I'm goig to be takin my car to the track soon and i was wondering if it would help me hook better to let some air out of my street tires(245/45/17) and if so what pressure should i run?? Also how much does it help to ice the intake between runs??? If there are any other tricks anyone knows besides shaving weight let me know. thanks

 

i don't know how much it helps to ice the intake but you have to be careful and not let the melted water run down the plugs cause they might shatter, so i've heard. letting air down to around 15-20lbs will help hook it up. i use 15lbs and it hooks hard. my tires are 245/50/16.

 

yea 20 range is good. also make sure your fronts are at 35 or a couple more...dont want any drag up front.

 

ice will help a good bit, just make sure you get everthing dry before you get to the line, also remove all the extra weight you can, ie jack, spare, back seat. Work on getting the launch down and DO NOT do a huge burn out, or pull through the water, drive around the water box and spin the tires a tiny bit just to clean them off.

 

I never liked to use the ice on the intake trick as it's too hard to make the car repeat the same ET when you do this and the ice gets expensive after a while. get a small garden sprayer and spray a light mist of plain water on the radiator between rounds to help cool off the engine and if you have an electric fan, cycle it on/off after spraying to help evaporate the water and increases the cooling effects. do make sure that you don't pull into the lanes with a lot of water dripping off the rad though.
other tricks include using as octane booster and bumping the timing up, keeping the gas tank level low instead of full, removing the air filter if it's a paper type, relocating the battery to the trunk, etc, etc, etc. look around at the other racer's cars and ask them for some tips too! but be careful to evaluate for yourself what they tell you as some are a little far out and may lead you astray.

 

Hey, thanks guys ill have to try some of that stuff.

 

Icing the intake helps a crapload especially in warmer weather.

Like Round said, make sure your not dripping in the staging lanes. It's happened a few times while I was at the track and a few of the quicker car guys were flipping out about it.

 

You could go to Wal-mart and get yourself some re-useable 'Blue Ice' product. It comes in cube sizes and use that instead of real ice and nothing will ever drip.
The garden sprayer idea of Roundmans also has great validity.

 

That's because they have a big investment in their race car and don't want to see it crashed because somebody put some liquid down on the track and they get crossed up running in it and have an accident. And I don't blame them one bit either! I want to be able to drive home in one piece after racing too.