Milan Dragway 08/12/09

[MCORegal]

For the first time this year, I made it to the track. I was hoping the weather would cool off, but it remained just a little too warm for optimal times.

Run# 1
2.092 13.425 @ 104.87 corrected (13.082 @ 107.69)

The car was still pretty hot, but there were only a few cars running so I had to make a pass. The tires were still at 34 psi and I forgot to pull fuse #11

Run #2
2.036 13.216 @ 108.95 corrected (12.919 @ 111.52)

After about an hour of cool down, some ice bags on the intake, the tires lowered to 28 psi and fuse #11 pulled

Run #3
1.994 13.059 @ 109.71 corrected (12.803 @ 111.96)

Another hour or so between runs sitting in the staging lanes. There were a couple of oil downs on the track and a few rain drops to delay action. This was my first sub 2.0 60 foot time!

Run #4
2.028 13.217 @ 108.74 corrected (12.958 @ 110.97)

Hot lapped with about 20 minutes to cool between runs. More cars breaking which seemed to be the story of the night. I was hoping to slip into the 12's with a good 60' but there is always the fall cool weather coming!


My 3rd run of the night was my favorite. I was lined us against a WS6 Trans Am on drag radials that had some work done including a $2,500 9 inch rear. He was having issues with his Nitto's but was still running mid 12's. I tried to convince him to start in second gear to give me a chance but he wouldn't bite! I cut a great light .0198 to his .4030 and managed to stay ahead until the finish beating his 12.83 @ 114.23. What a blast, I had never beaten a faster car before!

One quick question for the experts. When icing the intake, do you simply place the ice bags on the aluminum or do you wrap them in a towel to keep any water from leaking onto the engine? I tried it both ways and thought directly on the intake was more effective, but there was a lot of water created as the ice melted. Any thoughts or recommendations?

Thanks!

[srt8man]

Those are some very good runs! Based on everything I've seen at this site, our SRT8s are very consistent. Your runs look very similar to the ones I made earlier this summer. I've made 9 passes so far in my SRT8 and 4 of them were in the high 12s after DA correction. The others were all very low 13s (13.0-13.1) after DA correction, but most of those were made with the engine heat soaked which is consistent with your results. My best 60 ft. so far is 2.006, but I'm sure I can do better with better track conditions and more practice. I'm looking forward to cooler temperatures and plan to go back this fall.

EDIT: I'm not sure if using towels is better. I didn't use any towels, but one of my bags did have a small leak. Not much water got on the engine though. Someone needs to invent a custom patented engine cooler for our Hemis LOL

[CoolVSRT8]

Those are some good times man! leave the ice in the bags!

[EricG]

I just put the ice bags right on the intake. Some water leaks down and evaporates, good thing we have the undercover to catch the drips because people get mad if you wet down the staging lanes. I've seen people use a wet towel, you get good heat transfer through the towel if it is wet when you start. The water leaking down really isn't a big deal, so long as you don't make a mess.

[Mystic Knight]

Congrats man. Would have loved to seen the runs. I haven't been to Milan in a few years. Love going out there for Nights of Fire (jet car racing).

[MCORegal]

Thanks guys. It seems like the bags had small holes and as I moved them around water poured out. I got to the point where every 10 minutes or so I would empty out the water. I thought about grabbing a few of the large ziploc bags from home as they would be stronger and not leak.

Thanks for the point about the underbelly pan, I hadn't even thought of that. I didn't use the ice in the staging lanes, but probably should have to make things cooler!

[MCORegal]

Made it back to the track on Wednesday 10/14/09 ... temp in the mid 40's, slight negative DA

I made 7 runs ... throwing out the two where I spun hard off the line (operator error) I had the following:

Run #1 1.991 12.928 @ 107.98
Run #2 1.984 12.979 @ 108.91
Run #3 2.030 12.972 @ 108.45
Run #4 2.022 13.030 @ 108.71
Run #5 2.000 12.911 @ 108.62

Overall, I am pretty happy. The cold air helped the times but I really need to get the 60 foot times lower. A buddy was there with his built 5.7 and was cutting consistent 1.88 - 1.90 60 foot times on the same wheels and tires.

The good news is I did manage to beat a Roush Mustang three times in a row!

[stevesrt8]

great consistency, you'd be heck in brackets like that.

The launch is very difficult in street tires. A heavy sled like ours with a whole lot of torque and a very short first gear (almost 11-1!!!) makes life tough off the line.

Great times! You represented your fellow SRT8's well.

[srt8man]

Those are very good and very consistent runs. The colder temps will help your times, but a cold track makes traction more difficult canceling out some of the gains of good DA.

It looks like you have your launch technique dialed in very well. I usually start out with a relatively conservative launch and test the grip by launching a little bit harder on each of my next runs.

What kind of tires do you have and what tire pressure did you have? I've been able to get very similar 60 ft. times with my RSAs and 27-28 psi in the rear tires, but so far no 1.9s, only 2.0s. The track I've been going to is notorious for poor prep.

Originally Posted by MCORegal

Made it back to the track on Wednesday 10/14/09 ... temp in the mid 40's, slight negative DA

I made 7 runs ... throwing out the two where I spun hard off the line (operator error) I had the following:

Run #1 1.991 12.928 @ 107.98
Run #2 1.984 12.979 @ 108.91
Run #3 2.030 12.972 @ 108.45
Run #4 2.022 13.030 @ 108.71
Run #5 2.000 12.911 @ 108.62

Overall, I am pretty happy. The cold air helped the times but I really need to get the 60 foot times lower. A buddy was there with his built 5.7 and was cutting consistent 1.88 - 1.90 60 foot times on the same wheels and tires.

The good news is I did manage to beat a Roush Mustang three times in a row!

[MCORegal]

Originally Posted by srt8man

Those are very good and very consistent runs. The colder temps will help your times, but a cold track makes traction more difficult canceling out some of the gains of good DA.

It looks like you have your launch technique dialed in very well. I usually start out with a relatively conservative launch and test the grip by launching a little bit harder on each of my next runs.

What kind of tires do you have and what tire pressure did you have? I've been able to get very similar 60 ft. times with my RSAs and 27-28 psi in the rear tires, but so far no 1.9s, only 2.0s. The track I've been going to is notorious for poor prep.

Thanks for the compliments guys. It was nice to run great times although the cool air had a lot to do with it. I was hoping to squeeze in a 12.8xx but it wasn't meant to be, maybe next time. I have the Toyo Proxes 4's at 275mm, played with the tire pressure a little, originally at 35 psi dropping to 30 psi. Maybe I will try a little less pressure next time.

The tip for the ice bags worked well also, I was laying two of them on the intake to try to cool things off between runs. With the weather being so cool, they didn't melt much!