Drag racing tonight - two questions
 

I'm taking my car to the local 1/4 mile strip for street night. I've never done a 1/4 mile, and I've only done the 1/8th one time with a stock miata about 10 years ago.

Question 1: How fast can I expect to run with an NB2 at 11psi on a 2560? They require a roll bar if I am faster than 13.5sec, and I would hate to show up just to get one run and be kicked out. I won't be that fast, will I?
Question 2: Should I bring my dog? Mufflers are required for street night, and I like to make a habit of taking the dog most everywhere with me. I can't find whether he's allowed, and I don't know just how loud the cars are even with mufflers. I wouldn't hesitate to bring him to an autocross, but this is not an autocross and dogs have sensitive ears I hear.

In exchange for answers to these questions, I will post time slips tomorrow.

Just show up and get kicked out for being awesome.

Bring your dog. Dogs are really sensitive to sound and will probably orgasm with the symphonic cacophony of man made marvel. Just stuff him in the trunk, don't tell anyone. Just do it. That way, when you get kicked out, you can have your dog sit next to you in full glory as your chariot departs from the scene, leaving an impression on everyone.

"Don't fuck with me, I drive a Miata with a dog."

Woof motherfucker

i didnt realize people owned miatas without roll bars.

Do not take your dog, what is he going to do while you are racing? He surely wont be able to ride with you.

umm, no they won't let you race down the track with a dog.
as for if he's allowed at your particular track, as a "spectator" I don't see why not.

2560 on 11 psi doesn't tell us much. if you're around mid 200's you should be in the low 13's. If it's your first time, you will likely not run anywhere near that. These cars are tricky to properly launch

Yeah, there's a few hundred thousand of us.

There will be 3 of us with 3 different cars, so I was planning to leave the dog with the others in my group when I was actually racing. I don't have a helmet for him so I wasn't even considering letting him ride shotgun. That would be unsafe!

I am guessing mid-200s but I really have no idea what I'm making for hp. I have the 6spd and 3.9 rear also. I will probably struggle with the launch, as I have a really hard time being hard on my drivetrain. Sounds like I will at least get a few runs in before I break the 13.5 mark.

you should definitely get a helmet for your dog

I think I'll leave the dog home this time, and if I don't break 13.5, I'll bring him next time if the noise and atmosphere seems reasonable. Or I'll leave him at home if it does not.

if you can't run 13.5 in a mid 200's Miata, you should just let the dog drive :giggle:

Dog in the trunk. Why is this so difficult.

Looking through some old times in a 6sp 3.90 NB I've run:

13.6 @ 105 at 212whp
12.7 @ 113 at ~270whp

That should give you a nice range of what to expect. You better get kicked out!

pdexta is right on the money with those times/traps

Hmm, so 270whp from a rotrex and 6sp 3.63 NB should still get into the 12's? I obviously wont have the same torque curve.

Good luck at the track man! I'd still say bring your dog, many dogs come to the track with their owners, there is only one way to find out if your dog doesn't like the noise. And it is fucking loud. But if your dog likes it, or doesn't mind, how could you not drive with your buddy!?

Any thoughts on whether the trunk is a safe space in a miata without a roll bar?

I usually install a roll bar in my trunk so my dog can use his harnesses
he helps me datalog

Not all tracks will insta boot you either.

Most if not all will give you a warning after the first one.

Some as long as you have a helmet wont care at all or will just tell you to finish the night out and next time come back with xxx equipment.

Good luck.

Now I see where Hard Dog got its name...

True, and I doubt they'll notice you anyway. It's not like a mid-13 second car is going to attract a lot of attention at a drag strip.

They definitely notice a 13 second miata at Sears Point, not too many run that quick. It also seems like everyone loves these cars.
There they say "don't do it again", but it doesn't become an issue until you put your dial in time on the window. They won't let you dial in a 13.4 and run with no roll bar.
All that being said there is a ton of leeway in the first 60', if you go too fast just do a mellow launch. I picked up over 3 tenths in my 60' time for my best 13.58 @ 102 with 2.07 60',but I also ran a 13.8 @ 102 with 2.4 60'.

Oh and I wouldn't bring a dog that wasn't say, used to going to the gun range. They won't be happy unless they are used to sudden loud noises.

What is a dial-in time?

the time you.........dial in :)

the time you hope to run

pdexta is a shift master- more Miata drag racing video for inspiration:

Lol, thanks. Maybe you missed this thread though? :giggle: https://www.miataturbo.net/suspensio...ost-4th-88041/

bro. mechanical empathy has no place in drag racing. ;)
https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1463058480

hey... so like results?

his dog is uploading the videos now

I didn't do as well as I'd hoped. No danger of getting kicked out last night.

I botched a couple of the launches, but a couple others seemed pretty decent. I'm sure I left quite a bit of time on the table just because I'm not very good, but I also don't think my car is as fast as it should be.

Can anybody give me any tips from looking at the slips?

How much does the car weigh? I really only look at MPH because ET is too inconsistent for most drivers in Miata.

Unless your car is a pig you just need more power.

