Spring? opening at track

driller

driller

El Presidente
Staff member
Tomorrow, March 4th, the Mason Dixon Dragway in Hagerstown, MD opens the season with a Test and Tune session. Weather is supposed to be chilly, low 40's and partly sunny with a high pressure area over the area annnnnnnnd get this...

CONDITIONS ARE PRIMED FOR FIRE
DANGER SATURDAY AFTERNOON. DURING SATURDAY AFTERNOON... RELATIVE
HUMIDITIES ARE EXPECTED TO FALL BELOW 30 PERCENT...
Accuweather, National Weather Service Zone - MDZ003

That should yield excellent density altitude for drag racing albeit a cold track surface that may prove difficult for traction.

Regardless, I invite those who wish to brave the cold as I plan to be there to start the season with hopefully some new record breaking ETs for the Blue Flame in 2006. ;)
 
RE: Spring? opening at track

The short version of a long day at the track...

13.545 @ 101.43 }( }( }(
 
RE: Spring? opening at track

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The short version of a long day at the track...13.545 @ 101.43 }( }( }(
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Very nice
 
RE: Spring? opening at track

Without a tune being the key word(s)?

I know the weather was perfect. Cool air, high pressure, sunny and low humidity. The downside was at times it was tough to get good traction on the cold track surface. I was spinning off the line a couple times for sure and several other times I suspected I spun on the launch, more from feel than actually hearing. The Hoosier drag tires performed admirably as far as I was concerned, quite a few others were having much more traction issues than I. I tried long burnouts, short burnouts, played with the air pressure in the tires, but nothing seemed to be the key. My best sixty foot was 1.907.

But I don't think the car was running 100%. It appeared to have a miss at the big end of the track. Sometimes more pronounced than others, even on the best run of 13.545 @ 101.43. I and others would've expected the mph to be higher, considering the weather and all. The majority of the runs were 13.6x at 100.x - consistent and nothing to be ashamed of, but I just felt it wasn't up to par, like I was leaving some on the table.

The driver however was in his game. }( Out of 12 runs, I believe 9 or 10 were with reaction times of 0.0xx. ;)

http://photos.imageevent.com/driller/2006racing/websize/100_1912.jpg

This is the dirtyest I have seen the Mark VIII since it resigned duties as a daily driver. I had planned to wash it prior to the morning trip, but was running late and figured what the heck, it's not that bad. Well, the two hour plus trip included going across the mountains which had several places with wet salty conditions. The result was nothing short of nasty.

I'll have more post-race analysis later, but meanwhile here's some good vids...

http://ImageEvent.com/driller/2006racing
 
RE: Spring? opening at track

Average of 12 runs for the day...

R/T - 0.087
60ft - 1.950
330' - 5.667
1/8 - 8.749
MPH - 79.44
1000ft - 11.426
1/4 - 13.678
MPH - 100.40

This was in superb density altitude which averaged 869 feet below sea level. Corrected to sea level, the average 1/4 mile was run in 13.79 @ 99.58.

These are going to prove to be hard numbers to match. The MPH should improve once I figure out the miss, if that's what it was. I've been told by a couple people, the car may need re-tuned with the headers.
 
RE: Spring? opening at track

JP...congrats! I was pretty close in my ET prediction, huh?

as for the top end MPH...one thing many folks forget is the compromise between traction, and top end rolling resistance. It is very difficult to find that fine line of a tire pressure that produces as much adhesion as possible, while at the same time NOT slowing the car too much up top.

You will probably have to sacrifice some 60 foot to gain some mph.

wait until it's 60 degrees, no wind, and the adjusted altitude is around 800 feet. Then add 1/2 lb to your slicks, and as soon as the slicks start dragging the rpms down, come out of the box....


Hoosiers dont like long burnouts, for the most part...but what they DO like(little known secret) is as much time to "cure" between the burnout and the launch, as you can give them. Ever wonder why it takes some drag racers a long time to stage? (shhhhh secret). do the burnout, then creep forward...take as much time as you can before the starter turns around and motions you to "get in there".

