This is one for Nigel/Johns/Flea/Begbie and others. I recently ran at Crail with some fellow coopsters and although we got beaten by the 200 SX boys we still had some reasonable times.

Now I know launch is very important and in fact when I ran base boost in first and second I achieved my best times, but I *know* the car had more to give - I did run with 3/4 of a tank and a full interior.

So am I right in thinking that;-

• Strip out rear seats
• Remove spacesaver and tools
• Run with, what, half a tank?
• Remove passenger seat

Interestingly once I put on semi-slicks my times were slower until I got them nice and toasty, sorry Al , and they were set at around 20PSI.

Any more tips?

Matty - what boost control are you using again?

Greddy profec B. Which adds to the fun of switching between the 'lo' and 'high' settings after changing into third.

yeah, get bigger turbo and some headwork!

I'm sure a lot is down to practise, Flea has come a long way with his launching. I'm sure he won't mind mentioning at TOTB 2006 he wasn't that great at launching. but a year down the line he has got it down to a tee, albeit with a bigger power figure.

Early next year once the car is back I will be taking it onto a strip and seeing how I do!

But I'm seriously considering getting Racelogic traction control with Launch Control. Some people may say it takes the fun away but trying to control so much power with the front wheels is always going to be difficult.

Shhhh I don't want to spend any more money.

Traction was a major issue at Crail, and this was my first time 'drag racing'. Even @ 1bar of boost I was spinning badly in second, but that's Crail for you. My times kept dropping through the day so practice does make perfect, but after seven runs I thought it best to give the coop a much deserved rest.

Matty

I achieved several low 13s with "only" 300bhp and not much stripping out.

At TOTB 2006, I managed a 13.05 on road tyres at 40psi (I was on the top speed run)

At TOTB 2007, I finally got into the 12s with a 12.89

There are two main issues to getting a good time

The launch is by far the most important - too much power and you'll just light up the tyres - this is why using base boost can sometimes get a good time

Secondly, once you have the traction, you need the power and lack of weight

If you take a look at some of the best Coupe quarter times, you'll find that the terminals are rather higher than lighter / more powerful cars posting the same times.

Unfortunately, getting a 1200 - 1300 kg FWD car to do low quarters is an expensive job.

However, you clearly seem to have a technique that works

fancy doing even more stripping out and having a go at TOTB next year?

Perhaps swap the boost controller for something which can limit boost for each gear? Apexi AVC-R and Blitz i-Color can do this IIRC.

.. or Race Logic TC.

The greddy was doing a pretty good job!!

Ross

Yes but if he's got to take his hands off the wheel to change from lo to hi boost, a controller which will do it for you automatically might be better.

http://search.ebay.co.uk/search/search.dll?from=R40&_trksid=m37&satitle=greddy+remote

GB?

Ross

are you going to have a go at TOTB next year Matty, it would be good to have more than 3 coupe's next time!

When I ran my Greddy on the dragstrip I used low boost in first and then quickly flicked the switch (ashtray location) to high boost at the top of second It made for some interesting runs but the results were ok with 13.2 being my best at the time.

It took me a good while to get used to the paddle clutch for launching, unfortunately I only had it fitted a couple of weeks before TOTB '06 so I was pretty hopeless. Now I find it much easier to launch and coupled with the Apexi gear boost control I would same I'm 80% consistent This year I have run more than 25 sub 12.6s, 12.3s x 7, 12.2 x 4 and 11.9 x 2. I recently ran a 12.2 and 12.3 at Shakespeare County Raceway with just a PRV set to 1.6bar... it wasn't too bad actually

I would agree with you on the track tyres Matty, they take too long to get heat in them so it's as good to run on normal road tyres and do a burn out if you can.

As for weight stripping, well tbh I have never bothered (read as can't be arsed!) other than taking out the space saver wheel. In fact, I like the idea of rolling up to the strip (or TOTB) in full road trim and just seeing what can be done If I ever do strip the car I guess a mid 11s is on the cards.

