lbE55

It made me appreciate the skill of some of the other E55 owners here.

And no, I don't have a video; I was by myself. Lady Wolf failed -- again -- to show up with her videocam.

I had never been to a track before, so I have no way of knowing if the track was properly prepared. Los Angeles County Raceway. 2710 ft elevation; 86 degrees. I made about eight runs, all in the 13's and around 110-113 mph. I was a little disappointed. However, there were a couple of corvettes there that seem to be running under 100. As far as street cars, mine seemed to be the fastest and received the most attention. Though, there were a number of bad a$$ cars that came in on trailers, running in the 11's and a couple in the 10's.

Anyway, I couldn't seem to get a good launch. Tried it with ESP on and off (off I just seemed to spin). I would normally do a short burnout with my new PS's (I did a longer one, but it didn't seem to help). It also seems to me that I get a better launch on a regular street -- does this indicate that the track was not properly prepared? Also, with all that rubber on the track, is the track slicker (bad) or stickier (good) than the average street?

I am including (if I can figure out how to upload) a picture of one of my better runs. Alot of it is gibberish to me -- like the I1, I2, and I3. I would welcome anyone's comments and suggestions based on my time slip.

Thanks.

dgussin1

I was there tonight in my cobra...I saw you make a slower pass...I wish I would have known it was you. Too bad. I was getting 1.7 60' on drag radials tonight, but I had to do a long *** burnout.

My car was running crappy times too. I was down 5mph and 5 tenths in the 1/8th compared to Irwindale and I barely got into the 11's. I was on my street tune.

Oh btw LACR is probably the worst track in the country. lol

I am heading to Fomoso in Bakersfield next Friday if you'd like to tag along. It's the only good track we have in SoCal. I should be running some low 11's there...you should be able to get close to 12.30's.

DerekFSU

Defer to Dgussin on track prep but not the E times. There are some folks here who run incredible times with their E. These cars, like most, can vary rather widely from car to car. While my best time bone stock was a 12.33, it was a consistent 12.5 car at 100 elevation all day long.

It's your 60ft time of 2.3 that is killing you. How are you doing a long burnout without being in dyno mode? IMO, burnouts are PS2's aren't going to do anything. Some folks may disagree but it is not that type of tire, wrong compound. On those tires, you should drive around the water box and then punch it one time with ESP off to just clean them off. Then, put ESP right back on.

Your best times are going to come with ESP on, power load to 1000+ rpms, go about 50% throttle on the start, ease into it smoothly and quickly to where you are WOT (wide open throttle) by around 30 mph. With any half decent track prep, you'll be able to go WOT earlier. It's about figuring out at what point your car is going to break traction and then getting almost to that point at all times IMO. Your trap speeds are no different than most of my stock trap speeds.

As for your reaction time, just know that it matters not for your time. Your time starts when you break the staging light beams. However, the simple rule I try to remember is SEE the first yellow, SEE the second yellow, DON'T see the third yellow. I try and time my acceleration right when I think the third yellow is going to hit.

As for the timeslip:
I1= 60' time (this is the single most important number other than your et IMO)
I2= 330' time
I3= 1/8 mile time
MPH (I3)= your speed at the 1/8 mile point
I4= 990' time (your 75% to the finish line)

ERINIC

My first run ever in 90 degree heat in Orl. Fl was 12.89 stock. My next runs were consistant with yours because of engine heat my guess. Most tell me that in the winter, about 1/2 a sec can come off the time just because of the heat. I also think we will get better at launching and shave some time that way. I bet the first couple of times were a severe rush - something that keeps us from concentrating on the technical aspects of our race. I hope you had fun - these seem to be expected times for the weather conditions and experience level.

Jakpro1

Yeah, just looks like you were really struggling to get her to hook up outta the hole. Sounds like bad track to me.

If you run at Bakersfield and have the same problem, you are definitely getting too much wheel spin which is a common problem.

As Derek always points out....Drag Radials make a world of difference even without LSD....but that opens up a whole nuther can-o-worms about driving on them...should you buy another set of rims etc....

If you just wanted to see what she would do and not serious bout racing er all the time.....maybe try what some of the other guys do. Start her almost from idle and gently but quickly work it up to full throttle. As you learned last night, the adrenaline gets pumping and when you hear the guy next to you with a 3500rpm stall....it somehow just makes you wanna mash it off the line. Only way I see that possible is with LSD and Draggers.

On a more positive note.....here are some of the cars you would have beat back in the greatest muscle car period of our time.....til now.

Average 1/4 times bone stock.

1970 Hemi Cuda with 426 Hemi...yeah the old GOOD hemi....13.10
1970 Chevelle SS 454 LS6 WITH 3.55 gears.......13.12
1970 Buick GS Stage 1 with 455.....13.38

This wil pi$$ a few off...but just repeating numbers.

1992 Viper RT/10......13.1

It's all good.....ya did great.

numbers taken from musclecarclub.com

enzom

Don't take this the wrong way, but that 60 foot time is awful. Tells me that the track was not well-prep'd. On top of that, your DA must have been extremely crappy at 2,700 ft. elevation and 86 degrees. A poorly prep'd track and horrible DA will always make you run like crap.


Derek's launch technique is spot on.

lbE55

Everyone: thanks for the input.

dgussin1: The track radio station kept crapping out on me, I apologize, you must have been the fastest street car there. Didn't that brand new blue corvette (still had dealer tags) seem awfully slow (under 100 mph I think)? Thanks, but I can't do Bakersfield. How does California Raceway compare to LACR? (I'm looking for a more local track.)

DerekFSU and Jackpro: Thank you very much for the advice. I could tell I was doing something wrong on the launch. Being my first time, I was excited and was probably having trouble concentrating. I think that my (now) obvious mistake was that I was mashing it off the line with the ESP on. For some reason, I thought that I should just simply floor it with the ESP on -- never tried less than WOT from the start. I did try to feather it with the ESP off, but couldn't get it right and would just spin.

enzom: please, no offense taken. I asked for input and appreciate the guidance. I'm going to think about (and study) the comments and try it again.

BMWEATR

most guys in corvettes can't drive them thats why it seemed slow, last week a brand new c6 was doing high 13's! pretty ****ty!, but thats why there slow its the drivers, and tires.

dgussin1

Fontana is better, but it's still one hell of a drive.

LACR is seriously the worst track ever. The DA sucks and they rarely ever prep past the 60' mark. Being in the middle of the desert and having dirt blown on the track doesn't help much either. The next time you go, try and follow one of the cars that does a huge burnout and lays some rubber down. Ease into the throttle and dont mash it too much. I've taken my dad's E55 there when it was stock and barely got into the 12's. That track is the :v

Here is a sample from a friend of mine...these are his best runs at 5 tracks in his 420whp cobra. He was there last night on his bike, running 11.70's. He has run LACR probably 300x more than the other tracks...he was at Famoso once, and Fontana quite a few times. As you can see, 3 tenths and 3mph are given up just because of the DA, the track prep doesn't effect him as much because of his et streets...but you get the drift.



I think you should make the drive out with us next friday...it's only about 2 hours away with no traffic. We are going to leave around 12.

dgussin1

oh, and the C6 was running 14.5's @ 99 from what I saw. My buddy in his basically stock 300whp 03 Mach 1 with tires was running 12.7's @ 107.

lbE55

dgussin1: I appreciate the invitation. However, there is some business that I must attend to that Friday.