2017 GT First Time to Drag Strip

[Whitedevil95]

Hey guys, I am a drag strip veteran and I tried searching but i couldnt find any exact answers to my question. Ive been drag racing for most of my life in cars ranging from my 14 second stock 95 GT to my low 10 second 03 Cobra. My car is a 2017 GT Premium 6R80 with 3.15 gears. My questions below.

1. I am going to stall it up on the foot brake as much as possible then mat it down on launch. I don't think that with the 3.15 gears traction will be an auto. Is this a good plan?

2. What drive mode should I be in(does it matter)? Normal, Sport, Track?

3. I know to pull the fuse for advanced track to disable it, so i will do that. Any other tips?

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[Solteka]

Avoid the waterbox on street tires if possible, no need to lower the rear tire psi too much on street tires, stick to the psi on the door jam for all tires.

edit: street tires don't need burn outs really but they do benefit from a quick dry spin, I drive around the water box, straighten the car, stall it up high and mat it to the floor for a quick spin before heading to the starting line**

1) Stall it up to 2000 to 2100 rpm, depending on the track prep you might get a lot of wheelspin if you just mat it down on launch, only add more throttle if the tires are gripping.

*Do not stall it higher than 2000 to 2100 rpm at launch, the tires will spin like there is no tomorrow and you will be frustrated as you are shown a timeslip with a 2.2 to 2.6 second 60 foot*



2) Your drive mode should be on track, fully disable traction control and the transmission selector should be in S and let the car shift by itself (no using paddles).

3) Don't pull any fuse, get to the track early so you can be one of the first street cars on the track. Most people with street cars drive through the waterbox with their street tires and that ruins the track runs for many people after them.

Have fun!

 

[TnWHTMARE]

Maybe the 18's are different but I was told by Lund to have the selector in D and use Drag mode (if you have it)(again on an 18). The shift logic for Sport is more roadcoarse oriented and therefore I think it is less efficient for drag racing. But I could be wrong on a 15-17.

 

[Solteka]

Maybe the 18's are different but I was told by Lund to have the selector in D and use Drag mode (if you have it)(again on an 18). The shift logic for Sport is more roadcoarse oriented and therefore I think it is less efficient for drag racing. But I could be wrong on a 15-17.

D mode on my 18 auto skips gears, I keep it in S mode and not touch the paddles; the car accelerates better.

It should be the same on the 17 but you can try both modes for sure at the track, that is why they call it test n tune.

 

[TnWHTMARE]

D mode on my 18 auto skips gears, I keep it in S mode and not touch the paddles; the car accelerates better.

It should be the same on the 17 but you can try both modes for sure at the track, that is why they call it test n tune.

Do you have drag mode? You are correct that it does but I'm thinking that drag mode must overide that?

 

[Solteka]

Do you have drag mode? You are correct that it does but I'm thinking that drag mode must overide that?

My car doesn't have a drag mode, but D is for normal driving, why would there be an S mode if D is faster?

 

[TnWHTMARE]

Well, I understand what your saying but this is how it was explained to me. And again, remember, I have the different modes(sport+, drag etc...). The fact that you dont could change this completely. Anyway, the way it was explained to me by Lund is that sport mode is set up more for road course racing. Timing application for instance is suppose to be more controlled to help limit wheel spin in transition and the way the PCM reapplies timing advance is conservative once wheel spin has occured and the trans, I think, is more likely to shift to the next gear, again in an attempt to maintain control in a road course environment. So many of the adaptations for roadcourse racing are not necessarily good for drag racing. But again, this is coming from a car with all the drive modes. Since you dont have them, it may be different. That's how I understand it, I know there is someone here with a better knowledge than I have who could clarify this.

 

[Whitedevil95]

Yeah my 17 doesn’t have a drag mode. Just normal, sport, track, snow/wet. I’ve heard from another member normal mode is best. I’ll just play around with it I guess.

 

[gimmie11s]

You sold the Cobra before i got to see it in action at Fontana!?!?! Bummer.

Oh well.. the s550 is so much better anyway.. good luck on this car..

 

[ugstang17]

My best 60ft (on MT r series DR's 305-45-17: 28" tire) and ET with the stock converter was leaving with the throttle just off idle (1200) and nailing it on my 14 6R80 FI setup. I found I got a better leave doing that than trying to bring it up on the brake like it had a transbrake setup which it didn't. You're a veteran at drag racing so there is no reason to go further as to why. I'm sure you know the difference of leaving on a stock converter and leaving on a stall or a stall with a trans brake setup.

Holding the traction control off for over 5 seconds is all I ever had to do on my 14 6R80 setup. It was tuned to race in Drive with advance trac disabled (no unplugging anything). On a stock setup I could not advise you other than to try them all and find the best.

Big differences in the 6R80 and the 10R80. Two different critters altogether.

Don't forget you should have a factory linelock in track apps as well for doing your burnout. Learn how to activate it before hand. It's a little more involved than simply mashing the brake and and holding down the momentary switch like on a conventional line lock but provides the same luxury. When activated allows for up to 15 seconds of burnout. Has a countdown timer so you know exactly how long burn out is which gives you a more accurate means of getting the correct tire temp for the track surface conditions more consistently. Way nicer than counting in your head or just guessing. But if you are running a street tire it won't be a concern.

 

[Whitedevil95]

My best 60ft (on MT r series DR's 305-45-17: 28" tire) and ET with the stock converter was leaving with the throttle just off idle (1200) and nailing it on my 14 6R80 FI setup. I found I got a better leave doing that than trying to bring it up on the brake like it had a transbrake setup which it didn't. You're a veteran at drag racing so there is no reason to go further as to why. I'm sure you know the difference of leaving on a stock converter and leaving on a stall or a stall with a trans brake setup.

Holding the traction control off for over 5 seconds is all I ever had to do on my 14 6R80 setup. It was tuned to race in Drive with advance trac disabled (no unplugging anything). On a stock setup I could not advise you other than to try them all and find the best.

Big differences in the 6R80 and the 10R80. Two different critters altogether.

Don't forget you should have a factory linelock in track apps as well for doing your burnout. Learn how to activate it before hand. It's a little more involved than simply mashing the brake and and holding down the momentary switch like on a conventional line lock but provides the same luxury. When activated allows for up to 15 seconds of burnout. Has a countdown timer so you know exactly how long burn out is which gives you a more accurate means of getting the correct tire temp for the track surface conditions more consistently. Way nicer than counting in your head or just guessing. But if you are running a street tire it won't be a concern.

Great Info! Ill just go to Test n tune and see what works best. What FI set up did you go with on your car?

 

[ugstang17]

Great Info! Ill just go to Test n tune and see what works best. What FI set up did you go with on your car?

The car has a Roush 2300 TVS setup that came on it with some other goodies. Retuned it so it would run better, picked up some suspension mods and a larger HE is all. Got too good of a deal to turn it down and pick up something to start from scratch with. Had I done the latter however I am certain I would have gone Whipple this time or possibly considered a centri setup.

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