Z4 3.0 SMG Vs New SLK350 Vs C55... sigh
02-06-2009, 01:02 PM
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CLS, SLK, ETC
Z4 3.0 SMG Vs New SLK350 Vs C55... sigh
We did some fun runs and well, our car freakin suxs *** from the stop.. My tires weren't fully warmed up and t pressure was set to high but I still expected an easy win over those 2 cars...
Well I was wrong....
I launched my car with TC off and from first gear, I did half throttle for .5 sec and smashed the gas ped to max... Car just spun tires for full sec while others took off... I caught up n passed the Z4 (like it was stand'n still )in halfway but SLK was long gone... SLK prolly got me by 2-3 car lenghts... Later that he told me he had his TC on.. I guess that would help in cold weather...
Ahhhh.. Give me some tips.. I know by stats C55 should walk all over a SLK350... I jst sux at launching since I've never tried to drag my car..I need to practice.....
Well I was wrong....
I launched my car with TC off and from first gear, I did half throttle for .5 sec and smashed the gas ped to max... Car just spun tires for full sec while others took off... I caught up n passed the Z4 (like it was stand'n still )in halfway but SLK was long gone... SLK prolly got me by 2-3 car lenghts... Later that he told me he had his TC on.. I guess that would help in cold weather...
Ahhhh.. Give me some tips.. I know by stats C55 should walk all over a SLK350... I jst sux at launching since I've never tried to drag my car..I need to practice.....
Last edited by Quicktwinturbo; 02-06-2009 at 01:14 PM.
02-06-2009, 01:54 PM
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2013 C63 AMG P31, 2014 GMC Sierra (6.2)
You probably just need to practice. Sounds like you were too aggressive/enthusiastic with you launch. Do you always launch in 1st of have you tried lust letting it shift for itself? The others may have beat you but I gaurantee you probably left a nicer black patch than the others 
02-06-2009, 02:37 PM
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2005 C55 AMG, 2010 VW GTI (Stage 1)
yeah, maybe try it with TC on... it's hard to trust the car's computer, but give it a try. once you've floored it, ride each gear, and by end of 3rd u should be picking up alot of speed... i think high-end you got the torque to blow the SLK away... it just takes u more of a punch to get there with all that weight!
what psi did u have it at, out of curiosity?
anyways, let us know how you do in your next endeavors! good luck!
what psi did u have it at, out of curiosity?
anyways, let us know how you do in your next endeavors! good luck!
02-06-2009, 06:17 PM
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yeah, maybe try it with TC on... it's hard to trust the car's computer, but give it a try. once you've floored it, ride each gear, and by end of 3rd u should be picking up alot of speed... i think high-end you got the torque to blow the SLK away... it just takes u more of a punch to get there with all that weight!
what psi did u have it at, out of curiosity?
anyways, let us know how you do in your next endeavors! good luck!
what psi did u have it at, out of curiosity?
anyways, let us know how you do in your next endeavors! good luck!
Things with TC is that sometime it will let me go without any hesitation and sometime it will make me looks like a boy who drives a stick car for the first time.
I did my run in S mode.. Starting from 1st.. I was lil too aggressive with the throttle.. Bah... Should've done a rolling start lol
Hooleyboy!! where are u?
Last edited by Quicktwinturbo; 02-06-2009 at 06:30 PM.
02-09-2009, 08:46 PM
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Hehe.. I was into drag racing when I owned Rx7 and supra but since I bought a C55, I never tried to launch this car hard... I guess practice will help...
People in Korea doesn't know how to do roll'n start..
"Why did u honk 3 times man? wtf "... lol
People in Korea doesn't know how to do roll'n start..
"Why did u honk 3 times man? wtf "... lol
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02-10-2009, 12:41 AM
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02-10-2009, 04:36 AM
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white and whiter
with traction on. if there's no LSD you'll get to do one wheel burnout which kills your acceleration even worse than traction can give you. with grippy tires and with traction on you can still manage to have little wheel spin and take off. ease into the throttle also helps.
02-10-2009, 11:22 PM
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CLS, SLK, ETC
I'll get em next time.. Just wait... Muhahaha
I found out that during cold weather, KDW2s took VERY long time to warm up..
