see what I run. The last time out(when my clutch was slipping), I was trapping 78, at 95+ degrees. If I don't trap at least 81(which I haven't done at the 1/4 track, yet), I'll just throw out everything I know about drag racing.

 

Trey, that is so frustrating, but you need to buy a $&$& set of Rage rims...the nice looking, but cheap Discount Tire versions, in 16'" size, with the Nittos like I have...All this BS you are torturing yourself with on the launch needs to go by the way side so you can concentrate on good crisp shifts...and be done with this other crap.

What really has me perplexed is spinning should yield you higher traps, but worse times...and the last two times for you have been only in the 100 range...and yes, the 80F temps when you trapped 102 is freaking me out too...could something be wrong with the car? Is anything leaking, ticking, etc???

Keep me posted as I hate to see backwards progress after mods...also, have you dynoed the car b/f and after your mods? I am curious if you lost upper RPM HP or some BS like that??? I just wish I knew to help you out ya know...but the Drag Radials are a must on 16 Rims and you could see 13.4s dude.

As for the 350Zs...the really, really good drivers may see high 13s...like 13.8-13.9, but I have never seen it here at NE Drag Way...I have personally never lost to a 350Z and that was with my Sedan...the best they ran was 14.1 I believe...they always trapped higher, but never got there quicker...and these were all modded 6 spds vs. my Auto...