Tasberley

I went to Santa Pod yesterday to the rwyb. Weather conditions were pretty good so thought I would be getting some good times. Was slightly dissappointed as I could only just get better than my previous best which was from when the car was nearly standard... Spent loads and should have loads more power but struggled all day to better previous times... Any ideas or suggestions??

My car spec:
Sti 5 Type R
TD05/06 20g turbo
550cc injectors
Walbro 255 fuel pump
SX fuel reg
Helix top mount designed for sti 8
H&S open neck downpipe (heat wrapped)
Blitz Nur Spec R exhaust system
Equal length headers and uppipe (heat wrapped)
EcuTek remap by AndyF on optimax and ob. Peak at 1.49bar and holds 1.4bar
Lateral Performance paddle clutch
Toyo T1S road tyres with 25psi pressure

((Previously I had managed to run a 12.6@106mph when i had just the exhaust system))

Some Times from yesterday:

Reaction .659
60ft 1.798
330ft 5.337
1/8 ET 8.206
1/8 MPH 86.53
1000' ET 10.618
1/4 ET 12.807
1/4 MPH 106.44

Reaction .409
60ft 1.843
330ft 5.421
1/8 ET 8.299
1/8 MPH 86.32
1000' ET 10.763
1/4 ET 12.980
1/4 MPH 104.94

Reaction 0.293
60ft 1.949
330ft 5.410
1/8 ET 8.213
1/8 MPH 89.09
1000' ET 10.556
1/4 ET 12.680
1/4 MPH 108.89

Reaction 1.990
60ft 1.754
330ft 5.162
1/8 ET 7.947
1/8 MPH 88.78
1000' ET 10.242
1/4 ET 12.332
1/4 MPH 107.41

Reaction 1.194
60ft 1.798
330ft 5.265
1/8 ET 8.084
1/8 MPH 88.21
1000' 10.450
1/4 ET 12.581
1/4 MPH 109.53

Was struggling all day to beat my previous time (when the car was near standard)... To get my 12.3 i didnt change into 5th and revved out in 4th... Every other run i was changing into 5th about 150ft before end line...

The terminal times are really dissapponting.... Was wondering if any1 can shed some light or give me some tips... Maybe the car isnt performing like it should???

Was there with Bob yesterday and he managed a 12.09!!! and his terminals are much better than mine (about 115mph)

16vmarc

The faster terminal has no bearing on the overall 1/4 mile time.

If you launch very quickly this can have an effect on it. If you are slow setting off you will have a higher terminal speed.

As for you struggling to beat your previous best time earlier in the day, theres so many reasons as to why. The weather and surface could be the answer.

Danny Boy

iTrader: (2)

It seemed to me that the launch was everything at the pod yesterday.
I managed to take half a second off my previous best now i have a few more mods and im sure it was all down to a (getting better) launch.

I only managed 3 runs before i had to leave and each one improved so i hope to crack the 12's next time im down.

Don't worry Tas, im sure some more practice will see u with a better time.

Dan.

Tasberley

yeah launch was vital yesterday.... to be fair my 0-60ft times werent bad getting into the 1.7s.. seemed to lack further down the strip

chrome

to be fair mate- 12.3 is one hell of a time @ pod!

sounds like Bob (Bob5?) finally nailed his launch technique

MY93WRX

It was a hot day yesterday, what was the wheather like last time you did a run, when its hot the air is more dense and induction poorer, i have been told this can rob you of a sgnificant amount of Bhp, the best time to do a run would be early in the morning or on a cold spring day, altgough the tyres would have less grip but the BHP gain would be more significant.

Danny Boy

iTrader: (2)

Yeah Nice to meet u Tas,
My best 60ft time was 1.97 so there is room for improvement for me.
No doubt your shorter type R gearing helps alot in that department, but probably lets u down further down the strip where u really need another gear change.


Dan.

Danny Boy

iTrader: (2)

Tis true about ambient temps, the best i had managed before was a 13.7 with just a decat and dawes device but this was set on a day with ambient temps of just 3-4C

Yesterday had ambient temps in the low 20C in the morning, i was seeing throttle body temps of 40-45C on the line after queing up and max intake temps of about 58C whilst on boost which wont help things much .

