Stock GT, 5-spd. Quarter mile times

[hyracer]

Went to Woodburn Dragstrip this Sunday to get a base line on my Cruiser. I was able to get only 3 runs as they had a 9 second car roll on its top at the finish line (driver was O.K.) and lost an hour and a half to clean-up.
My biggest problem was wheel hop at launch anad figured the stick cars will need some kind of traction bar to ever get 60 ft. times below 2.3 to 2.2 seconds. I found dropping the clutch at 2500 RPM to be the most effective but did not try different combos with the traction control off due to running out of time. My worst 60 ft. was trying to feather the throttle/clutch to eleminate wheel hop (2.499 60 ft.). All runs were made with the Trac control on.
We plan on going back June 15th to run again with the addition of a boost controller...stay tuned.
Deen

[FLASHBK2]

Thanks looks like a good baseline to me !

[wagonmaster]

Great start! Hope I do as well! Did you happen to put it on the scales and get a baseline weight as well before you took out the spare and seats, etc?
Joe

[Air Ride PT]

What kind of vehicle were you going up against?

[hyracer]

Joe, the car weighed 3550 with me in it, a full tank of gas and all seats/spare in place. I'm not a heavy guy (160 lbs.) and I'm thinking the scales were at least 50 lbs. too high after reading other posts on GT weights.

Air Ride,
I was up against a Mustang. His ET was almost 8-tenths faster but you can see his MPH was down...he hit the brakes as soon as he got around me (sand-bagging).

P.S. Just got my Boost-gage and the Hallman ES Controller ($50) should be here either today or Monday...more fun to come!
Deen

[wagonmaster]

Thanks Deen,
I was afraid that we were going to see near 3400 lb weights with these things. People wonder why they won't run with the SRT Neons, and this is one of the main reasons! This makes your 15 second e.t. even more impressive!!!
Thanks for the info.
Joe

[Gary C]

Nice run! your MPH is definatly up there
As for wheel hop, I'd suggest motor/trans mounts, as they seem to pretty much cure the problem, and just leave wheel spin, which is better than wheel hop, in my opinion anyway.
Keep it up and keep us posted please. I'm definatly interested in seeing how the GT"s times slowly come down to the 13 second and then 12 second level, and who knows maybe even a front driven 2.4 powered 11 second or under time!

[achr]

Great run, especially with the seats in. You're definitely making more horsepower than mine as my 60 foot time was quicker but you were starting to pull away by the 1/8th mile and finished with a final speed over 1 mph higher in spite of the additional load. I believe that is the highest trap speed for a stock PT we've seen yet.

[hyracer]

Achr/Gary C,
If you read my timeslip (hand writting in ink) you'll see I ran with the seats and spare out of the car. I know have some mods with a boost gage and will run again June 15th to get some comparisons. On another website it's been stated by "Exhaust Depot" that hooking up a manual boost control to the #2 selonoid will allow you to control boost BUT...the computer sences increased boost at lower throttle positions and will severly retard timing, netting you only a marginal increase in HP.
I've also run some simulations using "Quarter Junior" software (appears to be very accurate with my 660 HP Vette) and it shows terrible traction once you get into the 300-320 HP range with the Cruiser. Even plugging in 8" wide slicks first gear is almost worthless and will go to instant tire spin. From this data I can envision a handfull of Cruisers dropping into the 13 -teens but it will take some serious $$$ and mods to see 12's or lower.
Just my thoughts...
Deen

[Gary C]

that traction problem is where either gear based, or a dual stage boost controller comes in VERY handy.
I know some racers whom run ~8lbs in first and through most of second and at the top of second slip it up to the 15-20lb mark *not cruiser, but drag honda's, etc..*
it's worked VERY well for them so far, and that is the route i will be taking.
I'd post more, but i'm tired