Last weekend I went drag racing with the Camaro. I have new tires (GS-D3's, stock size) and a short stick, but everything else is the same as it was the last time I went racing.

My previous best, on the old tires, is the time in my sig: 13.219 @ 107.55 with a 2.1 60'. That was at M10 -- 45-degree air, a nicely-prepped track, and me with very little experience driving a stickshift and no experience launching at the track. I had BFG KDWS tires at the time.

My quickest and fastest run on Saturday was my first run down the track (actually, I was the very first car to run). I got a 13.26 @ 107.1, with a 2.25 60'. It was quite a bit warmer (20-25 degrees) than it was at M10 when I got the 107.55, so I'm not fretting the lost MPH. I really just thought I'd be able to get the car off the line a little better.

I experimented a lot with launch technique, but I just could not get a decent hook. I was only hoping for a 2.0x -- these are street tires, after all. Unfortunately, it was foggy in the morning, and a lot of the moisture settled on the track. My 60' times ranged from 2.2 to 2.6.

On the street, I can dump the clutch at 1400-1500 rpm, and the tires spin a little and then hook. I was really hoping to get a decent 60' time with that technique, but I just couldn't replicate that behavior at the track. If the tires spun at all, they let go completely.

I'm planning on being in attendance at M11 in a couple weeks, and I'm hoping for a nice dry track so that I can try again.

I'm mostly just ranting, but if anyone has any advice, I'm listening.

 

FWIW, when I ran 60's in the 1.9's I was revving the car to 5000 rpms then I would release the clutch in fast and steady approach to keep the car at 5000 rpms until the clutch was completely released. However I don't really recommend this for every pass since I burned up the clutch after one summer (30 or so passes).

 

Weather and conditions seem to play a HUGE role in how your car performs. My car has done everything from low 14's to 13.0's at the same track, with pretty much the same setup, just at different times, on a different day .

If there was any moisture on the track, that will kill it right there . "Hoping" for a good time is all you'll do.

I just took my car to the track recently with the new 6-speed setup, and I got a 13.402 @ 107.65 with a 2.152 60' time (ironically, the exact same 60' I got for my best "stock" time ). Anyway, that was coming off the line easy, riding the clutch momentarily, and only flooring it once the tires had hooked. I also ran a couple ~14-second runs and 2.4 - 2.5 60' times when I revved to ~3000 and came off the clutch too quick! For most of my runs that night, I was only bringing the revs up around ~1500 and launching from there. That's with worn out street tires and 3.23 gears behind the T56 . I can't wait to slap some DR's on there with lower gears out back!