You'll see.
 
RE: Spring? opening at track

Pretty close Craig!!

I'll have to remember the tire tip. ;)
 
RE: Spring? opening at track

Good runs there JP! You finally beat the red whore and Eli's times!! All you have to do is squeeze a little more mph out of that thing!
 
RE: Spring? opening at track

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JP, can you post the incremental times for your 13.5 run? Thanks...
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Sure...

R/T - 0.038
60ft - 1.930
330ft - 5.602
1/8 - 8.658
MPH - 79.52
1000ft - 11.312
1/4 - 13.545
MPH - 101.43

On one of my slower runs of the day, I was lined up with a track friend who drives a 1996 Cougar XR7 SE Coupe that runs deep into the 12s with nitrous. Off the bottle, he complains he's not hooking up when his sixty foot times are 1.8 or more. He decides to run just on the motor, a built up 4.6L SOHC mod motor.

http://photos.imageevent.com/driller/2006racing/100_1916.mov

The results...

Car # - 53(me) / 20(Steve)
R/T.... - 0.104 / 0.196
60ft... - 1.942 / 1.880
330ft. - 5.676 / 5.644
1/8.... - 8.780 / 8.732
MPH... - 79.50 / 79.51
1000. - 11.468 / 11.398
1/4... - 13.732 / 13.644
MPH... - 99.88 / 100.62

Left 1st 0.0041 !!!

That was running literally door to door all the way down the track. It was a good thing I got him on the tree, because he was pulling on me at the end. He has held the bar high for me since I've known him, and I have slowly been closing the gap between us. To see the win light in my lane at the end of a photo-finish race against such a quality mentor was truly a highlight I will not soon forget.
 
RE: Spring? opening at track

You're not kidding anymore, JP !!! }(

BTW, any drone with just a single X in there ?
 
RE: Spring? opening at track

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You're not kidding anymore, JP !!! }( BTW, any drone with just a single X in there ?
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I'm just out there to have fun. That makes it more enjoyable. :) But I am the type that will always strive to achieve more with what I have.

I do not think I have any drone in the exhaust. Possibly some at low rpms around town, but if there is it's so infrequent it doesn't bother me. I absolutely love the new sound. It is not unpleasant at all even at highway speeds. If I would change anything, you can believe it will be primarily for performance. I have been thinking of getting a set of Borla mufflers or possibly some high-end tunable mufflers, but my research has yet to convince me of any real gains from what I have with the DynoMax UltraFlows. Maybe the best thing to do would be a nice set of remote operated exhaust cutouts shortly past the headers before the single-X pipe? ::roll::
 
RE: Spring? opening at track

Hmmmm... interesting. No doubt the X pipe outperforms the H pipe IMHO. But according to other sources, while mufflers 'can' increase HP, more often than not, the mufflers decrease HP. Case in point...

http://www.pontiacstreetperformance.com/psp/exhaust.html

The DynoMax UltraFlows rank well in several tests I've seen, if not the best it is usually right up there with the best. Perhaps I should be sastified with what I have.

But I'm thinking a set of cutouts on my setup would probably NET better track performance despite the lower torque in the lower rpms. Reason being is with the 3500 stall converter and 4.10 gears, I do not believe my Mark VIII is in the low rpm range very long where back-pressure becomes a major factor. It is predominantly in the higher rpm range where flow is most important.
 
RE: Spring? opening at track

You could always have the electric cutouts installed and trigger them the second you leave the lights. it takes 2-3 secs to fully open them ...

check out http://www.badlanzhpe.com/page5.html

Here's a set on 03 Marauder http://john.frieltek.com/toomanyfords/marauder/Cutouts/default.asp

Although the dyno didn't show much gain, the guy gained .5 sec in the 1/4 however this was on a blown car.

http://www.mercurymarauder.net/forums/showthread.php?t=21721&highlight=electric+cutouts

Too bad the motor is now history.

Straight out from the headers, add your x-pipe where that H is :

http://www.mojavedesertclassics.com/CUTOUTS47.jpg
 
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