02-11-2009, 11:31 AM
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2009 Mini Cooper Clubman S
I ran into an over enthusiastic guy driving a new E350 on my way to do my taxes yesterday. He pulled up to the light like he wanted to run so I gave it a little gas and he didn't look like he got on in so I didn't go WOT, then he comes flying up from behind me obviously with his pedal on the floor, so I floored it too. By the time I floored it and kicked down he was about 2 car lengths in front of me, but I was pulling on him hard and I had him by 3 car lengths before I touched the brakes. I have a feeling he'll leave our little C-classes alone next time he sees one
02-11-2009, 09:06 PM
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CLS, SLK, ETC
I ran into an over enthusiastic guy driving a new E350 on my way to do my taxes yesterday. He pulled up to the light like he wanted to run so I gave it a little gas and he didn't look like he got on in so I didn't go WOT, then he comes flying up from behind me obviously with his pedal on the floor, so I floored it too. By the time I floored it and kicked down he was about 2 car lengths in front of me, but I was pulling on him hard and I had him by 3 car lengths before I touched the brakes. I have a feeling he'll leave our little C-classes alone next time he sees one
02-11-2009, 11:41 PM
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SLK350 are sleepers in their own right. low 14's 1/4 against low 13's for a stock c55.
How far up did you guys go to?
Feather the throttle when you are doing a dig. It comes with practice really, but always have your ESP off, because if you get the slightest wheel spin the car will start to break and it will ruin it for you.
I even drive with my esp off, unless it's raining, makes getting out of driveways or taking turns easier and more predictable.
How far up did you guys go to?
Feather the throttle when you are doing a dig. It comes with practice really, but always have your ESP off, because if you get the slightest wheel spin the car will start to break and it will ruin it for you.
I even drive with my esp off, unless it's raining, makes getting out of driveways or taking turns easier and more predictable.
02-12-2009, 12:20 AM
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SLK55 AMG, E320 BlueTec, ML350, (formerly) C32 AMG, MR2 Turbo, HD-FLH-FSE, BMW R100RS, Ducati M900
Launch
Launching these cars is tough on a good day. Exponetially harder in the cold or on dirty streets from winter weather. Losing even a few tenths at the line is huge on topend and makes your car look slower as a 3/10th sec time gap gets larger with higher speed.
Example: I dragged a Z28 at the strip. We ran identical ET's (within 1/10th), but since I cut a 3/10 quicker light off the line, My car seemed to be slowly walking away from him on the topend and I was 2-3 cars more or less ahead at the finish. It looked like I was pulling away despite having identical trap speeds. It looked that way cause I beat him at the start.
If you spin more than the other guy off the line it is the same affect as him cutting a better light at the dragstrip, in affect he is getting a jump on you. It takes more power to overcome that handicap.
To better launch:
1. Good burn out to heat the tires. If you are not at the drag strip and on a street with no rubber laid down it is more important to get some heat in the tires. Smoke em.
2. C55 has too much torque to just mash the throttle with ESP off. Still, I think turning off the trac control is still better. If the rear tires are spinning, you need to modulate the throttle with your foot to reduce the wheel spin. I run a lightly modded C32 and I roll into it about 1/3 to 1/2 throttle trying to keep only mild wheel spin until the car rolls about 1 car length, then I feed in more throttle with the goal to be full throttle before and zero wheel spin (or very little) before the shift to 2nd. If you spin it up hard in 1st, it will shift to 2nd or even 3rd and just sit their smoking the tires. I know, I've done it, lol. That will kill your drive. So strive to get to redline in first with no wheel spin. That insures the max speed when 2nd is engaged. Usually if you get the first parts right, there will be little or no wheel spin in 2nd, but that depends on lots of variables. A little is OK but massive spin is bad. Usually if traction is good, I can go wide open in in 1st in about 1/2 a car length and about half a sec. At the strip, I only need to spin the tires enough to clean the dirt off of them and can go WFO as soon as I launch.
3. Put it in drive and just let it shift for you. No real speed advantage in the paddles at the strip.
4. Use best tires money can buy and if worn, replace them.
5. You can play with tire pressures. But be careful, once I had a rear do a rapid deflation when I pulled a burnout and caught traction suddenly in 1st gear. Poof, zero air. No puncture. Best we can tell the Pirelli spun on the rim and lost air pressure. Strange? So don't go too low as it might bite you.
6. Don't patty cake the launch if you know your up against a comparable car. It is a balance. At the strip a good jump without redlight is considered a mark of high driver skill. On a street race it is bad form and cheating to jump the start. But there is nothing wrong with quickly and aggressively getting on it once the "Go Signal" has been given. Now if you are highly confident in your ride, you can be generous and give the jump to your mark but just remember that 3/10ths second lead at 10 mph is ~4 ft but at 110 mph it is closer to 48 ft. So don't give up much. If you can judge 1/10 sec vs 3/10 sec you are better than me, lol. Quick as a cat is a good thing here. Often, I will give the guy the chance to get his front axle even with my front bumper just so he cannot claim I jumped the start. But I know what most cars with turn 0-60 and if I know I am up against a faster car, I am more agressive. Or, I tuck tail and go home. I've done both over the years. Mostly in Guadalahara.
