My first pass always seems to be my quickest pass....

Anyone else find this to be the case? I have taken my 2015 GT twice and both times I allowed the car to cool about 40-45 mins with a bag of ice on the intake prior to my first pass. I air down my rear tires calculate my DA and stuff like that. My first pass has been my quickest on both occasions. I may make two passes but then I park it for at least 30 mins, sometimes longer than that and put the ice bag back on the intake and this past Friday I even put the freezer gel packs on my intake tube. It seems like when I used to run my old Fox Body Stangs back in the 90s, I would have the same results. First pass was the quickest.

This past Friday I ran 8.19 on first pass and then 8.23 - 8.32 the rest of the night. I let the car cool and I tried the shifter in D and S and played with my launch RPMs but never beat my first pass. The air temp cooled from 57 to 50 over the few hours I was there. Is it just me? Just coincidence? Anyone experience this? I am certainly not complaining about my times, VERY pleased with my times for a stock car on stock tires, just trying to figure out why my first pass it quickest.
I did notice that later in the night that traction got worse for everyone.
Thanks for any input anyone can offer.

For me, my second or 3rd pass is the best; never my first.

My first passes have always been my best as well.

Historically my later passes are my best.

First passes for me are usually straight off the road, pay to get in, tech, tire pressure and then hit the lanes and go and yes, usually they are my better passes altho Ive noticed a new trend of hot lapping early in the evening, then let the car cool 30-40 minutes during eliminations or an oil down/cleanup and then I run my best time. Obviously cooling the car down helps but it always seems to be me making less mistakes or getting something right that leads to that time more than just the car being happier and cooler.

Matt

I'm not sure why I'm running better on first pass. Maybe mental on my part. I try to never run more than twice before cooling down. I always ice my intake during cool down. I do try to do different things to experiment and see what works best, ie make a pass with shifter in D and a pass with shifter in S or change launch RPM or things like that.