Okay, I took my car to the dragway for the first time last night and somewhat embarassed the Infiniti name, being its sole representative there. I did "win" all of my races, perhaps because my black G's exotic looks psyched the competition (driving MTs) into screwing up. And I felt like a bit of a heel making them look bad against an AT, which is a huge safety net on a dragstrip.

Anyway, my two questions for folks with experience racing ATs:

#1 - What's the recommendation for staging on street tires? I've heard that it's unnecessary to burn street tires, other than to shake out the crud. On my fastest time, I did not even attempt a burnout, but that was also true of my slowest time. If I *should* do some burn, how do you best accomplish this on a AT?

#2 - Launching. I've heard about two-footing the brake and the pedal to launch an AT, but I've also heard that it really strains the transmission. I wasn't about to pay $17 for the privilege of damaging my luxury car, so I did all my starts from an idle. Maybe that psyched out my competition too, playing it cool like that. Anyway, is it true that the two-foot launch will hurt the car? Is there anything else I can do besides idle?

I'm not going to do anything that hurts my G for a lousy 0.1 seconds. I'll get another car just for the track if I get that serious.

-Jack

Black obsidian / graphite '03 Coupe premium nav

 

What were your times?

What you did was about the safest way to go. You can try and load up the tranny by standing on the brakes, run the RPMs up to about 2500 and let off. But, you will get wheelspin and its hard on the car. I'm just guessing on 2500 too because you would need to try different launch RPMs to see what works best.

Oh, were you in auto or manual mode?

 

I am the master of launching the AT coupe hehe.. I have owned many "manualers." and I really want to battle someone with an MT coupe.

Anyways, you do not need to burn street tires. Here is a good method (almost like mine) to launch:

1) Hold break pedal down 3/4 of the way
2) Give the accelerator pedal slight pushes to get RPM's working
3) When you are just about to launch, first get up to about 3.5k RPM and as soon as you see it fall back to 3, release break and floor accelerator pedal. If you do it right, you should not be spinning your tires and you should take off amazingly fast. (when I take off, it feels like im on the ride superman, NO JOKE)
4) then, just use tiptronic mode and work your way up the gears like a manual would do and you will be amazed. I don't even get into 5th gear and I win.

Hope this helps



-Blk/Blk G35c

 

I was trying to scan my slips, but I can't make them legible. I got in 3 runs with about 30 minutes between each. The bad, embarassing news is that I ran 14.8s. The good news is that this is probably the drop dead slowest 1/4 you can run in a G, short of missing a shift, because I did absolutely no prep on my car. I actually planned to go to a larger event today (Sat.), but because it was supposed to rain and thunder all day long, I hastily got my *** up there last night straight from work instead.

My configuration: '03 Coupe, 5AT, 17" wheels, w/o aero, with all the premium items that add weight, including nav. About 1500 miles.

Things that hurt my times:
1. Didn't have time to remove my full size spare.
2. Never reset my ECU after grannying the first 1250 miles.
3. Gas tank was 3/4 full.
4. Had about 40 pounds of misc. crap in the car from work.
5. Didn't remove the flex plate, which probably makes the engine run a little hotter.
6. Haven't changed out the factory oil yet.
7. Forgot to turn off my VDC once.
8. Did all starts from an idle.
9. Never checked my tire pressure at all, no idea what I ran on.
10. Ran with rain spots all over my car, adding 0.0000000000001 drag and costing me desperately needed stylishness.

So I think, if I fix all that, I've got a shot at going back and doing around 14.65. I think 14.5s are out of my particular stock configuration's range no matter how I prep. Anyway, I think the one contribution I've made is to illustrate that anyone doing worse than 14.8 is doing something very wrong.

-Jack

Black obsidian / graphite '03 Coupe premium nav

 

Thanks for the report. It must have been a blast. I bet you were racing on a full stomach too !! Seems you'd be able to shave off more than 1/4 second properly set up. ...dean

Seattle area

 

dunno how much all the other stuff (e.g., stock oil, etc..) would cost ya, but um yea, if you're gona race it never EVER race from idle- it takes it forever it get up into its powerband...I bet you could hit low 14s maybe high 13s easy with a perfect launch. Ugggggh, i can't believe how slow it is out of its powerband (in race-terms, not for casual driving where it's pretty darn quick)


....but then again i'm coming fomr the american V8 world where I expect oodles of torque low end

www.ironpumping.com
^^Bodybuilding Made Simple

 

Oh yeah, I ran the first 2 races mashing the pedal in full auto mode, and the last in manumatic. Manumatic was my slowest time, but I left my VDC on *and* did my 1-2 shift too early (5k).

