Well June 20th we are having drag races on the Army post's air strip up here in Alaska. (not sure what my elevation is) and this will be the first time I have ran the 1/4 mile as I have run just a couple passes in the past with my 96 gt when I had it. My current ride is a 01 GT with only K&N filter summit 75mm TB and trickflow plenum and flow master weld ins and soon an o/r x pipe as my only mods. Tires are just BFG Geforce Sports that are almost brand new. What kind of tips can you offer for my current set up? What tire press would be best with these tires? The track will most likely not have a really good prep to be honest. Should I do a burnout or just drive right through? What would be a good launch RPM on stock gears? You see my point I won't get many passes at all to learn form so I want to do the best I can!

 

Quick Simple Steps:

1. Don't mess with tire pressure too much. Nothing positive is usually going to come out of lowering the pressure on a regular street radial.
2. If there's a water box drive around it.
3. No burnout, just a quick chirp of the tires if anything.
4. Do not dump the clutch. Too many people go out and hold the rpm at a certain range, and as soon as they see green the throttle goes down and the clutch comes up. Doing this from 3K is going to yield the same result as doing it at redline on street tires.

Slip the clutch out as you apply throttle. Pretend you're taking off quickly from a stop light, but you don't want to catch too much attention. Or, trying to get a quick take off from a hill. It's going to require some clutch slip to prevent from just lighting the tires up.

Best advice I can give you from my own experience.

And have fun. Don't get discouraged if you run **** poor times. 9/10 of us do the first time.

 

other than what he said i would recommend shifting @ 5200-5500 rpms dont redline it our motors dont pull much after 5.5k

 

Yeah that was another question was what's a good shift point....Didn't realise I should shift it that low...

 

launch at 4,500 and slip the clutch all the way through. i ran my fastest 60' and fastest time doing that.
btw im on street tires 245/45

 

wont that roast his clutch!

 

yea but unless he has some really sticky tires thats the best way to get some good times. slipping the clutch will cause it to wear faster than normal but as long as you dont go to the track ALL THE TIME then you should be alright. just have fun relax and practice is the only way you will get better times. we can tell you what worked for us but what worked for us may not work for your car or your track. but i agree with what most have said and that is to slip the clutch dont dump it (unless you have some MT ET streets or something like that) play with the shift points im not much help there as mine would be far different from yours anyways, and just have fun thats the whole point right?

 

About the shifts point (not that this applies to me *supercharger ftw*) even though your not pulling much after 5.5, wouldn't short shifting be a disadvantage because you would be at even a lower rpm on your next shift, ex. Red line shifting: 1st 6,000 would put you around 3,000-3,500 in 2nd. Short shifting: 1st 5,500 would put you around 2,500-3,000. Dont remember my car stock but wouldn't red line shifting put you in your power band for the next gear and thus making for a quicker ET.

Note the rpm's stated above are an example...

 

Shifting @ 5500 from 1st-2nd should see above 3000, from 2nd to 3rd above 3500, and 3rd to 4th above 4000. The drop into 2nd should help with traction issues, 3rd and 4th you'll be right in powerband.