Forgot to mention fuel, normally anything between a 1/4 and a 1/2 as I have experienced problems with stalling on launch when it get's too low as I guess the swirl pot is emptying

Hmmm TOTB? I would like to make that, and I reckon I could get hold of a trailer...

Cheers guys. I actually thought the Greddy was doing a great job as Ross said but obviously switching between lo and high was a fiddle as like Leighton my Greddy is in the ashtray too.

My times last Sunday were -

60ft - Terminal - 1/4 mile
2.604 - 101.4 - 14.101
2.318 - 109.0 - 13.987
2.832 - 109.8 - 14.522 **
2.762 - 109.5 - 14.493 **
2.505 - 113.1 - 13.595
2.356 - 113.1 - 13.504
2.367 - 113.6 - 13.306

**These times were bad, I'd just changed to slicks that were stone cold.

Pretty much everything has been covered.

Petrol - i seem to have found it was for every 0.7l it was a 1kg in weight, or was it, for every litre is was .7kg in weight?

Racelogic - Now, this might be of a hinderance for the drag strip. Frog the dog, has this and when we did a day at santa pod years ago, he was getting slower times with the TC on than without it.

Another consideration to maybe think about is full throttle gear changes, where you get a system to hold the revs when you change gear, so you would keep your foot flat on the throttle (but would be limited to what rpm you specify) when you change gear. I believe this was used on a standard escort cossie and took about 0.5 second of the 1/4 mile time (was published in a ford mag ages ago)

interesting comment on the traction control Begbie, do you know if he raised the slip to see if he got better times? i'm guessing a certain amount of wheelspin is a good thing!

*shrugs*

No idea, it maybe possibly that the surface was just to sticky and kept bogging the engine down

I think its very interesting that TOTB is being mentioned already. I think its around this time that people need to start preparing.

Ross

maybe at the pod where the surface is very sticky TC is a no no, but at places like Elvington and other airfields it may come in handy!

I'd suggest you put in a full tank of fuel and go the extra miles to a drag strip that doesn't have the friction coefficient of an icecube.

Errrr.... why? Forms aren't ready till April / May time, the DVD for the last one isn't out yet and judging by last year's response for the coupe's it would be pointless to think about it yet!

Calm down Ross. Everyone's car has about 3 breakdowns to get through between now and July next year.

Yup I don't want to mess around with TC. I'm not bad with my gear changes it's just my 60ft I want to get down, and master when to switch to the high setting on the Greddy. I was leaving it until third gear as second was still spinning but I'll try to make Crail a week today to see if I can improve any.

I actually found launching with the paddle easy but I never tried it with a 'normal' clutch so I'm not sure of the difference.

Yeah but if you can get the practise in and the equipment optimized, you'll be better prepared.

Why the need to question my opinion?

Ross

the blitz i colour doesn't work on which gear your in (it doesn't know what gear your in) it works on revs or speed, if your wired to the ecu

Can it not work out revs and speed, therefore gear?

in the map setting on mine,it only does revs or speed

"A still more precise control is added to the auto boost setup. In addition to the new full auto function in which the self-learning method can be chosen in three steps, a boost according to the RPM and speed is possible to setup to match on all the stages."

http://www.alamomotorsports.com/blitz/SBC_iColor.html

I remember seeing that in the handbook, hmmmmmm....

no point in asking me, I've only done 1x 2.0s 60ft as I have too much mechanical sympathy TBH.
And when I was more aggressive I chewed up my inner drive shaft

For grip you can get your rear suspension as high as possible but leave your front so the springs and shocks can keep the wheels on the road and the drive shafts are still straight (ie. don't over-lower the front). Then when the rear squats most of the weight is still over the front wheels not distributed onto the back wheels.

For real grip lose the brembos and fit some 15" rims with proper drag slicks on.