Launching with Drag Radials

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Sep 30, 2011 | 04:20 AM
  #1  
Wondering if some of you Drag Gurus can chime in (Loco, scratch and few more lol)

Suggestions on best way to launch on DR's?

Burn out, in the water box? Or get tires wet and burn out, outside waterbox?
Duration of burnout?
Launch: Hold brake, and gas to ????RPM, and than just let go brake and mash gas? Either it hooks or it doesn't. (Quoting somebody... lol)

Thanks guys
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Sep 30, 2011 | 08:02 AM
  #2  
Quote: Wondering if some of you Drag Gurus can chime in (Loco, scratch and few more lol)

Suggestions on best way to launch on DR's?

Burn out, in the water box? Or get tires wet and burn out, outside waterbox?
Duration of burnout?
Launch: Hold brake, and gas to ????RPM, and than just let go brake and mash gas? Either it hooks or it doesn't. (Quoting somebody... lol)

Thanks guys
Never do the burnout in the water box, roll around the box then back into it enough to get your rear tires wet (or a section of the tires wet) then pull up a few feet, turn off the traction control, put it in 1st or 2nd and then let her rip & just when you see the tires producing some pretty good smoke roll out of the burnout hot! turn the traction control back on and stage however you like deep or shallow bring revs up to about 900, wait for the 3rd light then catipult when you are ready. If the track prep is decent and you get the proper amount of heat in the tires she will hook. You will need to smaaassssh the pedal rather than stomp the pedal.


Good Luck!
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Sep 30, 2011 | 10:53 AM
  #3  
Quote: Never do the burnout in the water box, roll around the box then back into it enough to get your rear tires wet (or a section of the tires wet) then pull up a few feet, turn off the traction control, put it in 1st or 2nd and then let her rip & just when you see the tires producing some pretty good smoke roll out of the burnout hot! turn the traction control back on and stage however you like deep or shallow bring revs up to about 900, wait for the 3rd light then catipult when you are ready. If the track prep is decent and you get the proper amount of heat in the tires she will hook. You will need to smaaassssh the pedal rather than stomp the pedal.


Good Luck!
I did try all of the above except turning traction back on..I had no issues running dyno mode so traction was disabled. Shallow stage, inch your way in after the first yellow comes on and once the second yellow blinks you are there. Then, you can try smashing pedal from idle or try powerbraking to about 1000rpms and get some slack off that throttle. Try both and see what helps better. Burnout is key!! wait for the car next to you to stage first so you dont have to wait after burnout, causing rubber to cool off.

Dont forget to raise suspension and keep on comfort

Neck brace is mandatory if you follow these steps
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Sep 30, 2011 | 11:43 AM
  #4  
I concur with the above. Get them nice and smoky and roll up to the light and go as quickly as possible to keep them hot. I find 16PSi in my hoosiers works well for a dead hook with good track prep power braking up to 1100 rpm
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Sep 30, 2011 | 03:17 PM
  #5  
repeat, drive around waterbox and back in then pull out. NEVER burnout in the waterbox. burnout long enough to see good smoke and ride the burnout up to the line. i ussually don't turn esp back on and i never bring the rpms up above idle. just slam the gas at the same time i release the brake.
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Sep 30, 2011 | 10:36 PM
  #6  
So doing a burnout in s1 goes to s2 than bogs out. Any help. Should I try m mode?
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Sep 30, 2011 | 10:37 PM
  #7  
Best so far 12.14 @ 117, 1.98 60ft lol

Toyo tq drag radials
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Sep 30, 2011 | 10:51 PM
  #8  
I dead hooked on my first run after a good burnout. Second time I was so amped about the hook that I mashed the throttle after a below average burnout and went up in smoke at launch. I've seemed to have maxed at a 1.79 60 ft
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Oct 1, 2011 | 04:22 AM
  #9  
Quote: Best so far 12.14 @ 117, 1.98 60ft lol

Toyo tq drag radials
Best for the night... Could NOT hook at all... 2.xx+ wtf, so much for drag radials, or I just cant drive lol...

It was about 57 degrees out, kinda of chilly... bad prep, cold track didnt help I guess?
Reply 0
Oct 1, 2011 | 09:21 AM
  #10  
Definitely left a lot on the table, if you pulled a 1.75 or even lower would have been different story ..sometimes you cant fight a bad prep anyways. Bit of trial and error is just all part of it. Next time do it on dyno mode and see how you do. what tire pressure were you on?
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Oct 1, 2011 | 09:28 AM
  #11  
For some, power braking doesnt work and that includes me!! but have had exceptions:

Take a look at this launch and notice there's powerbraking


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1Vdr4KAZgE
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Oct 1, 2011 | 11:11 AM
  #12  
Why raised suspension and Comfort?
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Oct 1, 2011 | 12:04 PM
  #13  
Quote: Why raised suspension and Comfort?
Suspension is softer, allows for better weight transfer
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Oct 1, 2011 | 01:50 PM
  #14  
I launch with the suspension at normal ride height and shock setting on 1. This works for and the way I way I launch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gy4eo...76075&index=38


Ignore the crappy burnout as there was only like 2 cups of water in the burnout box and I couldn't get the slippage needed to break the DR's loose (that's how sticky MT's are) but settings are normal ride height, 900 rpm, shock setting on 1. This was shot by some random guy and I found it on YouTube.