So i was pretty happy in the end with a 13.1 after only 3 goes at it.

Dan.

Tasberley

just frustrating as me and bob run similar spec... the terminals on my car just arent there.. i suppose the gearing could have a big effect as im having to make an extra gear change into 5th where as a uk box doesnt..

Aztec Performance Ltd

iTrader: (234)

Tas:

You're first 3 runs were heads-up. When you concentrated on the launch you did well with a 12.3 and 12.5 with excellent 1.7s 60ft.

Even on our run together it did seem that yours lacked a little power further up as your 60ft was better than mine and you still got a a worse time+terminal.

1st thing is to launch well (which you are able to do). 2nd is to change gears at the right RPM (AndyF gave me some pointers on this) and lastly to gearchange swiftly.

The rest IMO is down to the car. I would get it on some good rollers and see whats, what.

My spec is a little different to yours (mines a UK, std TD05-16g). Cars of your spec with a TD05/06-20g are running around 370-400bhp+. Your spec is almost identical to Grahams (aka 911) and he has 407bhp.

Your times are still considerably better than last time and can get better. My bests went (in visit order) 12.49@110mph....12.21@111mph to 12.09@114.

Bob

chrome

12.09 ? : thats a corking time for Pod !

Tasberley

cheers bob... really wanna get on the rollers now... see what is happening...
always room for improvement... :-)

i think car would be capable of very low 12s or high 11s if i can sort it out... any rollers u would recommend in the area who know their stuff?

dmc1980

I was coming in to start a thread about this, but youve got one already!!
Interested to know if anyone else was running a mostly standard car, I was out yesterday at Quickshift in Northern Ireland. It was my first time on the strip, and was wondering what sort of times other people are getting with my kind of spec. The car is an MY00 and the only mods are decat downpipe and magnex exhaust system and K&N air filter.
The best the car could get was 14.12 @ 93mph.
Anyone else out there with the same sort of spec? What sort of times are you pulling off?

Neilo

generally youd expect high 13's at best to 14.2 or 3, if that was your first crack then thats pretty good, time to be saved on the techique

scooby-si

its the gearing m8 they can get over in 4th with still some revs left we cannt so when you go for 5th we lose about 300th/sec, to 500th/sec

GB on longer 4th gears

Neilo

Tasberly, i was interested to see this particular run...

Reaction .409
60ft 1.843
330ft 5.421
1/8 ET 8.299
1/8 MPH 86.32
1000' ET 10.763
1/4 ET 12.980
1/4 MPH 104.94

as my best is 13.3 @104.25, im just curious how you managed to make up 0.4 secs between the 60ft and the end, when my launch was 1.82 and my terminal speed was less than 1mph different.... im just wondering if a 12 is possible from my car as is....

Tasberley

maybe the gearing??? dunno m8


im hopefully gonna go back to the pod this saturday coming...

gonna be concentrate on these few points:

1. getting a good launch.
2. getting gear changes crisp and quick (know i can improve on my changes, especially going into 5th)
3. Concentrating on shift points.
4. gonna see what sort of terminals i can get as me and bob were surprised by the terminals i was hitting...

Neilo

ill be there mate if you fancy a blast ive got an 03 WRX so your right gearing is different, but im guessing with your set up your running 360+??

so one less gearchange for me, are you sure you need 5th?

Tasberley

yeah i would say 350bhp+ to be cautious...

i tried one run just running in 4th but i hit the rev limiter big time well before finishing line... stupid thing is it was my quickest time of 12.3...

think i need to be changing into 5th to get the quicker times but im gonna have to have a stormer to accomodate for the time changing into 5th!! so frustrating!! wish i had a longer 4th!

Neilo

ahh for some reason i thought you had an STI8, i looked at your spec and say the top mount bit cos i know that they dont need to use 5th.....look slike ill be a full second behind you then unless i can strip more weight

cookstar

iTrader: (6)

It was a hot day yesterday, what was the wheather like last time you did a run, when its hot the air is more dense and induction poorer, i have been told this can rob you of a sgnificant amount of Bhp, the best time to do a run would be early in the morning or on a cold spring day, altgough the tyres would have less grip but the BHP gain would be more significant.



