Well, the weather looked like it was going to be in our favor Friday night. So, I planned a trip out to the track. 3gun had indicated that he would be coming up from Rockport, so it looked like at least one other Z owner would be out to play. I got out to the track, and got teched in, and got ready to run. After my last set of passes on the ET Strets, I had begun to wonder about some things. So, I decided to test a couple of theories.
During my last set of passes I netted a best of 1.708 60' / 11.802 @ 116.55. The weatehr was similar to what we were going to have Friday. One of the things I had noticed was that when the car hooked, it hooked hard. Really, really hard in fact. What I did notice is that the car hooked hard enough that it was bogging a bit leaving. I was runing the tires at 12 psi, so I decided to play with air pressure in an attempt to see how that would affect things. Right after tech, I went to the lanes with 18psi in the ET Streets to see if I could spin a little bit, and perhaps reduce some of my rolling resistance on the big end.
I did my burnout, pulled to the line, and brought it up to about 6000 for the launch. When I turned it loose, the car spun hard. It hooked, but it spun for more than 20' easily. I figured that I had gone a bit too far on air pressure. I went ahead and carried the run out. I hit the rev limiter once, so between the tire spin and the limiter I figured the run was blown. Right before the traps I decided to get on the brakes to shed a bit of speed. I didn't want to end up with a 11.99 and get thrown out again on a cheeseball run. I ABS'd across the finish line hard on the brakes.
I got to the timing tower. I was wearing a dark jacket which looks like a fire jacket. The lady squinted and looked into the car for a second. She must have thought I had a cage onboard, or she imagined it. I thought for sure there was no way that was a decent run. Then I looked at my slip
60' - 1.660
330 - 4.896
1/8 - 7.564
MPH - 93.18
1000 - 9.845
1/4 - 11.790
MPH - 112.99
Well, to put it mildly I was rather suprised. Even though the car was spinning, that was the best 60' I have had to date. The time was also a tenth quicker than my best ET to date, and I was on the brakes hard. On my 11.802 pass my 1/8 time was 7.576 and the mph was only 92.85.
This confirmed my suspicions. The car in stock form simply does not have enough HP, or enough mass in the flywheel to hook the car up hard. The car needed to spin a bit to keep the revs up a bit. I could add a really heavy flywheel to the car, and probably drop some more ET. Either tha, or make enough power that when the car hooks it doesn't bog.
Well, I decided to play with the airpressure a bit. I decied to step it down a few more lbs to see what would happen. I wanted to see if I could spin a bit less, but still run faster. I stepped the pressure down to 16psi.
I brough the car up on the limiter and launch @ 6600. Again, the car spun, but I went ahead and stayed with it. I got to the timing tower, and they just handed me my slip.
60' - 1.663
330' - 4.902
1/8 - 7.557
MPH - 93.41
1000 - 9.835
1/4 - 11.765
MPH - 116.93
Again, they didn't give me a second look. I went ahead and brought the car back around for a 3rd pass. The air temps were about 54 degrees at that point. The car began to heat soak a bit, so I knew after this pass I would need to cool down for a bit.
Again, the same procedure. Good burnout, launch @ 6600. On the second pass I got the honer of running a new Toyota Celica with a lot of stickers, some chrome intkae plumbing, and a fart can exhaust. When I crossed the line I looked back to see him closing in on the 1/8 mile marker. For my third pass I got to race a Black Honda with lots of stickers and about the ssame getup... The results were the same on that. He was somewhere between the 330 clock and the 1/8 mile marker as I crossed the finish line.
The third pass was almost the same as the second except in one respect. When I launched the car, the clutch did not release quickly. It was more like one of my radial tire launches. It slipped a bit, and the tires didn't spin at all. I was curious to see what that had done to my times. I picked up my slip to find outt hat the second and third passes were very close.
60 ' - 1.660
330' - 4.876
1/8 - 7.548
MPH - 93.05
1000 - 9.833
1/4 - 11.766
MPH - 116.70
Darn, I could run the car in a bracket class like that, except I don't personally care for bracket racing. Its just not my thing...
Anyhow, I decide that unless the conditions changed any more, tyhat was about as good as I was going to get out of the car. I decied to park for awhile and vist with folks. 3gun, Blu-By-U, and myself all started talking. I found out that BLU tied his best that night, and that 3gun had gotten into the 11's
. There were a few other Z06 owners both from this board, and a few other who weren't. There was one fellow who is on this board with some variation of Z06 as his login name. But, I don't remember exactly how it was spelled. Anyway there were several cars both '01 and '02 with long tubes, no cats, etc... Two of the cars were running Hoosiers. Anyway, it was cool meeting a few new faces, and checking out the cars.
3gun offered me the cahnce to drive his car again, to see if we could put down a good number in his car. I ran the car through the lanes, and got ready to make a pass in his car. His aftermarket shifter though is just not comfortable to me. I am simply too used to the stock shifter. I did a good burnout on the Drag radials, and launched the car at 6000. I slipped the clutch, but since I was on drag radials was pretty greedy on the release. I could feel the tires hook, and chatter just a bit. Right about where I wanted them to be. Just a hint of spin, but nothing major. Then the whole run fell apart. I missed both the 2-3 and the 3-4 shift in the car. After I missed 4th I just stuck it in neutral and cost across the line to a whooping 12.5x... To say I was digusted with myself would be an understatement. But, as far as I am concerend y'all can have the aftermarket sticks. I'll stick to a stock unit... It give me a much better feel for what the transmission is doing.
Anyhow, Tommy and I talked a bit more, and then he and his wife decided to head for home. Well, at least to a nearby motel, and then home the next morning. I helped them load the car up , and then got ready to leave. As I was about to drive out, I noticed the lanes were thinning out. So, I decide what the heck. One more pass. The air was cooling down, and by this point it was down to about 51 degrees. The humidity was going up, so it felt much colder than earlier. The car was at 163 when i put it in the lanes. Good, a run with the car nice and cool. I got to the line, and got went though my usual routine.
The car launched good and all in all felt like a really good pass. I heard the limiter just barely kick in on on of my shifts, but it was right on the verge. So, I don't feel like it cost me any time. I picked up my slip and now I was really happy. In fact I had to take a second look to make sure I saw it correctly
60' - 1.641
330 - 4.828
1/8 - 7.474
MPH - 93.64
1000 - 9.748
1/4 - 11.671
MPH - 117.30
Well, I was really jazzed at that point. I could have gone back and made one more apss. It was 10:15 and they close the lanes at 10:45. But I was pretty happy with that, so I decided to call it a night.
I am going to play with the tire pressure again on Sunday to see if going up or down helps or hurts the car. But, at this point, I am pretty jazzed with an 11.671 on a bone stock Z06.... Oh well, if I can get the tire pressure figued out perhaps there is a 11.5x in my future.
Bill 
Linear Mode
