Question: Does Traction Control Turn Off in Drag Race Mode?

[DougS550]

Hey. I put my 2019 Mustang GT in Drag Race Mode and ran through the gears. It seemed like between 5500 6500 the traction control kicked in.
Thanks for the help

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[young at heart]

It doesn't turn it off, but it does optimize it. Stopping all slip is bad, but so is allowing the wheels to free spin. A happy medium of just a little slip is ideal. That's what TC is trying to do in drag mode. You can turn it off and practice throttle modulation to control slip, but you'll never beat the machine. Keep in mind that the stability control will still be on unless you go through the motions of "disabling" that as well. No point in doing that though, it's there to prevent yaw, not slippage.

This is likely 100% correct and having read a lot of mik’s posts I know he’s very knowledgeable. But there’s not one shred of evidence in the owner’s manual to support this and I can’t find a single solitary soul at Ford who will verify it. I’d love to know officially. The manual DOES say this happens in track mode and in fact the TC off light comes on in track mode, but not so in drag strip mode. I’ve come to the point where if I want to make a pull in drag mode I disable TC first and just deal with it. I’d rather deal with a little wheel spin than have the nanny cut the mapping at all. I DO leave ESC on per mik’s advice.

Done this way mine bumps 7500 between every shift and it’s maybe the most satisfying engine noise I’ve heard since powershifting my new ‘69 Z28 at 7800. The GT just pulls like a bear and that’s with 3.15s.
Even so it still spins at the 2-3 shift but it’s generally controllable if you’ve ever dealt with this kind of stuff. I so far have had neither enough straight road up here in the mountains nor enough cojones to see what might happen on the 3-4 upshift.

 

[DougS550]

It doesn't turn it off, but it does optimize it. Stopping all slip is bad, but so is allowing the wheels to free spin. A happy medium of just a little slip is ideal. That's what TC is trying to do in drag mode. You can turn it off and practice throttle modulation to control slip, but you'll never beat the machine. Keep in mind that the stability control will still be on unless you go through the motions of "disabling" that as well. No point in doing that though, it's there to prevent yaw, not slippage.

When I want to smoke the tires I don't want the traction control to back me off. I thought it was deactivated in Drag Mode.

 

[DougS550]

Thank you for the vote of confidence! The manual is a little vague/unclear/completely omits quite a lot of information unfortunately.

Line lock is what you want for that.

I will look into that. Thanks

 

[young at heart]

When I want to smoke the tires I don't want the traction control to back me off. I thought it was deactivated in Drag Mode.

Try it both ways and I think you’ll see for yourself. I was personally pretty shocked. As per mik, leave ESC engaged.

I think sometimes we may lose sight of just how fast these GTs actually are. My frame of reference is the middle to late 60s, supposedly the golden age of fast factory cars. A bone stock GT A10 car is significant quicker and faster than any showroom stock production car from those years. This even includes the fabled L-88 Corvette, of which only 80-some odd were ever made.

Let that sink in a little!

 

[DougS550]

Try it both ways and I think you’ll see for yourself. I was personally pretty shocked. As per mik, leave ESC engaged.

I think sometimes we may lose sight of just how fast these GTs actually are. My frame of reference is the middle to late 60s, supposedly the golden age of fast factory cars. A bone stock GT A10 car is significant quicker and faster than any showroom stock production car from those years. This even includes the fabled L-88 Corvette, of which only 80-some odd were ever made.

Let that sink in a little!

So the track mode TC turns off but in Drag Mode it does not? That seems odd. I will try it. Plus I have contacted unleased tuning about setting me up with an engine and transmission tune.

 

[Matthewstorm]

Try it both ways and I think you’ll see for yourself. I was personally pretty shocked. As per mik, leave ESC engaged.

What's ESC?

 

[ILStang]

What's ESC?

Electronic stability control

 

[Matthewstorm]

So, that's what turns off when I hold the toggle down?

 

[young at heart]

Electronic stability control

I think it used to be called AdvanceTrack. It’s entirely different from TC. As mik pointed out, TC controls wheelspin and ESC controls yaw.

 

[DougS550]

I think it used to be called AdvanceTrack. It’s entirely different from TC. As mik pointed out, TC controls wheelspin and ESC controls yaw.

Yep, the TC works great. when I run my car around our numerous round and figure eight Roundabouts, each lap I go faster and faster and it's wears when the TC kicks in. It feels like a quick shutter when it kicks in, applying the brakes to the wheels, keeping my car from sliding out of control allowing me to slide the car evenly, pretty cool.

 

[Vlad Soare]

Yep, the TC works great. when I run my car around our numerous round and figure eight Roundabouts, each lap I go faster and faster and it's wears when the TC kicks in. It feels like a quick shutter when it kicks in, applying the brakes to the wheels, keeping my car from sliding out of control allowing me to slide the car evenly, pretty cool.

The part that keeps your car from sliding out of the control by applying a bit of brake to each wheel is the ESC. That does work great, indeed.
TC, on the other hand, is the part that cuts off the throttle very abruptly at the very first sign of wheel slip. That's not so great. Personally I hate it and always turn it off as soon as I start the engine. It's nice that Ford made it so easy to turn off.

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