How do you drive a 450rwhp car....with no TRACTION!?!?!

[atey950]

I just bought this car (see signature). The car has plenty of power, but absolutely no traction. I am used to driving my old 89GT with a few bolt ons. This is a completely different ball game. I need to learn to drive all over again. I am not looking to dump any money into this car to make it launch like a beast, but I want to see what I can get out of it as is ( 1/4 mile time). From driving it around so far I have discivered that I cant just romp the throttle once in 2nd gear, because the tires spin and the shift light comes on before I know it. SO it seems like I need to gradually get into the throttle maybe until I get into 4th. I dont know because I havent pushed it that far yet. Im just taking it 1 gear at a time. Tell me how you all drive yours.....

 

[powershots]

guess not that many here with 450 RWHP

 

[livenfine]

Well I don't have 450 rwhp, but I know how to control tire spin. If it truly has that much power you need traction or your wasting your time. Panhard bar/Torque arm is a great way to get the power to the road...The lastest hotrod mag shows a TA running 10s with the PHB/TA setup.

Slicks of course is another...

 

[flyinghi3]

if your running regular steet tires, yeah your gonna do nothing but spin the tire. i had M/T ET streets that i had on the car. deffinetly help out on the street. i put M/T sports man pro on now, it more of a drag radial, but i can still spin them alot. if your going to be going to the track, you deffinetly need a pair of slicks.
by the way i'm making 480hp at the wheels.

 

[Smokedawg]

stay off the gas...

Get a set of Nitto DR's, they are better on the street than BFG DR's...

 

[93cobra12]

Change your gears to 3:55, and get some drag radials and a panhard bar.. Right there u'll be able to handle the car

 

[91lxntch]

get a set of bfg drag radials.....there about the best ull get for the street..i personally would run the mt et streets but there not for a daily driver....nittos dont bother....some guys liek them for there tread life but ..you build a car to drive it not cry about ti

 

[Maryland Stang]

You might want to look into some quality upper and lower controls arms and torque box plates before you rip the car in half. It's probably a good thing it won't hook yet. Another case of putting the cart before the horse.

 

[homiegloc]

full throttle

 

[houstonstangguy]

sorry, i cant really help you. i only make 350 rwhp

 

[Fox Saleen 163]

Alright... I don't make nearly as much HP as you, but I can tell you what made the biggest difference in traction on my car. I installed each component of my rear suspension seperately so I could see what did what. First I installed my lower control arms, which made a very small difference. Don't get me wrong, they made a difference, just not in traction. With the H&R race T/A springs I'm running there is no weight transfer so I still had NO traction. Next I installed the Panhard Bar which made a noticeable difference, but I could still burn them if I wanted to with no clutch work. Last, was the Torque Arm. As you know, this increased traction the most. It's too bad you have to get new lower control arms and a panhard bar to run the T/A.

Now I'll tell you what hurt my traction the most. Stiff roadrace springs and my 3.73's.

I know you said you don't want to dump a lot of money into it for traction. So you have two options. Get drag radials, or drive around at below 2,000 RPM's all the time.

 

[Ranchero5.0]

ditto that, I 'only' have 390

While some think it's mostly tires, knowing how to drive makes a huge difference. Get to really know your tires by gradually hitting the gas. You'll feel it as they begin to spin, you want to stop there. After doing it enough you'll get the hang of keeping the motor a hair ahead of the tires. You'll feel them scrubbing when giving max grip. Don't bother more than half throttle in first. If it spins, hold the throttle until the tires catch up and then either shift if you are out of revs or give it more gas. You'll get the feel of it pretty quick, it's wild how the car accelerates hardest as the tires get their grip back after spinning a little bit.

Surprisingly I just put on a set of really cheap Fulda $67 wholesale 245/50ZR16's on the back and the grip almost as good as the ET streets I was running at the track. The tire dealer was even impressed that they were holding the power in second this car puts out.

Jamie