Diclaimer: this is going to be a long message. You've been warned.

Today our local g/z group went to a local track to run. We had one 240sx, 2 NA 350z's, 2 sc'd 350z's, 3 g coupes(all diamond graphite), and 2 sedans(mine and my wife's). The day didn't start out too well. The wife woke up feeling a little green, the 240 blew a tire on the way to the track, and one of the g coupes(a fourth, red) had an accident just in front of the meeting place; tore up the front bumper, and possibly the radiator. He got it on a trailor, and chose not to run it.

Now for the disclaimer part. It was unbelievable hot today. I don't know what the surface temps for the track were, but the air temps were 96+ all day. Yesterday, in Birmingham, the high was 95 with a heat index of 111. Today was supposed to be hotter, and though we had no way of measuring it, we all felt it.

Now to the races. Neither I nor my wife have ever raced before. Although the wife spent a great deal of time at the track as a kid, she's never piloted a car down the 1/4. On my first run, I just flat embarrassed myself. I pulled up to the lights, trying to get in the staging area. I apparently pulled up too far. I put it in reverse, and the next thing I know, the tree is lighting up. I change it to first, and promptly stalled, killing the car. I tried to crank it, and it took two tries to get it restarted. I then layed on the accelerator, and spent the next few second spinning the rear tires in place. I bet I took off a good thousand miles wear. By the time they connected, and I made the run, I came out with an 18.4@94.28, with a 60' of 5.571 and an r/t of 1.216.

Like I said, I was very embarrassed. The next time I ran, it was against an 04 coupe 6MT. He just got some spring installed. He's also got a ztube, but I'm not sure of anything else. On the second run, I got a much better launch. This time I had a 15.304@94.57, with a 60' of 2.533 and r/t of 1.205. He ended up winning head-to-head, but his 1/4 time was a 15.579@91.79. On this second run, I had VDC off, but had accidentally left the a/c on. I knew I could do better.

On my third run, I ran against a different coupe, this time an 05 5AT, bone stock. Again, this guy had a better r/t and flat out beat me, but I had the better slip. I hit 15.109@93.99, 2.332 60', while he hit 15.476@94.23.

On my fourth run, I went up against a white 350z 6MT with a borla exhaust. I don't know what other mods he had. Now this run just pi$$ed me off. He had a much better r/t: 1.011 to my 1.421. His 60' was 2.256 to my 2.336. He hit 15.034@97.74 compared to my 15.366@92.34. What really pissed me off is that I totally screwed up my 2nd to 3rd shift. The shifter came right out of my hands(they were all sweaty), and I had to find the shifter again. That really cost me. What really pi$$ed me off was the fact that in second, I was pulling on him, quite hard I might add.

The fifth run wasn't any better. I missed another shift: this time third to fourth. I was running the same coupe I raced on my 3rd run. I ended up with a 15.150@83.76 against his 15.145@96.10. That told me that I was running a little better than before: if I missed a shift and still matched my best time, I knew I could do better.

My last run was just a few minutes later, against the same coupe ( 05 5AT ). This time my r/t was .933, the best of the day, compared to his .536. My 60' was also my best of the day: 2.291 to his 2.435. I finished with a 14.737@95.82 compared to his 15.194@96.01. This was my first and only true win of the day. On that run, almost everything seemed to go just right. When I launched, I had more wheelspin than any other run(except my first where I just sat there spinning the tires). On the 1-2 shift, they barked quite well. There was even moderate chirp from 2 to 3.

My wife made three runs. Unfortunately, I don't have her slips with me. On her first run, she had a 15.2. Quite impressive, especially considering the fact that she had left vdc on and had a passenger. That was her best run of the day. When I get her slips from the car I'll post them up.

To my knowledge, the best time any of the g's had was a 14.6. Also, as best as I can remember, the best time any of the n/a z's had was a 14.6. If I find out otherwise, I'll be sure to post the correct times.

The point here is that it was really friggin hot. Oven hot. I mean srcamble-egg-on-the-asphalt hot. I know that heat, plus humidity, really affects the performance of cars in general, perhaps ours more than others. I remember reading where quad-cam was running in the low 15's earlier this summer, and he seemed to be pi$$ed. I have to say, I can't wait for october or november. I'm fully confident I can get low 14's, possibly 14.2 or 14.1. If I can practice launching(I don't even know what rpm's I launched at), and manage the wheel hop, I know I can knock off another tenth or too. Also, I had a full tank of gas, as well as the spare and all that junk in the trunk. Add in the heat, and I'm sure there's another .5 or more to shave off.

And maybe I'm deluding myself, but I think I happen to be one of those lucky guys that got a "strong" car from the factory. I mean, I had better 1/4 times than the other guy in half of the runs, and in the runs where I was behind, I was pulling hard, until I mis-shifted.

 

read the whole thing...yea the heat is basicallty terrible everywhere and yea i totally think you will run way better times w out all those variables sitting in your car (gas tire etc.)

good luck next time!