Different to what ive been told, i understand that the colder air is, the more densly populated it becomes with oxygen molecules, more oxygen more explosion.(sp) Which would indicate why ice has more volume than water, Correct me if im wrong please.

Tasberley

would agree about cooler air = better times... but good old bob ran a superb time...

Neilo

i have to say that air can be "too cold" my best time was done in about 24 degree C outside temp personally. Will be interesting to see what happens on sat

Pavlo

I'm sorry but that is absolute rubbish.

The terminal is a function of outright power, turbo lag, and gearshifting speed (you have little power going to the road if the turbo isn't spooled up, or you're not in gear) . But it doesn't really get effected by the launch, in fact sometimes an over aggressive launch can often improve the terminal as the wheel spinning gets the turbo on boost much more aggresively.

While it is true that you don't need a very high terminal to do good times, if you keep your setup and technique the same, but increase the power, an increase in terminal will be a result, along with a reduction in ET.

If you are only trapping an average of 109 consistently in the 1/4 and only 89 in the 1/8th then you are either changing gear very slowly, have a lot of lag on gear changes,or you just don't have as much power as you think. The 1.7x 60ft times are quite respectable for the pod on a RWYB day, and your splits on the 1/4 are consistent, suggesting there isn't a mishap halfway down the track.

You need to get the car on the rollers and check out the power, not just the level but also where in the RPM range the power occurs. You should ideally be changing gear past peak power, so that you run through peak power on gear, and don't drop down to far from peak power when you change gear. But on the 1/4 mile you also need to avoid a needless gearchange in possble, so don't use 5th unless you have to.

Paul

Pavlo

Cold air is denser, and you will get more power as a result. Ice is less dense that liquid water because it's in a completely different phase, so it has a different stucture, but this is not the common situation.

At the Pod though, cold weather means poor grip, and it's doubly bad at the Pod due to the rubber on the track.

Paul

Tasberley

pavlo.... i think i can improve majorly on my gear changes as when i think about it i have been quite tentative on my changes as thats the way i normally drive....

do u think im gonna be better off reving out in 4th then to improve my times or changin up to 5th.... thing i found when i stayed in 4th was that i was just at the limiter for about 200yds i would say maybe 150

will get on rollers soon to see what the score is with where peak power is etc.

Aztec Performance Ltd

iTrader: (234)

I dont think its practical for you to stay in 4th as your terminals wont improve that way. Its not good to be bouncing on the limiter for 200yds.

Whats the step between 4th and 5th like? Do you get any lag or is it similar to the other gears?

re RRs. I was going to go to PowerStation but didnt get around to it. They had some funny torque readings on the RR day apparently, but not sure if it was operator error or otherwise.

Bob

Pavlo

It sounds like your shifting could be slow. Shifting for best 1/4 mile isn't great for the box, especially the synchros, a few runs a year are not going to kill it. When I change gear I load up the gearstick quite a lot before dipping the clutch, as soon as the clutch is disengaged, the gears will swap, and I move the stick as fast as I possibly can. I wouldn't recommend doing it quite as hard as I do, but even a very positive, fast shift (ie not brutal) should have you changing gear in less than 0.5 seconds with practice, I am doing it about 0.25 seconds.

If you have a dump valve, then removing or blocking it for drag racing will also help reduce the lag between gears if you lift off the throttle when changing gear.

As bob says, if you're reaching the limiter in 4th, change up into 5th, you will be quicker. The only time you wouldn't be is if you were changing well before the redline into 5th, but could manage to stay in 4th without hitting the limiter.

You seem to have good launches which is one of the most difficult parts nailed.

Paul

Aztec Performance Ltd

iTrader: (234)

Top tip! Will have to give that a go.


Bob

Tasberley

i think there is a certain amount of lag but could that be caused by the amount of time it is taking me to change gear into 5th. would the extra time taking to change effect this?? i think my change from 4th to 5th is the one where i can improve most as i do change cautiously. also find that it seems like u go out of gear, across, and then into gear... lots of time!!!

will try this. sounds like a very good tip... thanx pavlo!!!

if i do this will it effect the way the car has been mapped???

cheers guys for the tips.. keep em coming