1st time drag racing in gulfport

[jteef]

I'm heading over to the gulfport, ms drag strip tonite for my first race in the m3. One of the guys in my class here has a G35c(auto) that he's been taking over there and he finally talked me into it. My car has an ltw fly, cai, & ecu, but all season tires. Being my first ever timed drag race, I'm not expecting a lot, but hope to get close to 14. My classmate's best is 14.6 so I think I can beat that. Anyways, I dont know if any of y'all are from around here, but if so, come on out!

[jteef]

well didn't turn out quite as planned. my first run I line up next to some tremendously loud chevy with a blower. I launched at about 3-3.5k rpms and had massive clutch slip all the way through first and second. ( i mistook it at first as wheelspin due to the really loud sound in the other lane.) I slowed down and ran a 17.25 drove back to the pits, my car smelled terrible and I wasn't entirely sure what went wrong. The guy in the other lane ran a 10.51.

R/T: 0.9927
60': 2.5163
330': 7.028
1/8et: 10.837
1/8mph: 62.89
1000': 14.3134
1/4et: 17.248
mph: 76.87

I waited for about 10 minutes and built up enough courage to run again, not knowing if my car was @#$% or not. The lights at the end of the track went out so they switched from 1/4 to 1/8 mile I didn't pay much attention to the light or my launch or my shifting technique on this run, I was more concerned with whether or not my clutch was going to get me home tonite. It held up strong which casts further doubt as to what was up in run #1. I launched at about 1500rpms and ran a 9.16 1/8th. This time I ran against another trailer only blown chevy nova, he ran a 6.74@101. I had my spare tire, jack, toolkit etc in the car and 3/4 tank of gas. Temp was ~65.

R/T: 1.239
60': 2.179
330' 5.986
1/8: 9.165
MPH: 77.78

By this time the line was about 50 cars and they kept having delays so I quit racing and watched. some guys had some really fast cars. I think I had the fastest import, there may have been a crx that was running high 8's and I didn't catch the time of the 300zx that ran ahead of me in round 1. My buddies g35 ran a 14.64 1/4 & a 9.45 1/8. There were a bunch of 9 & 10 second cars. somebody had a little dragster that ran 5.01@138! That was really fun to watch in the grudge racing when he lined up against a 10sec mustang.

I may return next week.

[SilverStreak]

Your 2nd launch was much better, as your 60' time indicates.

Did you ride the clutch, or drop it?

Also, what psi did you have in the rear tires and the fronts?

[jteef]

tires were 32psi all around. The first run I was pretty intimidated and dropped the clutch. The second was a little bit of feathering, and more of taking it easy on clutch, making sure it was going to survive...see post in the m3 forum:o

[BabyM]

Get back on that horse and ride it!

I too am a beginner....and after some really good advice from Dave and Z Couper I improved my time by over half a second on my second time to the track.

The thing I had to get over was the rough treatment of the car --not exactly how Mom taught me to drive a stick! But our cars actually thrive on rougher treatment than most could accept.

If you read through Dave's Launch Tips again (I assume you have read them?) keep in mind all the little things to do, maybe even tape notes to the dash --and remember to take your traction control off.

Have fun!

[SilverStreak]

Never drop the clutch, it's bad on the driveline, and produces worse 60' times (most times). Your 2nd run was a better launch, work on that style more.

Try taking the rear tires down around 22-25 psi, and pump the fronts up around 45-55 psi, next time, that will help.