Back at the raceway with Dink and my son, mini-Vomit (age 8, going on 18), and Dink's most pleasant girlfriend, Tina. We had a great time, driver and spectator alike.

Both D&V had new rear tires (Dink GS-D3, Vomit T-1s). Best time was Vomit with a 13.2@109 with a 2.2 second 60 foot time (13.199 @ 108.89 to be exact). This is with 245 rears at stock tire pressure and no "tire heating." Given the rather lame 60 foot time, is it possible that the Vomitmobile would break into the twelves with slicks?

Some conclusions: Don't go to the strip with worn Pirellis. Both Dink and I were amazed at the traction difference with the new tires. My inclination is that Pirellis are sheety "off the line" traction tires, new or used.

Contrary to previous comments, trap speeds stayed constant (or even increased) with better quarter mile times.

For those of you who doubt the inexperience factor and its ability to turn a fast car into a slug: There was a guy there who had rented a 2000 Viper for the day. Was having lots of trouble hooking up and shifting. He ran mostly high 13s and low 14s.

Kills: 93? (old body style) Z28 with 5.7 litre (he said it was stock, but it ran a 13.9?); 500E MBZ with nitrous (he lost traction badly, it would've been close otherwise); Ponitac GTP supercharged (by a mile); '72 Ranchero thumper with slicks (by two cars); bunch of souped Hondas and Acuras.

Killed By: Gutted, not-street-legal 2000 Camaro SS which runs 10.5s (duh). Actually jumped him off the line (love those Toyos), and then it got ugly.

There was a stock '04 Cobra hardtop there. His times were almost identical to mine. Kept trying to get lined up with him and failing. Damn!

I found that I can take my car up to 2000 rpms while holding the left foot on the brake. This gave me the best launch.

Question: When you press the "Econ" (or something like that) on your air conditioning control, does it shut the compressor off? I thought that it did, but then I noticed in performing an informal speed contest with Dink on the way to the strip that my car seemed to be surging/bucking very slightly under hard acceleration. As soon as I shut the A/C system down entirely (by turning the fan off), the bucking stopped.

 

Congrats!

And, in my book, a 13.199 is a 13.1! hehehehhe

With ease.

It is supposed to.

 

The owner of this 500E should have his car removed from his ownership for NO 500E should run nitrous! That is most likely the finest, most developed sport sedan built by MB between 1986 and 2004 and he put Nitrous on it? Oh dear...

As for your runs in the C32's I agree the GS-D3's are great tires. They had far more stick than my worn Pirelli Rossos as well and they were better than new Pilot Sports. Glad you had fun!

 

The AC compressor is NEVER totally off if the ventilation system is in an active position (turn it off by pushing the fan speed down until the screen reads "O"). If the fan speed is not set to "O" the compressor still is working at around 5% efficiency. This does slow the car and can make it lurch. I know my C32 would do this same item when the HVAC system was on during warm days.


Furthermore, it was abnormally warm in the "Valley" driving back from Easter family gatherings today (not sure about in SD or Carlsbad) and the E500 felt sluggish with the AC compressor on and off. Anything over 85 degrees and MB's start to lose some power. The E55k, however, was blindingly fast today. I love the toll roads in orange county for I could not think of a better reason to race your E55 0-110 3x in a row other than paying a 1.75 toll . I love empty Freeways but they are a dying bread here in California.

 

Great times guys! You would be well into the 12's with some drag radials and/or slicks. Expect your 60' to be around 1.8 or so with a GOOD launch -- so a 13.1 minus a few .10's will put you into the 12's for sure...

I have owned mine for 7 days now and I am amazed at the power of this car. Being that I drive my Viper as much as possible, it's fun to get into my "daily driver" and still go FAST!

 

Hey Vomit, arn't you suppose to be running 12's without a doubt with your evosport mods? What gives?

 

I may be wrong on this, but there are few (if any) people with Evo stage I mods who are into the 12s with stock tires. What are your best stage I (Renntech or Evo) times/speeds people? (and was it with 245s, 255s, 265s or slicks)? I wonder what Vadim or Simonlam (who both seem to have very fast cars) run?

Remember also, inexperience is a huge factor. This was only my second time at the strip. I'm fairly certain that, under ideal conditions (cool day, etc.), a professional driver could break into the 12s with my car, even with stock tires.

 

sounds like you had a much better experience this time at the track than you did last time. The more you go, the better you know your car.

Those are pretty good times, a 13.199 can easily break into high 12's.

 

One word: Tires.

Pirellis are terrible launch tires. The Toyos are great launch tires, and I think that Dink feels the same way about his GS-D3s.

 

Congrats guys! sorry I couldnt come with you guys. I just got the car back. I believe i am going next sat though if you guys want to go again...

 

Hey Nima:

May take you up on that for Saturday. Just (yesterday) changed the plugs and wires on the beast. . . feels a little faster up on the very top of the RPMs. What a knucklebuster of a task (two hours), especially the driver-side plugs and especially, especially the plug all the way in the back on the driver-side. Now I understand why Evo charges a couple hundred for the labor. Next time I can probably knock it out in 1/2 hour, but the first time was a pain.

