Drag racing my GT/CS

[joedls]

I You might need to adjust your instant center with your control arms to plant better.

I've got my LCAs down on the lowest hole of the brackets. But I think I have some adjustment in my UCA mount. Do you think it would help to adjust it up?

 

[GTCS07]

The upper will change your pinion angle and adjust the instant center as well I believe. I just bought a magazine that is out on the stands now that you should find helpful or at least interesting called "Mustang Performance" put out by the editors MM&FF. It's all S197 cars. Check it out.

 

[joedls]

I took my car to Irwindale Speedway to try my to get some more practice in. Unfortunately Irwindale is only an 1/8th mile track, but I still had a blast. This could become addicting. Previously my best ET in the 1/8th was 8.544 and my best speed was 85.95. Today I got 7 runs in , 2 of them were in the 8.4s, 2 were in the 8.5s, an 8.7, an 8.8, & an 8.9. But they were all faster than 85.95. I had 3 @ 86, 2 @ 87, 1 @ 88, & my fastest was 89.22. This was also my quickest run @ 8.412. I'm still having traction problems, but talked to some guys at the track about how to tweak the suspension I have to help with traction. I had 2 60' times in 2.0, 2 in 2.1, 1 - 2.2, & 2 - 2.3s. Here's the slip of my quickest run, 8.412 @ 89.22.

 

[joedls]

One of the things some guys at the track running these newer Mustangs told me told me was my suspension is all wrong. I have all the right pieces. They just need tweaking. They said if I get that dialed in I should see much better 60' times, thus better ETs.

Here's a video of my car running at Fontana on 7/19. You can see that the front doesn't lift at all. That makes for horrible weight distribution. Hopefully with some of the things these guys showed me I can improve on this.

http://motorgen.com/vid/showphoto.php/photo/641/cat/520/ppuser/773

 

[GTCS07]

Nice video Joe! Is that a 1/8th mile track? You need to find that magazine I mentioned above, it shows how they are transfering weight back and what works. Calling BMR might get you some answers also.

 

[joedls]

Nice video Joe! Is that a 1/8th mile track? You need to find that magazine I mentioned above, it shows how they are transfering weight back and what works. Calling BMR might get you some answers also.

I got the magazine. It has alot of good info. I'm pretty confident in what these guys were telling me. One of those guys runs in the 10s and one in the mid 11s. That video was from a 1/4 mile track. That car I ran against was a turbo Buick, BTW.

 

[GTCS07]

The only problem with setting up for dragging is losing some street manners (cornering). It's always a trade-off. I think I'd tweak it a little but not go crazy unless you want to drag it all the time.
In that mag did you see in the section where they had the stock GT into the 12's by the end of the day? That's why I know you should be in the 11's. Keep up the good work!

 

[joedls]

In that mag did you see in the section where they had the stock GT into the 12's by the end of the day? That's why I know you should be in the 11's. Keep up the good work!

Yeah, I think that was with lightweight Bogart wheels (whick are about $2k just for the wheels, BTW) and slicks & skinnies? Or were they running drag radials or ET Streets?

 

[GTCS07]

Yeah, those Bogarts are pricey but do the job. My friend runs them on his '04 Mach 1. 12 sec. no power adder.

 

[almach]

New to this forum, I've had my 08 GT/cs vert for 3 weeks, The plan is to add 4:10, JLT and tune from MPH in Ga. The reason I'm responding my last car was an 03 Mach with 312/329 at the wheels, I had 4:30 gears and with traction issues running MT dr's, I could run 8.1 to 8.3 with 1.8X 60', this was with no suspension mods besides the front sway bar removed. I can already tell 08 is better prepared suspension wise, so low to mid 12's is very possible, I could have run in the 7's with a driver mod:grin: !

 

[joedls]

New personal best

I went out to Fontana today and ran a personal best of 12.021 @ 116.87 MPH, then backed it up with a 12.124 @ 117.61. I'm going back tomorrow and shooting for 11s.

 

[davidathans]

I ran into Joe out at the track and i have 3 of his races on video! I will post a link to the videos after i upload them.

I was out at the track racing my dad, not in my mustang, but in an all stock 1998 BMW M roadster. My best race was 14.595 @ 94.43mph, my dad's best was 15.360 @ 93.49mph in his 2004 Porsche Cayenne Turbo also all stock.

 

[davidathans]

Here is Joe's first race:

http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=45723876

It takes a while to upload these...but there will be two more including his 12.02 race!

 

[davidathans]

Here are the other videos...congratz Joe and good luck getting into the 11s!!

http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=45728668

http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=45732214

http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=45733381

 

[joedls]

I went back to Fontana today and ran an 11.867 @ 117.60 with a 1.685 60' time. What a blast!!!! They couldn't find my slip so I had to get a printout from the tower. Here it is.

 

[davidathans]

Congratulations. Now we will have to race for the title on Saturday, Dec 6.

Aren't you glad you ditched the drag radials for cheater slicks?

btw the 60' time i had when i ran my 11 sec run was 1.687...nice launch Joe

 

[joedls]

I have to admit those tires made a difference. Here's a picture of my launch today.

 

[di81977]

Joe, great improvement over your first trip. Looks like you have the hang of it! You and David have some pretty fast GT/CS's.

I must have missed it, what tires are you now running on the backs?

My goal has been to get under 14 seconds here in Denver with my HCS. Blown engine and other fun things have had me waiting a long time. On the last race day of the year, I finally made it. I ran a 13.947 and a 13.917. At 5,800 feet that is equivilant to about 12.90. Unfortunately, I have to wait until April to race again.

Will attach my time slips, PDF is too big right now, won't upload.

 

[joedls]

Joe, great improvement over your first trip. Looks like you have the hang of it! You and David have some pretty fast GT/CS's.

I must have missed it, what tires are you now running on the backs?

My goal has been to get under 14 seconds here in Denver with my HCS. Blown engine and other fun things have had me waiting a long time. On the last race day of the year, I finally made it. I ran a 13.947 and a 13.917. At 5,800 feet that is equivilant to about 12.90. Unfortunately, I have to wait until April to race again.

Will attach my time slips, PDF is too big right now, won't upload.

I'm running Mickey Thompson ET Streets bias ply tires for the track. They are 26 X 11.5 X 17.

 

[joedls]

Since the last time I went to Fontana in July, I've made several changes to my car that contributed to me getting into the 11s. I made some adjustments to my pinion angle and I've played with the settings on my adjustable shocks and struts until I found what worked. I installed a 2 step launch control, moved my battery to the trunk, installed a larger intercooler reservoir in the battery tray, and installed a 35 HP shot of nitrous. I also got a set of MT ET Streets on Greg Weld wheels for the track. Saturday and Sunday, I was experimenting with what RPM to launch from, when to spray the nitrous, and when to shift. What ended up working best for me was launching off the 2 step at 3500 RPM, spraying from 3700 - 6200 RPM, and powershifting at 6200 RPM.