i went up t the local drag strip last night with some friends. By local i mean I drove nearly 2 hours each way. As it turns out the track was having some sort of shootout for rail cars with a $10k purse so i only got in four runs. I had my GoPro in the car, but for some reason I randomly forget how to work it and manged to not record my two best runs, but i have the two crap runs lol.

I can't believe how slippery the track was. My car would randomly spin the tires in 3rd at 80-90 at any throttle level and the spinning and getting sideways wouldn't stop until 4th gear. I had gone hoping to put down a 13.5 my first time out and i ended up doing better than that so i was happy. Does the rubber these drag cars put down make things more slippery?

anyway, I'll post the time slips below. My first run I was nervous since it was my first time on the strip, then a fracking rail car pulls up in the lane beside me. I almost laughed in the guys face when he said "he's going to pass you" lol NO REALLY!? some guy behind the fence yelled "Get some chevy man" lol that's at the start where i said i don't think so. That damn rail put down a 7.952 @ 165.46

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fXZqyq-f9Q

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tK2KM7aE-NM

 

I cant tell by the video, did you drive through the water box when you went to stage or did you go around it ?


Edit : I see in the second vid you hit the water, are you on street tires still ? If so I would just go around the box.

 

that was another problem, the water box was everywhere. the rails had thrown water everywhere and the hose boy was spraying the entire area ***** nilly. you could not miss the water no matter what you did. yes the car is all stock but for long tubes, catted x and hushpower mufflers. its on the stock tune and airbox as well

 

I haven't looked. Whats the diff on the new race key?

 

track key tune still isn't out. it looks like from the details i recall form the track the times corrected would be very close. is there a place where the weather conditions are recorded for drag strips from prior events? it was 63 and about 49% humidity


Stock and Mildly Modified Naturally Aspirated Engines
13.178 @ 112.379 MPH

 

Those rail cars help track prep. Its the bikes and street tires that screw it up. Sounds like you were not able to avoid the water and thats what was killing you. As far as losing traction in 3rd, that sounds like something on the track. You probably should've told the track guys so they could go down there and check it out.

I'm really surprised they put you next to that car. They should never put bikes beside cars, or street cars with rails. Its not safe to do that. At any rate, looks like you did pretty good. Your traps are strong, even on the worse runs. Nice work man. Hopefully next time you head out there the water boy won't be so loose with the hose.

 

for my first time and considering all the times i had to let off on all the runs thanks to the spinning and sliding i was happy overall. they did stop a couple times and "drag the track" with some sort of tractor. i didn't know exactly what they were up to with that. i guess clearing debris. my second and fastest run was when i was able to miss the most water. they had probably 30 people that stood around most of the night on the little concrete pad inside the gate where the support staff usually goes just to watch.

 

Yea, I think most all tracks use the tractors, ours does too, if you spend much time at the track you'll see they race for a little but then run the tractor and will put down more compound ect. Sucks you couldn't pass the water, not much you can do in that situation.

 

yes, this place has historic temps and everything so you can da calculate later. Although I've found it isn't entirely accurate, better to get a weather station out where you are actually racing.

you are at 500' elevation, with a DA of 627, total of 1127 correction on your best run is 13.14@112.71. Looks like you need some new tires and some practice.


at the track i go to they dont normally put a really fast car next to a stockish car. Like I wouldn't run next to anything with a parachute, they'd have the guy run by himself if nobody else in his class was around.

 

Get some DRs and try again.