Example: I dragged a Z28 at the strip. We ran identical ET's (within 1/10th), but since I cut a 3/10 quicker light off the line, My car seemed to be slowly walking away from him on the topend and I was 2-3 cars more or less ahead at the finish. It looked like I was pulling away despite having identical trap speeds. It looked that way cause I beat him at the start.
If you spin more than the other guy off the line it is the same affect as him cutting a better light at the dragstrip, in affect he is getting a jump on you. It takes more power to overcome that handicap.
To better launch:
1. Good burn out to heat the tires. If you are not at the drag strip and on a street with no rubber laid down it is more important to get some heat in the tires. Smoke em.
2. C55 has too much torque to just mash the throttle with ESP off. Still, I think turning off the trac control is still better. If the rear tires are spinning, you need to modulate the throttle with your foot to reduce the wheel spin. I run a lightly modded C32 and I roll into it about 1/3 to 1/2 throttle trying to keep only mild wheel spin until the car rolls about 1 car length, then I feed in more throttle with the goal to be full throttle before and zero wheel spin (or very little) before the shift to 2nd. If you spin it up hard in 1st, it will shift to 2nd or even 3rd and just sit their smoking the tires. I know, I've done it, lol. That will kill your drive. So strive to get to redline in first with no wheel spin. That insures the max speed when 2nd is engaged. Usually if you get the first parts right, there will be little or no wheel spin in 2nd, but that depends on lots of variables. A little is OK but massive spin is bad. Usually if traction is good, I can go wide open in in 1st in about 1/2 a car length and about half a sec. At the strip, I only need to spin the tires enough to clean the dirt off of them and can go WFO as soon as I launch.
3. Put it in drive and just let it shift for you. No real speed advantage in the paddles at the strip.
4. Use best tires money can buy and if worn, replace them.
5. You can play with tire pressures. But be careful, once I had a rear do a rapid deflation when I pulled a burnout and caught traction suddenly in 1st gear. Poof, zero air. No puncture. Best we can tell the Pirelli spun on the rim and lost air pressure. Strange? So don't go too low as it might bite you.
6. Don't patty cake the launch if you know your up against a comparable car. It is a balance. At the strip a good jump without redlight is considered a mark of high driver skill. On a street race it is bad form and cheating to jump the start. But there is nothing wrong with quickly and aggressively getting on it once the "Go Signal" has been given. Now if you are highly confident in your ride, you can be generous and give the jump to your mark but just remember that 3/10ths second lead at 10 mph is ~4 ft but at 110 mph it is closer to 48 ft. So don't give up much. If you can judge 1/10 sec vs 3/10 sec you are better than me, lol. Quick as a cat is a good thing here. Often, I will give the guy the chance to get his front axle even with my front bumper just so he cannot claim I jumped the start. But I know what most cars with turn 0-60 and if I know I am up against a faster car, I am more agressive. Or, I tuck tail and go home. I've done both over the years. Mostly in Guadalahara.
02-12-2009, 08:25 PM
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CLS, SLK, ETC
Launching these cars is tough on a good day. Exponetially harder in the cold or on dirty streets from winter weather. Losing even a few tenths at the line is huge on topend and makes your car look slower as a 3/10th sec time gap gets larger with higher speed.
Example: I dragged a Z28 at the strip. We ran identical ET's (within 1/10th), but since I cut a 3/10 quicker light off the line, My car seemed to be slowly walking away from him on the topend and I was 2-3 cars more or less ahead at the finish. It looked like I was pulling away despite having identical trap speeds. It looked that way cause I beat him at the start.
If you spin more than the other guy off the line it is the same affect as him cutting a better light at the dragstrip, in affect he is getting a jump on you. It takes more power to overcome that handicap.
To better launch:
1. Good burn out to heat the tires. If you are not at the drag strip and on a street with no rubber laid down it is more important to get some heat in the tires. Smoke em.
2. C55 has too much torque to just mash the throttle with ESP off. Still, I think turning off the trac control is still better. If the rear tires are spinning, you need to modulate the throttle with your foot to reduce the wheel spin. I run a lightly modded C32 and I roll into it about 1/3 to 1/2 throttle trying to keep only mild wheel spin until the car rolls about 1 car length, then I feed in more throttle with the goal to be full throttle before and zero wheel spin (or very little) before the shift to 2nd. If you spin it up hard in 1st, it will shift to 2nd or even 3rd and just sit their smoking the tires. I know, I've done it, lol. That will kill your drive. So strive to get to redline in first with no wheel spin. That insures the max speed when 2nd is engaged. Usually if you get the first parts right, there will be little or no wheel spin in 2nd, but that depends on lots of variables. A little is OK but massive spin is bad. Usually if traction is good, I can go wide open in in 1st in about 1/2 a car length and about half a sec. At the strip, I only need to spin the tires enough to clean the dirt off of them and can go WFO as soon as I launch.