A few other interesting auto vs. manumatic observations:
1. MM shaved .03 off my best 60' time in AT, but then my early 1-2 shift screwed the rest of my run.
2. MM gave me my highest 1/4 MPH at 95.24, despite the fact that the same run had my slowest 1/4 time, 1/8 time, and lowest 1/8 MPH.

One way to read this is that MM is alot faster, and that after my flubbed shift I was catching up to my AT times. But it also makes me very suspicious of the impact of my grannied ECU on my AT times. I'm definitely going to experiment with this more.

Finally, my "kills," with historic race #1 last:

Race #2 was against an Audi wagon, not sure which type, that false started badly and then watched me blow by him easily. He may have missed his 1-2 shift. Finished with a 16.5.

Race #3 was against some Mustang (if you've never been to a dragstrip, every 5th car is a Mustang), I'm guessing early 90s model. Driver had a "wtf is that?" look on his face while eyeing my G in the staging lanes. We get off the line at the same time, and since this is my MM run I'm concentrating on my rpms. When I hit 3rd I take a look to my right and he's not there. I look in my rearview and see nothing but tiny points of light in the distance. He finished with a 20.4. Apparently he broke a clutch cable or something launching at 8000 rpms. They made an announcement over the PA system asking if anyone could drive him home after that.

Historic Race #1: So I'm basically just playing follow the herd in the staging lanes and trying not to run anyone over, and what do I pull up next to? A Performance style 350Z, with a grounding kit and custom plates. A few people who know imports are walking up and saying, "ooo, this will be an interesting race." I'm thinking, "um, maybe not folks." The Z driver is a good guy though, and he and a guy in another lane with an EVO talk it up, with me trying to play down my car and trying to avoid representing G drivers everywhere. Eventually we get up to the line. The sun is setting to the left. I hear the word "Infiniti" over the PA system, but I'm concentrating on the starter tree, which is obscured by lingering burnout smoke from the previous racers, who were encouraged to put on a show for the crowd. The yellows start to drop, but I have no idea how many because I've got double vision from the smoke. Finally I react to the slight shudder from the Z as it launches hard and completely loses traction, and kick my grannied ECU out of a coma by flooring it.

Here's how it played out:

60' Z: 2.479 G: 2.434 (yeah!)
330 Z: 6.414 G: 6.414 (woo!)
1/8 Z: 9.586 G: 9.673 (uh oh...)
1000 Z: 12.307 G: 12.488 (...)
1/4 Z: 14.598 G: 14.846
MPH Z: 97.63 G: 94.72

So, not great, but it could have been worse. My guess is that the Z launched badly, but he made no excuses (unlike me), and I got the "win" because he false started, making me 3-0 with random pairings and no dial-in.:P Someone smarter than me can analyze the numbers.

Hope this was interesting. If anyone in the eastern New England area wants to meet up, I'd like to get up to the track again in maybe a couple weeks. I'd especially like to compare times under same day conditions with an AT with 18" wheels. No problem with inexperience, I can get you up to the starting line without looking like a noob. After that you're on your own though.

-Jack

Black obsidian / graphite '03 Coupe premium nav

 

It might have been a slow track, 99atlantic. The best Mustang time I saw was 14.4, and I think a Ferrari ran a 13.5. And some hot rod that ran a 9 last season (according to the PA) put up two 11s. We even had a Focus beat a Honda, 20 to 21. I noticed that they never lined up again.

-Jack

Black obsidian / graphite '03 Coupe premium nav

 

Next time your in manual mode, shift at 6100-6200 and she will shift just before redline every time.

I'm really interested to see what the diff is between the two modes. We don't have a dragstrip around here anywhere, or I'd go myself. May have to find one and drive there one day just to find out.

 

wickedG35: wow, your technique sounds pretty dangerous for the transmission. I'd like to see 1) your technique in action 2) some time slips if possible.

CB G35c 5AT on order...

SAC TOWN, CA

 

Yeah I agree. Wouldn't the tires break loose at 3.5k rpm? I never torque break over 2k rpm in my I30. I know its a different car, but still.

I always burnout when im at the track. The tech people actually tell you to. It heats up the tires, making them stickier (better launches) and cleans them off a little.

2001 I30t (Next: G35)

 

you dont need to burn out with street tires. All it will do is clean them out a little. You do not need to warm them up