So I tried out drag racing for the first time. Bought my 2005 e55 recently with around 55,000 miles and wanted to try it out. I have some non-performance oriented Continentals on stock wheels right now so I figured my 60' times would not be the greatest.

I had the dampening set on comfort, transmission set on sport, and left the line with the revs around 1100 rpm. I didn't do a burnout prior to any of the runs, and was in the staging lanes with the car idling most of the time for around 30 min wait for each run. Had the traction control on, and floored it from the line. Had 3/4 of a tank of gas.

Kind of disappointed as I thought I'd be in the 12's. My thoughts for my next runs in a couple weeks are:
1. Rolling onto the throttle instead of flooring the pedal from the start.
2. Going with a quarter tank or less.
3. Shutting the car down and rolling it in neutral thru the staging lanes.

Getting a service done at the dealership prior to going as well. I figured being stock my trap speeds should be around 112-118mph from my lurking and researching on this site and others. I was pretty consistently running around 107mph as shown below.

Thoughts are either the car was pulling a lot of power due to TC and me mashing the pedal from the start. Or else possible higher IATs due to an intercooler pump not working at optimal efficiency. Going to test the pump and get some IAT numbers in the next few days.

Any thoughts/advice/concerns from you knowledgeable gentlemen would be greatly appreciated!

Density altitude calculator came in at 1880 ft. I'm car #255 below.



Thanks for checking it out!

 

Sitting with the car running for long period of time is just going to heat soak the crap out of everything. Definitely don't want to have it running for 30 minutes in the staging lane, that right there will kill you. Then weather will have a good amount of affect as well and with a 1800ft air density that is going to take power away. Those 2 things combined are going to hurt you quite a bit.

 

Cool, well I'll hope for nicer weather in a couple weeks and make sure if there's a wait to shut it down and push it thru the staging lanes. Thanks!

 

i wouldnt mess around get some tires too. my first pass in the car was 11.9

 

What was the temperature that day?

 

It was around 68, with 21% humidity and 30.01 in pressure. Punched it in at dragtimes to get the density altitude.

 

Add drag radials, hoosiers if you can, make sure your I/C pump is functioning normally, and not dead, and watch for good weather. Those small changes should put you in the high 11s on a good track.

 

+1 on pretty much everything said above...

We all start somewhere! You'll only get better!

 

Right on Yeah car #254 up there is my buddy's 2011 S4, and he was talking a lot of smack so I'm trying to see what I can do to make sure to beat him next time ha. His best run that night was a 13.27, so I figured with a little more practice I should be able to be a lot quicker than that.

 

Those are not healthy times for a stock car. Do a nice tuneup (IC pump, SC belt, plugs, filters)reset all the adaptations after that, get some good tires and you have your low 12's maybe even high 11s

 

 

Check your I/C pump for sure and a aftermarket heat exchanger will make all the difference in the world!

 

Dont fret......
Perhaps since your DA is 1800ft above sea level may explain why your car turned in what your think are poor times? The first give away was your buddys 2011 S4 which is supercharged. Granted it has AWD but under ideal circumstances should be doing high 12's.

Ive looked at other cars and they are just as slow
For instance a v10 m5 turned out a 13.8 1/4 mile time on street tires. A gallardo turned out a 12.8 1/4 mile time with e gear.

Maybe try another track where your a lot closer to the ground.
Also aren't you guys on 91 octane?

 

Agreed on the IC pump; but there are high 10 sec E55s running the stock HE. An aftermarket HE is better for recovery but won't help much on drag strip times.

STICKY REAR TIRES A MUST!!! They would cut a 1/2 sec or more based on your 60'