Who run's 17" wheels at the track?

[NKau]

Curious how many of you guys have 17" rims and run on them in the 1/4 mile. I'm debating whether or not I will be able do tolerate going from my 16" ponies with drag radials to a 17" rim with a lower profile tire. Is traction (straight line) affected much from the change from 15's pr 16's up to 17's or am I just paranoid?

 

[what_stanger?]

i'm sure he'll have somthing to say about this....

but i'm almost 100% sure millhouse runs 17s at the track (nitto DR i think)

i think hes got some 1.7xx 60' times under his belt, trapping right aroudn 100-101 mph if i remember right....so the traction is there....

but then again, he isn't the average driver either

 

[NKau]

I'd be curious to hear how he launches the car........that's a pretty damn good 60 ft.

 

[ponycar17]

Haha, I get 2.1-2.2 60' times on 17" DRs with a 102.5 trap... I'd recommend against 17s at the track... I only use them because I can't afford an extra set of 15" Welds right now...

 

[Tstang90]

I have pulled a few 1.7 60' times on my vert and have went pretty deep into the 12's and with 115+mph traps in my vert. 12" tires arent the top choice for drag racing as theres very little side wall. But i like the idea of just driving the car to the track making a few runs and leaving no swapping tires at all. I figure w/a 1.7 60" how mych better can it get maybe a 1.6 and a miracle 1.5 which is very very hard so I decided that for the extra 2/10 or so off my ET if that much Id stay w/ my tire set up!

 

[jonnyk]

I run them too. Traction is not great...I really have to ride the clutch to get it off the line instead of dumping it harder. Next year I will be buying some track-only 15's and put something sticky on them.

 

[millhouse]

i'm sure he'll have somthing to say about this....

but i'm almost 100% sure millhouse runs 17s at the track (nitto DR i think)

i think hes got some 1.7xx 60' times under his belt, trapping right aroudn 100-101 mph if i remember right....so the traction is there....

but then again, he isn't the average driver either

Yep, your correct. I run Nitto 275 40 17's on my 96 cobra rims (8" width) and run consistant 1.8's with the occasional dip into the 1.7's.

Just like you what_stanger?, id say I'm not your average driver .

As for my launch technique NKau, it's all about the feel of things. I'd say my launch rpms are around 4000-4500 rpms (I'm not positive because I usually go by sound and feel). Anyways, after I get the rpms up where I feel they should be, I slip the clutch and feather the accelerator until I feel that I have full traction...then I let her rip. Any hint of tire spin and I work the pedals until it's gone. I can usually salvage bad launch into a 1.8 60' using this method.