Taking the Cobra to the Dragstrip..Any Advice?

SBC RACING · Dec 13, 2005

Well im going racing on Friday night and this is my first time drag racing my mustang. Ive done some drag racing before although it was in an automatic. Do you guys have any tips on burnouts (manual trans car), launching, and shift points? I also may borrow a friends drag radials to use. BTW, the strip we are going to has poor prep and most people have trouble getting decent times.

94 Cobra
powerdyne @ 6lbs boost
headers
off road-X
catback
3:73 gears

SeventyMach1 · Dec 13, 2005

Give er' hell.

J/K ... but on the tires .... borrow the DR's & heat them up some. If you don't, & you run street tires, don't bother heating them up.

The only time I'll burn a street tire is if I get water on them from the box. Some say heating a street tire will actually hurt your time ... but I haven't experimented enough to know for sure yet.

WHITE94COBRA · Dec 14, 2005

Drive fast.....

1SLO306 · Dec 14, 2005

SeventyMach1 said:
Give er' hell.

J/K ... but on the tires .... borrow the DR's & heat them up some. If you don't, & you run street tires, don't bother heating them up.

The only time I'll burn a street tire is if I get water on them from the box. Some say heating a street tire will actually hurt your time ... but I haven't experimented enough to know for sure yet.

:Word: If ur on street tire i wouldnt do a burn out. with ur foot OFF the brake spin the tires about 2-3 foot so u can get the all the all the dirt and crap from the highways off. also will make the traction compound stick to ur tires better then do a huge burn out.

Black95GTS · Dec 15, 2005

- Let the car cool off before you line up. Put ice on your upper intake manifold.

- Take all the crap out of the car, the spare, everything you can.

- Bring a helmet, you'll need it, you'll probly be under 14 seconds.

- With street tires, a blower, and 3.73s you might have traction issues, I'd practice your launches somewhere. All it takes is one idiot in a pro-mod to leak crap everywhere and limit you to 1-2 runs for the whole night so you want to bring your A-game when they occur. This has happened to me on test and tune before.

- Shallow stage. Inch forward just far enough so that you break the second staging light. If you do this, you have a 15 or so inch head start before the timer actually starts. This is a HUGE advantage. This will literally cut tenths off your time.

- With a stock hci, I'd be shifting that puppy around 5500. I'm not as familiar with blown applications though or what a powerdyne's dyno curve looks like. You're going to have to experiment with the ol' butt dyno until you figure it out.

- Move the seat up as far as you comfortable can. The closer your hands are to your body, the better your hand-eye coordination is, which means the better your stick work will be. Ever see a NASCAR driver have to reach for the shifter? Me either. The wheel and the stick are practically in their lap for a reason.

- Don't dump the clutch when launching, rev it up then slip it. Especially if you are using the stock differential and axles. If you are using sticky tires, 3.73s, and a blower, AND dumping the clutch, your stock diff will be experiencing some serious strain.

my .02, have fun!

Adam

nmcgrawj · Dec 15, 2005

Black95GTS said:
- Let the car cool off before you line up. Put ice on your upper intake manifold.

- Take all the crap out of the car, the spare, everything you can.

- Bring a helmet, you'll need it, you'll probly be under 14 seconds.

- With street tires, a blower, and 3.73s you might have traction issues, I'd practice your launches somewhere. All it takes is one idiot in a pro-mod to leak crap everywhere and limit you to 1-2 runs for the whole night so you want to bring your A-game when they occur. This has happened to me on test and tune before.

- Shallow stage. Inch forward just far enough so that you break the second staging light. If you do this, you have a 15 or so inch head start before the timer actually starts. This is a HUGE advantage. This will literally cut tenths off your time.

- With a stock hci, I'd be shifting that puppy around 5500. I'm not as familiar with blown applications though or what a powerdyne's dyno curve looks like. You're going to have to experiment with the ol' butt dyno until you figure it out.

- Move the seat up as far as you comfortable can. The closer your hands are to your body, the better your hand-eye coordination is, which means the better your stick work will be. Ever see a NASCAR driver have to reach for the shifter? Me either. The wheel and the stick are practically in their lap for a reason.

- Don't dump the clutch when launching, rev it up then slip it. Especially if you are using the stock differential and axles. If you are using sticky tires, 3.73s, and a blower, AND dumping the clutch, your stock diff will be experiencing some serious strain.

my .02, have fun!

Adam

Very good info!

stprorolla49 · Dec 15, 2005

Black95GTS said:
- Let the car cool off before you line up. Put ice on your upper intake manifold.

- Take all the crap out of the car, the spare, everything you can.

- Bring a helmet, you'll need it, you'll probly be under 14 seconds.

- With street tires, a blower, and 3.73s you might have traction issues, I'd practice your launches somewhere. All it takes is one idiot in a pro-mod to leak crap everywhere and limit you to 1-2 runs for the whole night so you want to bring your A-game when they occur. This has happened to me on test and tune before.

- Shallow stage. Inch forward just far enough so that you break the second staging light. If you do this, you have a 15 or so inch head start before the timer actually starts. This is a HUGE advantage. This will literally cut tenths off your time.

- With a stock hci, I'd be shifting that puppy around 5500. I'm not as familiar with blown applications though or what a powerdyne's dyno curve looks like. You're going to have to experiment with the ol' butt dyno until you figure it out.

- Move the seat up as far as you comfortable can. The closer your hands are to your body, the better your hand-eye coordination is, which means the better your stick work will be. Ever see a NASCAR driver have to reach for the shifter? Me either. The wheel and the stick are practically in their lap for a reason.

- Don't dump the clutch when launching, rev it up then slip it. Especially if you are using the stock differential and axles. If you are using sticky tires, 3.73s, and a blower, AND dumping the clutch, your stock diff will be experiencing some serious strain.

my .02, have fun!

Adam

very good info indeed...going along with the shallow staging, it will be approx one tenth faster than deep staging...or deep staging will be 1 tenth slower than regualr shallow staging which is the way most people look at it....for first time racers, just stage the car regularly, slip the clutch, and give that shifter hell!!

BlueOvalStangGT · Dec 15, 2005

What they said, but you dont get a 15inch head start, I think its really like 7 inches. Along with a helmet, make sure your wearing pants or jeans, you cant race in shorts.

WhiteStallionGT · Dec 15, 2005

Lucky... there is snow everywhere here. I can't even pull her out of the garage onto the driveway. Sweet dreams Mustang, sweet dreams...

stprorolla49 · Dec 15, 2005

WhiteStallionGT said:
Lucky... there is snow everywhere here. I can't even pull her out of the garage onto the driveway. Sweet dreams Mustang, sweet dreams...

at least yours goes in a garage.....mine sits out in the ****in snow.........

94gts · Dec 15, 2005

stprorolla49 said:
at least yours goes in a garage.....mine sits out in the ****in snow.........

mine does as well.

I just had to drive home in an ice storm. Let me tell you, that was an adventure.......

stprorolla49 · Dec 15, 2005

94gts said:
mine does as well.

I just had to drive home in an ice storm. Let me tell you, that was an adventure.......

haha yea i just did the same comin home from worky

94gts · Dec 15, 2005

stprorolla49 said:
haha yea i just did the same comin home from worky

time for the winter car to come out and mustang to sleep for winteramnit:

stprorolla49 · Dec 15, 2005

94gts said:
time for the winter car to come out and mustang to sleep for winteramnit:

yea i could spin 4th in a stock 5.0....when that happens, you know somethings not right.....

Taking the Cobra to the Dragstrip..Any Advice?

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