Taking my car to a drag strip for the 1st time - need advice
 

Hi guys,

I'm taking my 04 CL55 to a drag strip for the first time. Are there any best practices you can share ?
Should I keep both transmission & ABC in sport mode ? What about launch techniques ?
My CL is completely stock, what time should I expect for 1/4 mile ?

Thanks for your input !

I asked the same thing when I first got my baby too hahah

https://mbworld.org/forums/cl55-amg-...aunch-car.html

this might help, if not sorry...never took my car to the track before but I definitely want to.

My bet is that it will run 12.40-12.60 if it is completely stock on a track near sea level with reasonable weather. Transmission in sport for sure and ABC in comfort/convenience mode. You can lower your tire pressure to around 26psi to help with the contact patch. Go around the water if possible and don't do a "John Force" burnout with street tires. Just heat them a little and go to the line and try it out. Brake torque a little above idle and gently squeeze the throttle and then go to wide open. No abrupt slap to the floor with the throttle or you will be disappointed as the car will probably spin. Go when you see the last amber light and you will be fine. Clock starts when the car moves and not when the light turns green so don't worry that much about reaction time. Hope this helps.

Looks like you've got two great answers here. Take out the heavy spare tire and get it down to a quarter of a tank for those last few hundredths of a second savings, then let us know how it goes!

Looks like you have a few great tips to start with. Let me add some more, since I had zero help back on my first trip..lol

1) Air up front tires to max.
2) 26-27 PSI is a great number for rear street tires
3) Run in sport mode or with our CL`s you can run in Manual and it will shift on its own anyway. This gives you more RPM at shifts in M.. (A trick I learned and have not talked about).
4) Lift suspension all the way and run in sport mode on suspension.
5) Let engine cool for about 30-45 minutes and face car into wind , while at rest.
6) Take out floor mats, spare, trunk mat and even drain your water out of your windshield squirters.
7) Another issue with our CL`s, is torque mgt. This makes is damn hard to warm tires, to get good launch.. Even with street tires, you need to smoke them up to get them sticky. So, that means you will need to back near the water to get around the damn TQ MGT. issues. Get the tires hot and do not be affraid of smoking them up!

Good luck! I ran 11.76 on my first run with just a pulley. (no tune or anything else).

reasons for #4, and #5?

you are talking about the ABC button on my console correct? lights up twice?

You guys are great, thanks a lot for the feedback. I feel like ready to go now :-)