Went to the track recently and ran terrible 60 ft times. Never could get it to hook up right... never got better than a 2.05x 60ft time.... I've ran 1.8x times in the past with this same setup and tires. My Nitto Drag radials had been sitting for 2, maybe 2 1/2 years in my garage, unused. They only have a few runs on them. So I'm guessing either they've hardened up or the track was slick. There weren't any other f-bodies or even mustangs that I could compare times with before the test n tune event was rained out. What do you folks think... could these tires have hardened up from non use? They seemed to heat up pretty good and I smoked them good. Running at usual 18lbs pressure. I might have been getting too much water on them. I dunno. Kind of disappointed.

In the past I've been able to launch at around 4k rpm with these tires heated well (on a different track), and just do a quick release of the clutch and they'd hook. They were spinning at 2800k or higher last week.

Was running 8.70s when I thought I should be, and have, ran 8.30s or better.

 

Were the tires laying directly on the concrete in your garage? If so, that may affect them to some extent. If there's a dark circle on the floor where they were it's a good indication. Concrete has a tendency to pull the oils out of the rubber and dry them out.

On the other hand, it may have just been bad track prep.

 

yes, they were stored on the floor... haven't checked for black marks. my floor does have the fluid resistance coating on it. I'm thinking now that the track prep was just crap. There were a lot of imports there cutting it up.

 

"Imports" as in front wheel drive I suppose? They're the worst thing. They do there burn-out (or at least try to ) with their front wheels. Their rear wheels roll through the water box and drag water up to the starting line, which makes it impossible for rear drive vehicles to get any traction.

We used to have a couple track days every year combined with imports. But so many rear drive cars started b!tching about no traction that we couldn't include the front drive cars any more. Too bad too, 'cause it sure used to be fun beating them - even if we couldn't get good traction

 

I agree. Sounds like poor track prep and water on the track from the "imports." Too bad the track didn't at least try and mop up the water they carried with them!