MRGTX
Well-Known Member
- Thread starter
- #1
So let me preface this by saying that this was my first trip to the drag strip ever.
I've autocrossed many times and engaged in street shenanigans for a couple decades now but this was my first time on an actual drag strip. I've always loved watching and reading about drag racing but I never wanted to build a car for it so it always seemed a bit pointless to try to run a 1320' with a car set up for cornering. Well, I change my mind. The drag strip is ridiculously fun regardless of what you're driving and I am an idiot for writing it off. I'm going back ASAP.
The car is a base model GT, has the (non-drag oriented) Ford Performance track handling pack, BMR cradle brace, 325/30/19 Indy 500s (good, not great), Ford Performance intake/tune and of course, the 4.09 final drive ratio. I didn't mess with tire pressures or anything. I just wanted to drive and get a baseline.
I got in four runs, best run was 12.95 @ 113mph. My very first run was slightly quicker (12.94) but it only trapped at 106mph... not sure what to make of that other than mediocre driving.
On one hand, I met my goal of having a hell of a lot of fun and at least cracking into the 12s...but I secretly hoped that those 4.09s would make the car significantly quicker than expected. Inexperienced driver aside, the problem was...and I suspect that anyone who knows anything at all about drag racing would have predicted this....that the 4.09s cause you to run out of 3rd gear long before the finish line. So whatever the car gains in wheel torque, it's almost certainly washed out (and then some) by that extra shift.
I also had some wheelhop issues when trying to warm up the tires, something that doesn't happen on the street but was absolute no-go on the strip. The BMR cradle brace didn't help as I expected it would so I'll have to look into that next. I don't know that getting more heat into the tires would have helped much but it probably wouldn't have hurt.
I've autocrossed many times and engaged in street shenanigans for a couple decades now but this was my first time on an actual drag strip. I've always loved watching and reading about drag racing but I never wanted to build a car for it so it always seemed a bit pointless to try to run a 1320' with a car set up for cornering. Well, I change my mind. The drag strip is ridiculously fun regardless of what you're driving and I am an idiot for writing it off. I'm going back ASAP.
The car is a base model GT, has the (non-drag oriented) Ford Performance track handling pack, BMR cradle brace, 325/30/19 Indy 500s (good, not great), Ford Performance intake/tune and of course, the 4.09 final drive ratio. I didn't mess with tire pressures or anything. I just wanted to drive and get a baseline.
I got in four runs, best run was 12.95 @ 113mph. My very first run was slightly quicker (12.94) but it only trapped at 106mph... not sure what to make of that other than mediocre driving.
On one hand, I met my goal of having a hell of a lot of fun and at least cracking into the 12s...but I secretly hoped that those 4.09s would make the car significantly quicker than expected. Inexperienced driver aside, the problem was...and I suspect that anyone who knows anything at all about drag racing would have predicted this....that the 4.09s cause you to run out of 3rd gear long before the finish line. So whatever the car gains in wheel torque, it's almost certainly washed out (and then some) by that extra shift.
I also had some wheelhop issues when trying to warm up the tires, something that doesn't happen on the street but was absolute no-go on the strip. The BMR cradle brace didn't help as I expected it would so I'll have to look into that next. I don't know that getting more heat into the tires would have helped much but it probably wouldn't have hurt.
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