drag racing tips

[TamD1]

Either power brake (press brake and gas together) or use the line lock feature. I would put it in Sport (or track mode if you have it) and let the trans shift by itself.

Trans shift by itself?

I started drag racing a long time ago. I haven't ever had SUPER fast cars, but I've had quite a few, and I do know that they all drive differently. The closest I've had on the strip to a mustang was my 350Z, which was a manual transmission.

My tip would be to be scientific about it. Each time you run, make notes on the time slip about what you did. How did you launch? What were your shift points? Did the back tires break loose or did they stick? Look at your 60' time very closely. With a normal street car, about 95% of your final ET is determined by your 60' time. After you've perfected your launch, start looking at the rest of the intervals. There is a reason they give you more than just the ET and trap speed. It's to help you get faster.

If you're going just to have fun, then have fun and see how fast your car is. If you're going to try and turn the best ET possible, then study your numbers and see what works for your car.

I'd get a pour in octane booster on the way. I don't know if it makes a huge difference, but with computer controlled timing and 91 octane fuel in Ca, it cant hurt. You can also probably get 100 octane at the track or I think at sunoco.

A lot of people air down the rear tires. There is conflicting opinions on if/how much this helps. With IRS, it might at the very least help with wheel hop. I've personally never aired my tires down, because I never had a way to pump them back up for the drive home.

If you want to get really crazy, leave your car off and push it through the staging line. This will keep your engine cool, and a cooler engine will turn a better ET.

my best advice: meet people, be polite, ask others what they are doing. People have always been super helpful to me when I was learning (and I still am), and they're all there doing exactly what you're doing.

oh, also, make sure that you turn your AC off and don't run it while you are there. I know in CA it's not so critical, but in South Florida, where I came from, the newbies would always leave puddles of AC water at the start line, and then they had to shut the track down while they dry it.

Good luck! make sure to let us know how you did when you get back!

Great note. THanks

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[jdoug]

Trans shift by itself?

For an auto, yes-- what's the confusion?

 

[MRGTX]

I'm a big proponent of setting up a car so that it can shift itself reliably...but I'm coming from a bracket racing mentality.

In any case, if the past holds true, a tune can do a lot to clean up the shifts with the auto cars and help quite a bit with the ET.

IIRC, a quicker shift also heats up your transmission fluid less...while you're hammering on the rest of the drivetrain, a rapid shifting setup may be easier on the transmission itself in some ways. My modern cars have all been manuals but my old Mopar is an Auto. The shop that built my Torqueflight suggested that and encouraged me to run a shift kit with a higher hp motor.

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