Perhaps my expectations were a little high for the 1/4 mile.
My first and second drag attempts ever, last night at Royal Purple Raceway in Baytown, Texas. After having done this, I can say there is a learning curve. Taking a look at just these two slips, the car is capable of maybe a half second faster than I was able to drive it last night.
1st run
R/T .785
60' 2.684
330 6.555
1/8 9.5
mph 84.17
1000 12.015
ET 14.123
MPH 107.19
No burnout as my heavy radial tires wouldn't benefit from it all that much. As it turns out I didn't ever see the traction control light come on, nor did I feel any type of slide or drift. I went from full brake to full acceleration on the green light. The car bogged slightly, started a little slow until the turbo was making boost, then pulled all the way to the finish.
2nd run
R/T 1.065
60' 2.468
330 6.335
1/8 9.302
mph 83.42
1000 11.834
ET 13.962
MPH 105.96
For the second run my experienced drag buddy explained how to power-boost. As the yellow lights on the tree started lighting I was using both feet. One hard on the brake and the other one on the gas, getting the rpms up to about 2000. On the green light I took my foot off the brake and smoothly pushed the throttle to the floor. Reaction time was worse on this one but it was a faster run.
After my two runs I wanted to cool off, get some food and watch. Being in Texas, there were a LOT of big trucks and a few SUVs as well. Turbo Diesels, modified Z71 motors... even one or two drag trucks. I watched 25-30 runs of nothing but trucks. They were all running 15-16 seconds, besides the purpose built drag monsters. Had I been in any kind of truck bracket I would have finished in the top five. It gave me more respect for my time slips.
Now that I know what the car does in it's current setup, the shop offered to tune it for launching. They told me today that the bogging that I felt was actually the computer closing the throttle during power-boosting. Apparently there is a connection to the brake signal, cutting throttle to protect the transmission when both the brake and throttle are pressed. They thought that a 2.0 second 60' should be within range with the current setup if they fix that and dial in some launch tuning.
I have to admit I was a little dissapointed about the time after my first run. My friend brought me back to earth... 12psi at 400whp on stock wheels and radial tires. He pointed out what every other truck/SUV was doing. For immediate improvement: Reaction time (experience), fix the launch tune, up the boost to 14psi = 425whp, lighter wheels, remove a little weight (stereo gear and if I were REALLY serious, the back seats) and I can hit that 12 second time slip. I seriously doubt I'll go to those lengths but I will definitely drag again. It was fun and a pretty serious adrenaline rush. I got a headache, "coming down" lol.
My friend also took some high res photos and videos of both runs so as soon as I get them I'll post them up.
