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I wanted to share my recent experience at the drag strip and shine some light on a subject that there is not much information.
I took my my car to Lebanon Valley in NY for a track rental. I wanted to see what the car could do with the new engine.
i also borrowed my friends slicks and skinnies, they were 24.5x9.5x13 with 4.5x15 fronts
i have never ran slicks before, after reading on here, there is some bad information about launching on drag slicks and breaking everything. This is not the case, and I've never had more fun at the strip.
I was running 9.5psi
doing 2nd gear burn outs, I roll through the water, put it in 2nd , tach it up to about 6500-7000 and let out the clutch smoothly.
They burn without the slightest hint of any wheel hop, and when they heat up the grip hard, let off here.
I staged the car car using my hand brake to drag it in to the lights, keep my clutch just under the bite point, the goal is to keep the drivetrain preloaded.
When the yellows start to come down I put my foot down, launch control is set at 8200, I'm not trying to cut good lights so when I see green I slip out the clutch a little and just keep in it. Zero wheel hop, just smooth launches.
I will I'll never go back to the drag strip without slicks, I have broken so much **** on street tires. Slicks will not break your drivetrain, they absorb shock, but you need to be able to preload and launch it smooth, no clutch dumps.
So how did I do ? Best of 12.4 @111
this car has more in it but I ran into an electrical issue or a dead O2 sensor on my last run , it had promise to be good because the sun went down and the air temp dropped. Also I'm running 3.636 with 6spd on 24.5" tires shifting around 8500-8800. So my mph's were out to lunch. Some 23" slicks and 4.10's and some more seat time and I think high 11's are possible.
Nice pass man. With those rpms I had to go look for your build thread to see what was going on. Looks like a high compression, cammed, k20/24 setup?
Those gears have to be long (well, for a miata I guess) with the high revs, tall tires, and tall rearend. I assume you were crossing in 4th gear? My car was at the top of 5th by the end of the 1/4.
Nice pass man. With those rpms I had to go look for your build thread to see what was going on. Looks like a high compression, cammed, k20/24 setup?
Those gears have to be long (well, for a miata I guess) with the high revs, tall tires, and tall rearend. I assume you were crossing in 4th gear? My car was at the top of 5th by the end of the 1/4.
Yes its a 12.5:1 K24, CNC ported head with big road race cams. Makes 280whp on Ignite 114 Ethanol.
Yeah I'm crossing in 4th, Last time I tracked this car with 205/50/15's (23") I was reving to like 7500 and I was running through close to that in 4th. I ran a 13.0 @109 on those dunlop dz102 with a stock tsx motor (225whp) . Going to 4.10's and reving out to 8800 my mph stays the same as the 3.636 and 7500. If I get some 23" slicks I should be able to trap close to limit and stay in 4th. That added acceleration should really help get the the times down. I really think 11.9's are possible.
Went back, no change in setup really. A good alternator this time.
it still has more in it, the 24.5x9.5 slicks are way to much tire for his car. Even at 15 psi cold I’m not able to spin them so I’m not carrying wheel speed out of the hole. It hooks hard and falls on its face.
yes built K24, part of me would love to convert from a drift car to a full drag car. Its 2425 with me in it (call me 195lbs). Its a full street car that I added fat mat and MLV sound deadening to, and its got power windows. I could probably strip 300 lbs out of the car if I fully gutted it and ran lexan windows.
I really am thinking about getting my own set of 23"x8" slicks for later in the year.
Thanks for sharing. Yeah, that's some pretty long gearing for that high of RPM. I'd guess there are mid 11s in this car with some fine tuning of everything you mentioned. Well done sir.
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I’m going to get 22x8 slicks for my next track outing. I don’t wanna change the gearing because it’s so great for drifting. But the 22” slick will give me 8k at the finish line.
Methinks that people often confuse the driveline abuse associated with drag radials with bias ply drag slicks. Bias ply joints like you had on the car absorb a fair bit of launch energy into the sidewalls on the hit. Be sure to keep that in mind when you purchase your own set. Nice runs!
my alignment is setup for drifting, so the rear is set to zero camber, zero toe. When I go to the drag strip I have to remove the M-tuned/sport brake rear setup and run stock 1.8l rotors to clear the 13" wheel. And I jack up the rear with 1/2" shock spacers and jack my coilovers 1/4". So I end up with some positive camber, my spring rates are pretty soft and I run the front shocks at full soft, so the front lifts really nice, also no front sway bar.
10-07-2017, 08:04 AM
Miata vs Drag Strip
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