On Wednesday night I joined the Toymods guys at WSID for some drag racing.
I had done it before, but only a few times when the car had less mods and no E85.
I had heaps of fun and got lots of practice (6 passes) but at the same time it was frustrating because my troublesome intercooler pipe continued to pop out under prolonged boost, and it ruined 3 out of 6 passes (including what would've been the best one).
Needless to say I'll be redesigning that section of piping yet again, because it also ruined the Circuit Club trackday that I attended on Labour Day.
Oh well, I'm still very happy because the engine continues to run flawlessly apart from the relatively minor issue with the piping.
My 60 foot times were crap in every pass, so there's a lot to be gained with some more practice.
Anyway, here's the short story:
On my 6th and final attempt I managed an 11.818 second pass, which I was fairly happy with because my goal was to get into the 11s.
However, it wasn't even a good pass, and after everything I learned on the night I'm now confident that my car is capable of a 10 second pass if I can manage a better launch. Note that I use normal street tyres with no burnout.
If you want the long story, here it is...
First pass:
12.101 seconds, 130mph, 2.292 60ft.
Good for a first attempt, but not enough revs on the launch.
Second pass:
12.041 seconds, 98mph, 2.045 60ft.
This had an OK launch and it would've been my best time (low or mid 11s) but the intercooler hose blew off well before the end of the pass, as reflected in the final mph
Third pass:
So bad I threw out the time slip. I missed a shift completely haha.
Fourth pass:
13.895 seconds, 76mph, 2.184 60ft.
Not a great launch, and the intercooler hose blew off really early in the pass.
Fifth pass:
12.318 seconds, 131mph, 2.303 60ft.
The intercooler hose stayed on, but the launch was crap again.
Sixth pass:
11.818 seconds, 120mph, 2.333 60ft.
I was lucky to get this final attempt, because I was the second last car of the whole night. I wanted to make it count, so I tried letting the clutch out quickly at 6k rpm (instead of letting it out more slowly at 4.8k rpm like every other run except the first one). It turned out to be a crazy and exciting launch, but still a slow one. In 1st gear I barely moved and just spun the tires, but once I shifted into 2nd gear I think that was the hardest I've ever felt the car accelerate! The intercooler hose came off again, but at least it occurred closer to the end of the pass.
I'm very keen to go back and have another go and reduce the 60ft times!