Didn't you hit a 12.6 or something of the sort with stock tires? 245/255/265? What is your "average" quarter? What is your average quarter at Carlsbad (common opinion seems to be that Carlsbad is a relatively slow venue with bad traction)? I seemed to be averaging 13.3@108 with 2.2-2.3 60 foot times, which did not thrill me, but wasn't a complete embarrassment either. If I can get that 60 foot time down below 2, I would be pleased.

What did you get done to your car?

Keep me posted on your plans for Saturday.

 

Vomit--

Did you change out Plugs & Wires with EvoSport stuff or OEM?

 

Neither. Magnecor 8.5 mm wires from Apex Performance-$125.00 for the set of 12 wires. Perfect fit. Used Denso Iridium IK 16 plugs from LTB (or something like that-search "Denso Iridium" and they are the first or second hit) Motorsports-$130.00 for the set of 12.

1. If you are not mechanically inclined, pay someone to do the plugs/wires. If you decide to do it, here is what the school of "hard knocks" taught me:

2. Make sure that you have a few short (2"-4") socket extensions. You will need them.

3. Remove the plastic pulley/engine cover by lifting up on it until the clips disengage.

4. Remove the six star screws on each airbox cover. Loosen the hose clamps holding the airbox plumbing to the Y splitter on the back of the engine. Remove both airboxes and ducting.

5. Start with the driver side, because you don't want tired hands when trying to get to that last plug in the back. Use a pair of channel locks to grip the wires and pull them off of the plugs and the ignition modules. They are hard to remove, especially from the plugs. Just remember that you will be throwing the old wires away, so don't worry about yanking pretty hard. Remove all of the old plug wires and plugs before starting to install the new plugs. Be "open-minded" about how to position the ratchet for each plug removal/install. Some plugs are easier to do with the ratchet handle pointing up, some pointing down. Some with the ratchet pointing towards the back of the car, some towards the front.

6. Install all of the new plugs on one side before starting to install the new wires (so the new wires are not in the way while you are trying to install the new plugs) Take note of the routing of the plug wires: Each ignition module handles two plug wires; the top one goes on the plug towards the front of the car. The bottom one goes on the plug more towards the rear of the car. Be very careful not to drop anything, as it will fall into the plastic pan under the engine and will be a pain to retrieve.

6. If you have probs, email me.

 

Vomit--

Thanks for the reponse. I was pretty sure I had looked at magnecore wires and that they did not make a wire for the C32. I will have to go double check.

 

nima never tells you what he has in the car... that ******* always won't let everyone know his secret!

 

Congrats on your times!

When launching, you bring your revs up to 2000 and ease in to it or do you hammer it?

When racing my vette, I always have to ease into it or it spins.

Now I have the itch to take the C32 to the track. Can you post your 1/8 mile times and mph. I want something to compare it 2!

 

I try to ease it in, but I think that I am still jumping on it a little too hard (quite a bit of wheelspin until car hits 2nd). I am actually toying with the idea of moving the 245 Toyos up to the front, and putting 255s on the back. Would 255/35/17s fit on 17x8 wheels?

I will post my 1/8 speed later today. Slip is down in the car, and I'm too freeging lazy to go get it.

 

255 should work fine on a 8 inch rim. You will need to lower the tire pressure to around 18-20 psi to get the full contact patch. Plus they will flex when you launch hard. Should be able to get a 1.9 to 2.0 easily.

 

Will be same as the C320 M112 motor

 

Detailed time of best run is as follows:

Reaction .682
60 ft. 2.128
330 ft. 5.703
1/8 ET 8.629
1/8 MPH 83.77
1/4 ET 13.199
1/4 MPH 108.82

Made a little discovery today. Put the car in "W" mode and stomped on it, expecting a lag and slow, linear acceleration. What I got was an enormous, smokey burnout. I thought maybe I was on slippery pavement, so I tried it again in a different spot. Same result. Is this normal? If the C32 is capable of breaking loose the rears in 2nd, shouldn't we launch in "W" mode at the drag strip?

 

no good to loose out on 1st gear, 1/4 mile times are very dependent on how powerful your 1 and 2 gears are.

2nd gear is definetely powerful enough to break loose...i can spin them everytime I get on the gas from a light...3rd gear will cause the esp light to flash as well (with ESP off), indicating wheel spin

 

You can try 2nd gear but I your time will be worse as well as your mph.

Remember that it is alot harder on the motor and tranny to launch in 2nd. I did that in my vette and fried my clutch packs.

Vomit:

Thanks for the info.

 

Vomit, You are more than likely starting out in 1st gear even though you are in W mode. My understanding is that it will only start out in 2nd gear with light throttle in W mode.

You could probably confirm this by putting gear selector in 2nd and try your burn out again and see if the tranny upshifts.

 

next time you guy go pm me, I live in Newport so I am kinda close..
I wanna run too

 

What about this Saturday? Dink, Nima, anyone else? In any case, sounds good Vader. Track opens at 11:00 AM. There is a good Starbucks knock-off in the shopping center right next to the track entrance. Meet there at 10:30?

My wife is right in the middle of law school finals, so she and I both really want me out of the house. My kid is already bugging me to go back. . . he was totally fascinated by the whole process.