3. Put it in drive and just let it shift for you. No real speed advantage in the paddles at the strip.
4. Use best tires money can buy and if worn, replace them.
5. You can play with tire pressures. But be careful, once I had a rear do a rapid deflation when I pulled a burnout and caught traction suddenly in 1st gear. Poof, zero air. No puncture. Best we can tell the Pirelli spun on the rim and lost air pressure. Strange? So don't go too low as it might bite you.
6. Don't patty cake the launch if you know your up against a comparable car. It is a balance. At the strip a good jump without redlight is considered a mark of high driver skill. On a street race it is bad form and cheating to jump the start. But there is nothing wrong with quickly and aggressively getting on it once the "Go Signal" has been given. Now if you are highly confident in your ride, you can be generous and give the jump to your mark but just remember that 3/10ths second lead at 10 mph is ~4 ft but at 110 mph it is closer to 48 ft. So don't give up much. If you can judge 1/10 sec vs 3/10 sec you are better than me, lol. Quick as a cat is a good thing here. Often, I will give the guy the chance to get his front axle even with my front bumper just so he cannot claim I jumped the start. But I know what most cars with turn 0-60 and if I know I am up against a faster car, I am more agressive. Or, I tuck tail and go home. I've done both over the years. Mostly in Guadalahara.
Example: I dragged a Z28 at the strip. We ran identical ET's (within 1/10th), but since I cut a 3/10 quicker light off the line, My car seemed to be slowly walking away from him on the topend and I was 2-3 cars more or less ahead at the finish. It looked like I was pulling away despite having identical trap speeds. It looked that way cause I beat him at the start.
If you spin more than the other guy off the line it is the same affect as him cutting a better light at the dragstrip, in affect he is getting a jump on you. It takes more power to overcome that handicap.
To better launch:
1. Good burn out to heat the tires. If you are not at the drag strip and on a street with no rubber laid down it is more important to get some heat in the tires. Smoke em.
2. C55 has too much torque to just mash the throttle with ESP off. Still, I think turning off the trac control is still better. If the rear tires are spinning, you need to modulate the throttle with your foot to reduce the wheel spin. I run a lightly modded C32 and I roll into it about 1/3 to 1/2 throttle trying to keep only mild wheel spin until the car rolls about 1 car length, then I feed in more throttle with the goal to be full throttle before and zero wheel spin (or very little) before the shift to 2nd. If you spin it up hard in 1st, it will shift to 2nd or even 3rd and just sit their smoking the tires. I know, I've done it, lol. That will kill your drive. So strive to get to redline in first with no wheel spin. That insures the max speed when 2nd is engaged. Usually if you get the first parts right, there will be little or no wheel spin in 2nd, but that depends on lots of variables. A little is OK but massive spin is bad. Usually if traction is good, I can go wide open in in 1st in about 1/2 a car length and about half a sec. At the strip, I only need to spin the tires enough to clean the dirt off of them and can go WFO as soon as I launch.
3. Put it in drive and just let it shift for you. No real speed advantage in the paddles at the strip.
4. Use best tires money can buy and if worn, replace them.
5. You can play with tire pressures. But be careful, once I had a rear do a rapid deflation when I pulled a burnout and caught traction suddenly in 1st gear. Poof, zero air. No puncture. Best we can tell the Pirelli spun on the rim and lost air pressure. Strange? So don't go too low as it might bite you.
6. Don't patty cake the launch if you know your up against a comparable car. It is a balance. At the strip a good jump without redlight is considered a mark of high driver skill. On a street race it is bad form and cheating to jump the start. But there is nothing wrong with quickly and aggressively getting on it once the "Go Signal" has been given. Now if you are highly confident in your ride, you can be generous and give the jump to your mark but just remember that 3/10ths second lead at 10 mph is ~4 ft but at 110 mph it is closer to 48 ft. So don't give up much. If you can judge 1/10 sec vs 3/10 sec you are better than me, lol. Quick as a cat is a good thing here. Often, I will give the guy the chance to get his front axle even with my front bumper just so he cannot claim I jumped the start. But I know what most cars with turn 0-60 and if I know I am up against a faster car, I am more agressive. Or, I tuck tail and go home. I've done both over the years. Mostly in Guadalahara.
We prolly stopped around 100-110mph.. .
Jg26,
Nice write up! I'm not use to lauching a c55.. Although I did have good experiences from manual Supra / RX7... Our TC is very tricky and cold weather def didn't help either...
I prolly will reduce the pressure to 24ish... That should be safe enough...
Thanks again guys.. I'll post the outcome later on
