Drag race advice

**hamburger68** · 03-27-2007, 01:51 PM

I'm going to run the quartermile for the first time next sunday. Any advice would be gladly appreciated.

My car: 98 Z28, A4, Lid, Catback, HPP3 (shift firmness +50%), 312 rwhp. hopefully new tires until then (245 front, 275 rear)
i'm running 95 octane, if that matters.

**99blueZ** · 03-27-2007, 02:58 PM

remove the spare tire & jack to loose weight. Have only a 1/4 tank of gas. You could also take out the front sway bar to loose weight.

**Wesman** · 03-27-2007, 05:19 PM

Check your tires pressure, lower the rears some if you choose.

Start out launching low (slightly above idle), and with each pass launch a little higher until you find the sweet spot. You want to launch hard without burning your tires off, that slows you down.

Don't drop the clutch. Just come off of it quickly on the launch.

Good luck, have fun.

**blue02Z** · 03-27-2007, 06:08 PM

also taking the sway bar off will help with the launch.

hey Wesman, he said he is aN A4 no M6.

**Wesman** · 03-27-2007, 06:34 PM

Originally Posted by blue02Z

also taking the sway bar off will help with the launch.

hey Wesman, he said he is aN A4 no M6.

Missed that, my bad.

**hamburger68** · 03-28-2007, 12:48 AM

thanks guys! actually didn't think of the spare tire, will do that, but thought about removing the rear seats (especially the backrest).

I'll leave the sway bar in though, i have to drive an hour on the autobahn to get there and wouldn't wanna compromise the handling...

**99blueZ** · 03-28-2007, 12:18 PM

you could remove the back seats, but they dont weight as much as you think. Probably not worth it if you are going to put them back in afterwords.

**secondgearscratch** · 03-28-2007, 12:30 PM

heat up whatever tires youre running before each run.

**NiteRiderWs6** · 03-28-2007, 07:23 PM

the key to fast times are getting your take off down.....take off as soon as the last yellow light comes on because there are .5 sec between the last yellow light and green and by the time u get going it will be green and you will have a good take off

**NiteRiderWs6** · 03-28-2007, 07:25 PM

it works all the time...i ran a constant 13.0 and 13.1 and mrr23 sent me the whole page of tips on drag racing and i followed them...and got my time down to a 12.86

**blue02Z** · 03-29-2007, 04:00 AM

Originally Posted by NiteRiderWs6

the key to fast times are getting your take off down.....take off as soon as the last yellow light comes on because there are .5 sec between the last yellow light and green and by the time u get going it will be green and you will have a good take off

good point

**NiteRiderWs6** · 03-29-2007, 05:03 AM

and if your not running Drag Radials or ET Streets STAY OUT of the water pit.

**pocheasy** · 03-29-2007, 05:10 AM

Originally Posted by hamburger68

thanks guys! actually didn't think of the spare tire, will do that, but thought about removing the rear seats (especially the backrest).

I'll leave the sway bar in though, i have to drive an hour on the autobahn to get there and wouldn't wanna compromise the handling...

you could unhook the endlinks at the track and hook em back up when you go to leave.
and i think the backseats weigh in at 34lbs.. but i might be puling that number out of my ass.. lol goodluck

**CamaroLT4me** · 03-29-2007, 05:55 AM

cloth backseats are 29lbs leather should be just a lil more

**TRY ME GT** · 03-29-2007, 06:32 AM

You can take your airfilter out... just at the track though. Also remove the spare and jack. run a quarter tank gas. release some pressure from the rear tires. maybe to 20-25lbs. not too much though, you still want them to roll. good luck and have fun!

**hamburger68** · 03-29-2007, 11:53 AM

muchas gracias everybody, keep 'em coming!

**67CamaroRSSS** · 03-29-2007, 12:45 PM

I'm assuming you've never drag raced a car before.

To be honest with you I wouldn't bother taking anything out of or off of the car this time out. I'd leave that for when you've mastered launching the car. Although it will help to remove stuff (free weight mod, i.e. take off 100 pounds you go approx .1 second faster), since you're just starting out it would be more hassle than it's worth. Just go and have fun, practice launching and get the reaction time down as close to 0 (zero) as you can.

The best advice I've seen here so far:

Heat up the tires. If you have the RSA's they take well to being heated up. Unfortunately it wears them out quicker.

Stay OUT of the waterbox. Instead, drive around the box and back up to it but not into it. NEVER drive thru the water box. Water will be on the front tires and the burnout will spin water up into the wheel well allowing it to fall back onto the tire while you wait to stage. After backing up to the box you can heat the tires by doing a brake stand (or power brake, which ever you want to call it - 1 foot on the brake pedal and the other on the throttle). Let off of the brakes (you don't want to kill your back brakes) when the back tires start to spin freely.

After staging, brake stall the car and leave when you see the last yellow light come on. Between the time your eyes see the light and your brain tells your foot to mash the throttle will be way more than the .5 seconds it takes for the tree to go green.

Repeat as necessary to achieve good results.

Since you have an A4, let the computer shift the car for you. Put it in D (not overdrive, although there is a variety of opinions on this). The PCM, if set up properly, will do things faster and more efficiently than you can. Even the stock settings aren't too bad.

Like I said this is just my opinion.

Have fun and enjoy the ride.

BTW: If they run per NHRA rules you'll need a Snell rated helmet of 2000 or newer for all convertibles as well as all vehicles running 13.99 or faster. No motorcycle helmets allowed. Besides that, wearing a helmet just makes sense to me.

**hamburger68** · 03-30-2007, 03:42 AM

thanks for those very elaborate tips!

does anybody know what the stall rpm is on the stock converter?
and should i set the shift firmness of the tranny as high as possible (got HPP3)?

actually, i don't think it makes a difference between running in D or overdrive, it's full throttle anyway and i think those shift points are the same.