waxking1

Its been a while since I've been to the the drag strip, but I decided to see how well my E55 would do.
I made several passes and my best time 12.451. My run with the highest trap speed was not the fastest but it was 114.42 mph. The trap speed was very consistent between 112 to 114 mph on all the runs.
I turned off the traction control on one run and turned a 13.2 but still had a 112 trap speed. The track was pretty slick.

My car is completely stock and on street tires.
I'm posting my times for my best runs below

R/T .353 .632
60 1.987 2.070
330 5.352 5.417
1/8 8.096 8.141
MPH 89.61 89.64
1000 10.465 10.494
1/4 12.451 12.466
MPH 113.74 114.42

I have the slips but I don't see any need to post them as these seem to be average times for the E55. I kinda felt like I was abusing the car, but I did have a lot of fun. I'll probably do a dyno soon for a baseline but I haven't decided which mods I want to do.

jangy

Abusing? Dude, I drive the E like that from light to light.

Nice run. Pretty nice when you are breaking 12.5 and just thinking it is "average", huh?

waxking1

It really is average for the E55. In this case average is very good.

2K6E55

Very nice run and nice numbers too.

Fikse

nice run.... put it in the database.... the more the better:


http://www.dragtimes.com/Mercedes-Be...ag-Racing.html

waxking1

Looking at Drag Times numbers on the E55, I notice there are several runs that have a similar trap speed as mine but are just above or below the 12 second mark. These runs seem to all have better 60 foot times( 1.8 or lower). I had trouble getting under 2.0 for 60 foot time. Are these cars just hooking up better due to track conditions or tires?

siswati

Waxking1

My launch advice for the E55 is as follows (and I am no expert but I do have several 1.7sec 60ft launches to my credit)....

rear tires 25 psi
fronts 40psi
1/2 fuel tank or less
drive around the water (the tread in your front street tires will track water to the launch)
ESP off
Comfort suspension setting
S mode tranny
1st gear
let the other guy do his burnout first and stage first - you want to arrive at the line with hot sticky tires
do a decent burnout to warm tires (several disagree with me on this saying it doesnt help street tires, but my 60ft times vary greatly depending on length of burnout)
make sure you re-select 1st gear again after burnout - it will have changed to 2nd possibly even 3rd or 4th!!!!!!!!
ESP off (after I learned how to launch, my runs became MUCH faster with ESP OFF)
left foot on brake, right foot on accelerator
1000 RPM pre-load
After light changes, when ready, foot of brake and roll on gas until rear sits and squats, - only when rear has squatted do you mat the accelerator
My advice in the beginning is to ignore the lights - only launch when you are calm ready and in control - ignore the guy next to you, let him go. Your ET only starts when you break the lights.

Good luck and with practice you will easily knock 3/10" of your ET (most of it in your 60ft time) giving you a 12.1 car (even if your car only traps 114 mph like mine did - I never got the 115-116mph others have got despite many runs in different conditions)

waxking1

siswati
Thanks for the tips. I had read some of these before but I forgot about the comfort suspension and I had a full tank of gas. I had the tire pressure right and I drove around the water. I had trouble with burnouts so I didn't do them.

If I were to get quicker 60 foot times(1.8s), would my trap speed still be the same?

Torquey55

You made some darn nice runs for a stock E55 as far as I'm concerned. I've only done a few 1/4 mile runs with mine (no drag racing experience at all) and I was consistently 12.5 - 12.6 @ 113 - 113.5 with the extra weight of my stereo system and 295 PS2 "wiggle". I really want to go again & experiment with a different setup like siswati recommends. I'm sure we can knock 2-3 10ths off with his method. Good job waxking!

PDC

I don't want to sound too "Pollyanna" here, and I stipulate that I may be a new enough E55 owner that I am not yet accustomed to the power these cars generate, but when you take a break from the aftermarket tuner "arms race" that we all know and love, isn't it really wild to have a bone-stock factory sedan for well under $70k (previously enjoyed, of course) that will consistently turn mid-12s??? Look at the test pages in the back of a Car and Driver or a Road and Track and count up the cars that are quicker than that -then look at the comparative prices and availability of those cars($!$)

I know there has been alot of scuttle-butt about about the factory re-flash and loss of power. I have no idea what's really going on there. It sounds like most folks who do experience power loss find that it gradually returns over the next 100 miles of "enthusiastic" driving after the adaptive settings have essentially re-adapted. I'm pretty sure my car was recall flashed before I bought it. Its an 05 with 8k miles. Its bone stock. I know this is pure anecdote, but today I was driving to work at a comfortable 25mph when I nailed it just for fun. The back end swung hard right with the traction control light blinking like a fire alarm! No, I haven't been to the dyno yet or the track for that matter, but I have never owned a car that would literally light 'em up from a 25-30 mph rolling start. Pretty cool! My 91 M5 never did that, neither did my 01 CLK55 and my garage queen 850 is like driving a very pretty cinder block! I know I'm rambling, but I really LOVE this car.

waxking1

Thanks Torquey55,
But as PDC pointed out, you are really complimenting my car, not me. I love my E55.

Even when driving normally(if thats possible) when I torque off from a stop it just feels and sounds great. You can feel the power at all times.

Torquey55

Every so often I reflect what an exclusive group I am part of. It really is amazing to know that on a day to day basis there is pretty much nothing on the road with 4 wheels that can touch me at least where I am from. These cars truly are amazing feats of engineering. I have been reading Car & Driver, Road & Track, etc. since I was a kid. I was always impressed by the road test summaries of exotics that could do 0-60 in 6 seconds flat and 13.5 sec 1/4 miles. Look at us now...simply awesome. Very well said PDC, nothing "Pollyanna" about it.

siswati

1. As we have recently discovered some 55k motors need to be in Dyno mode to do burnouts (my new CLS55) - some can do it with just the ESP off (like my old E55)

2. With a great 60ft (1.8 seconds or less) you should expect similar trap speeds, and in fact your trap speed might come down a tad (strange but true)

The day I ran my best ever ET (12.169) I had my best ever 60ft time (1.78) and I had my slowest trap speed of the day (111.4mph)

irishspeed

Hello, I just ran my 03 last night in Phoenix, at 82 degrees.. Best run was 12.7 at only 108.6 MPH??? 60 ft times were good then she sort of dies out.. I also just got Powerchip ECU upgrade, what should I do to see the 116 trap speeds???

waxking1

Your elevation is higher than mine. You are at about 1100 ft where I'm at about 400 ft above sea level. Your temperature was also much hotter than mine. I think it was around 50 degrees when I did my runs the other evening. Your trap speed still seems a little low, have you had the recall reflash on your ECU done?