1/16th Mile Drag Race at Road America this Tuesday, July 18th

[Tom Veale]

I've never been to a timed event for drag racing with the '33. Anyone got any advice for me for attempting a 1/16th mile drag?

I hardly imagine I'll get out of first gear. My Flex might be faster with All Wheel Drive, but the '33 weighs less than half, so maybe it will do.

https://www.roadamerica.com/street-legal-drags

There's no "burn outs" before the start of each heat so my 13 year old white walls aren't going to be anything but very hard and probably not very good for launching. I thought maybe going to the softest settings on the Front QA1 shocks might help with weight transfer, but should I set the rear QA1's to soft, too?

And how about rear tire pressures?

This is all new to me, so any thoughts will be appreciated. It's sort of a Bucket List thing.....

Best wishes,
Tom

[JimLev]

Which QA1’s do you have on the front and back?
One or 2 knobs for adjusting?

Only 1/16 mile??? Were they concerned 1/8 mile speeds would be too high?

[GoDadGo]

Which QA1’s do you have on the front and back?
One or 2 knobs for adjusting?

Only 1/16 mile??? Were they concerned 1/8 mile speeds would be too high?

I've been to Mud Bog Racing that was only 100 yards, but never heard of Drag Racing to 110?

Interesting Concept!

[Tom Veale]

I hav e the single adjuster so am limited as to changing jounce and rebound.
It's just 330 feet of runway. It's part of the front straight at a road course.
I'm looking to have some giggles is all. I'm a road racer by experience and don't know much about drag racing except what I read about as a kid and watched on TV.
Any suggestions will be appreciated.
Tom

[JimLev]

The adjustments go from 1 (full CCW) to 18 (full CW).
Set the front anywhere from 1-6 clicks, it will let the front transfer weight to the rear for better traction.

Set the rears at 4-10 clicks.
You’ll need to experiment to see what works best based on your HP, gearing, weight, etc.

For road racing front and rear both set to 13 to 18, 18 is the firmest setting.

[Tom Veale]

Thanks Jim,
Your road race settings are very close to what I've been using. So are tire pressures.

I'll set for full soft at the front and add a couple clicks to the rear shocks. If I remember from when I set up for last year's Hot Rod Power Tour the rears are set at 4 clicks from full soft and the fronts at 3 clicks. It was 2600 miles round trip, so softer was better!
I'll leave the rear tires at 36 lbs to start and let them down 5lbs at a time and see it there is any impact. They're BFG "G-Force Sport" tires bought in 2009, so they're old and have about 16K miles on them. Messing around, the rear will break free under full throttle in 1st, so I anticipate having to control wheel spin with the throttle.
It'll be fun and maybe I'll learn something!
Thanks again,
Tom

[Tom Veale]

I'll post some video here tomorrow if they turn out. I have my phone mounted on the rear deck behind the passenger seat, so it will see the view similar to a ride-along. With just 330 feet, the movies will be rather short!
Best wishes,
Tom

[JimLev]

I’ve got my rear tires set to 26 lbs, still very easy to break them loose.

[Tom Veale]

Thanks Jim,

I'll drop to 30PSI to start and see how that is.

Best wishes,
Tom

[Tom Veale]

Here's a Youtube link to my efforts.
https://youtu.be/E-p05MK7Wi4

It's two runs from two angles for three videos stitched together. Only 1:20 minutes total, so you won't even need a bathroom break.

Thanks for the suggestions, the tires still got no traction and spun up pretty fast. The car's light weight helped against heavier cars. The BMW next to me in one run just disappeared. The Camero I got off the line but between his later acceleration and my overheated clutch slave cylinder (from idling while I waited) the shift to 2nd happened only when the engine and trans gears sync'd up. The Camero drove away while I muscled the car into 2nd!

Have a great weekend,
Tom

[JimLev]

Looks like fun Tom.
What engine do you have?

[Tom Veale]

'93 Mustang GT 5.0L Pushrod engine. A bit larger induction and higher pressure injectors with an E-303 cam. Roughly 300 Hp and 300 Lbs-Ft torque. Pretty mild, actually. It's coupled to a Tremec 5 speed and a solid rear axle with Tru-trac differential. It was built for road and track days, not for drag racing. I just had to try it since I've never had the chance before.

It was fun!,
Tom