The exhaust you hear is from that beast in the left lane. Gotta love AMG a nice quiet 11 sec 1/4
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Oct 1, 2011 | 03:39 PM
  #15  
Quote: Definitely left a lot on the table, if you pulled a 1.75 or even lower would have been different story ..sometimes you cant fight a bad prep anyways. Bit of trial and error is just all part of it. Next time do it on dyno mode and see how you do. what tire pressure were you on?
I managed to finally do a decent burnout in M mode in the water box and slide out of it... Otherwise out of the water box the car seems to just die after going from 1st to 2nd gear...

I initially started with 15psi. Tires (275/40/17), and worked it down to 10psi even as per suggestions of some people.

Quote: For some, power braking doesnt work and that includes me!! but have had exceptions:

Take a look at this launch and notice there's powerbraking


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1Vdr4KAZgE
10 sec pass
I tried launching from 1000 rpm it made no difference. Maybe I should launch from 2k?

Quote: I launch with the suspension at normal ride height and shock setting on 1. This works for and the way I way I launch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gy4eo...76075&index=38


Ignore the crappy burnout as there was only like 2 cups of water in the burnout box and I couldn't get the slippage needed to break the DR's loose (that's how sticky MT's are) but settings are normal ride height, 900 rpm, shock setting on 1. This was shot by some random guy and I found it on YouTube.


The exhaust you hear is from that beast in the left lane. Gotta love AMG a nice quiet 11 sec 1/4
Nice pass! I should have experimented with suspension settings but left it in comfort, and raised.

Also these drags are new, somebody was mentioning something about heat cycling? When I was doing burnouts, out of the 4 times only saw smoke once lol wtf

Given my current et, trap, 60foot, with a 1.7 60' what kind of et should one expect?
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Oct 1, 2011 | 04:02 PM
  #16  
Quote: I managed to finally do a decent burnout in M mode in the water box and slide out of it... Otherwise out of the water box the car seems to just die after going from 1st to 2nd gear...

I initially started with 15psi. Tires (275/40/17), and worked it down to 10psi even as per suggestions of some people.



10 sec pass
I tried launching from 1000 rpm it made no difference. Maybe I should launch from 2k?



Nice pass! I should have experimented with suspension settings but left it in comfort, and raised.

Also these drags are new, somebody was mentioning something about heat cycling? When I was doing burnouts, out of the 4 times only saw smoke once lol wtf

Given my current et, trap, 60foot, with a 1.7 60' what kind of et should one expect?

Are 275's drag radials? If so you should have run 20-22 psi and do the burnout in 2nd also I wouldn't launch at anything higher than 900-1000 rpms. Try this take the slack out of the drivetrain and launch off idle. With a 1.7 you should find yourself in the 11.7-11.8 range based on your best et so far
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Oct 1, 2011 | 05:03 PM
  #17  
Hammer, yes the 275s are drag radials. Damn, next time Ill start with 25psi and work my way down? Loco would do you suggest?

I want to break 11s atleast lol
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Oct 1, 2011 | 05:13 PM
  #18  
Frustrating isn't it? More practice my brother. Everyone have a different way to drive. Just gotta find your own.
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Oct 1, 2011 | 05:30 PM
  #19  
Hella frustrating, and harder than it looks LOL
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Oct 1, 2011 | 05:33 PM
  #20  
tbal, i think you definitely need more psi. radial tires will cup in the center of the tread and give up a full contact patch if they are under inflated. the trick of lowwring psi is something that stems back several decades to bias ply tires with high profile sidewalls on lighter cars and it just doesn't work for radials, especially low profile radials.

i used to run 26 psi in my 16" d/r's and 36 in my 19" street tires and i don't know of many people that can say they've outperformed those settings.
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Oct 1, 2011 | 05:35 PM
  #21  
Thanks Mikey, sorry forgot to mention you aswell I will give that a go next. So low psi is wrong? Man these guys driving gt500s, and high hp mustangs were telling me this... lol
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Oct 1, 2011 | 05:41 PM
  #22  
Quote: Thanks Mikey, sorry forgot to mention you aswell I will give that a go next. So low psi is wrong? Man these guys driving gt500s, and high hp mustangs were telling me this... lol
with higher profile drag tires it still applies, with radials not so much. especially when we're talking about a 4300lbs car instead of a stripped out race car. imho, the heavy weight on an under inflated tire reduces the contact patch and you end up losing the race on the starting line.

i've run with the quickest s600 and sl65 (at the time) and we tried many things and came to this conclusion in spite of what all the "drag racers" were telling us about tire pressure.
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Oct 1, 2011 | 05:44 PM
  #23  
I guess that explains the garbage 60 foots...

At high speeds the low psi is pretty sketch aswell... lol
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Oct 1, 2011 | 07:09 PM
  #24  
You'll get 11s next time for sure!!!!!

on a side note, I cut a 1.911 60" on street tires pure fluke ran a 12.5 all stock

Need a bigger burnout tbal
Reply 0
Oct 1, 2011 | 07:41 PM
  #25  
Quote: Hammer, yes the 275s are drag radials. Damn, next time Ill start with 25psi and work my way down? Loco would do you suggest?

I want to break 11s atleast lol
Not familiar with the Toyo's as far as sidewall goes, but 10 psi is waay too low. The lowest i went on hossiers and M/Ts was 14psi but as Forrest said, everyone has to stick with whats best for them. All tracks are different when it comes to prep specially if its T&T not a private rental, and with the 60's in the 1.9s and on drag radials leads me to believe the track prep was poor. Running 10 psi was hurting your trap as well in case you didnt know..
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