Those ETs aren't horrible for that MPH.

do you have launch control enabled and the rpm dialed in? It only took a few launches to make a huge difference. Not having to worry about the throttle makes it much easier to have the clutch perfect for a no bog launch.

Do you have flat foot shifting enabled? I dropped over a tenth of a second per shift with FFS!

Are you using M/T drag tires, or some other good drag racing tire? You can go from spinning all of first, second and third to hooking in first, and snapping axles.

also, being in "the groove" of the strip usually helps traction.

I've never weighed the car, but it's an NB with a full interior, air conditioning, etc. I didn't even take the spare tire out because there wasn't anywhere to put while I was running. It's probably about as heavy as they came until the NC. Next time I go, I'll leave the spare tire and everything at home. I was almost out of gas, though, so that saved a few pounds I'm sure.

Can my car be a pig AND I need more power?? I think that's the situation.

No to all of those things. The second and fifth runs I really didn't spin much at all. Maybe a little bit in first gear, but not at all in the rest. The tires are brand new Dunlop Star Specs.

My car is a pig and I am running crappy toyo rain tires, no launch control or flat shift, I usually lose a tiny bit of traction at the end of first. Being in the groove makes a ton of difference, when you shift makes a difference too. I found about 65 to 6600 was fastest in my car.
My best 60' time was 2.048 my worst was 2.535, sounds like you just need to practice a bit and figure out when to shift.

your trap indicates you're making about 200-210whp

By all means, moar powah!
I usually trap close to 99 or 100 even on a crappy run with a headwind.

I need to get to a dyno. I want to be at 250, but I don't want to break anything to get there.

get your trap speed to 107-109 and you're around 250

How accurate is Virtual Dyno? If I find a flat stretch of road and do some 3rd gear pulls, would that give me reliable information?

All you need is more power. At your power no-lift shift, launch control, a better tire seem unnecessary to me.

I would think with those times you're probably a touch under 200whp. Add another 50whp to it and you'll drop way more time than any other little thing you could change.

You... I like you. You think the same way I do.

And the only reason I'm not at 250whp is because I don't know how much HP I have, and I'd rather have less than break something. And I'm too lazy to bring it to a dyno. They're all so far away!

Well, no lift shift would probably get him .5 seconds, thats a pretty big difference.

Obviously get more power though.

Where'd the half a second number come from? That seems awfully optimistic to me. If it's accurate I wish I'd bothered to set it up when I was running mid 11's!

It makes a huge difference if set up correctly.

FFS on a turbo vehicle is a really big deal.

What is the actual difference between proper FFS and just keeping your foot on the gas between shifts? The latter would just bounce off the rev limiter; what does the former do?

I have timeslips for before ffs and after ffs, on a naturally aspirated car, not only do I chirp 2nd AND 3rd gear, but at the same mph trap speed, my ETs were .4 seconds faster, a little over .1 seconds per shift.

Since skidude would be shifting 4 times, even without a turbo, I'd estimate .5 seconds faster over all. With the turbo, not losing boost because you are never off the power would most likely benefit even more per shift.

I would say .8 seconds at the same power level, (once he gets more consistent 60 foots) is easily attainable with the ffs on his car.

Launch control will help you get your launches more consistent, leading to a more consistent 60foot.

Retards timing. Helps keep boost up. Puts you at the correct RPM for the new gear.

I am probably wrong, but I think it allows you to shift faster, because it reduces the load on the transmission with ignition timing, making the synchros job easier? Just a guess

When you put the clutch in, it activates a new set of parameters for the rev limiter and ignition timing. I have mine set up so when the clutch goes in, limiter is temporarily reduced to 5700. Almost feels like a V8 going through the gears since the lag is noticeably reduced. Almost. If you flatshift without a flatshift program/setup, your revs could go dangerously high. Even with my actual limiter at 7300, and my FFS at 5700, I've seen logs where the RPM will hit 7600 which I'm not a fan of. Without FFS activated it would probably go even higher. Plus it will be harder on the clutch/drivetrain. When I actually go used to using it, the shifts feel smoother than without using it because power actually comes on at the perfect time as the clutch is engaging, rather than the ricer flyby Hondaboy "power shifting" where they slam the throttle 100% and dump the clutch in each gear.

Edit: 0.8 seconds? That sounds extremely optimistic. Unless it's a monster turbo that takes forever to spool between gears, which the 2560 is not.

Sounds handy. For next time I go racing, I'll try setting it up. It doesn't ruin the cat does it?

I mean, think what you want, but if a naturally aspirated car can drop over a tenth PER shift, I think it is likely that a turbo car, maintaining full boost after each gear shift, over 5 shifts, gains .3 seconds?

Even with a responsive turbo, going from vacuum to 10psi is not instantaneous.

I agree, the larger the turbo, and/or the higher the target boost pressure, the more no lift or flat foot shifting will benefit the elapsed times.

I guess it also depends on where the car sits also. Going from 13.8 to 13.0 sounds a lot more plausible than going from 12.8 to 12.0. I'm sure it is faster though, feels faster for sure.

my MSM went from 13.9-14.1 without, to 13.6-13.7 with
my Subaru went from 12.0-12.2 without, to 11.7-11.8 with

pretty significant in my opinion