drive through some parking lot gravel and you will know how sticky those tires are- EXTREME! that said, if you want optimum straight line performance you may wish to disable traction control-a perfect 1/4 mile pass would be to have the tires spinning thru the full quarter mile due to the fact that when you hook up you drag the engine down and out of the best power curve. jmo from an old racer.
 

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at the texas mile, drag radials are not allowed as they won't hold up at high speed for extended time. my son used my pilot sports for his car but most racers are using hoosier, as they make a tire that will pass safety at the mile. drag radials are not allowed so I guess depending on your use, that will make your decision
 
Hey meek racer,
With all due respect. What your saying about spinning tires the entire length of the 1/4 mile makes no sense. Traction will give you the fastest time through the beam. If the engine is bogging....add more power. If the tires are spinning...address the traction issue.
Did I understand you correctly?
 
Hey meek racer,
With all due respect. What your saying about spinning tires the entire length of the 1/4 mile makes no sense. Traction will give you the fastest time through the beam.

Better traction with drag radials or slicks will net you a lower trap speed through 1/4 mile beams Probably a better ET

Some tire spin off the line will increase your trap speed in the 1/4 mile.

Now the entire length...... no... that wouldn't be a good thing to do


Brian
 
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Hey meek racer,
With all due respect. What your saying about spinning tires the entire length of the 1/4 mile makes no sense. Traction will give you the fastest time through the beam. If the engine is bogging....add more power. If the tires are spinning...address the traction issue.
Did I understand you correctly?
as a top fuel racer and driver of Alcohol dragsters and funny cars- our computer affirms my assertion of spinning tires throughout the 1/4 mile results in the best ET. 60 foot times may be much better ( in the .8 tenths of a second) but the resulting lock up reduces 1/4 mile et. Your suggestion to add more power (top fuel is arguably 10,000 hp more or less) is a non issue- A good driver will beat an equally prepped corvette if he has traction control disabled and the other car uses traction control- jmo and the opinion of numerous crew chiefs if they have the ability to read the computer print outs...
 
I'm a street racer/drag racer and have only had about 850hp at my finger tips. .so to speak.
I'm having a hard time understanding or believing that the best ET would be a complied with spinning tires throughout the entire 1340ft.
Can you explain this?
 
first of all - we only run 1000 feet in top fuel- tracks are no longer able to handle a fast car coming to a stop in 1320 feet (1/4 mile) we have multiple stages of clutch and fuel management- a better example would be an Alcohol dragster with about 4000 hp, but unable to use multi stage clutch-those cars really prove the equation of tire slippage is much more advantageous than clutch slippage which still occurs. the clutch can never fully lock up (but we try) the ideal would be 100 % lock up on the clutch and slight slippage of the tires. It is a fine tight rope to walk and alcohol cars are now able to run 5.1 sec quarter miles at 270 mph--the mph shows the clutch lock up with the most hp. you will often see 2 cars run a similar et, but10 to 15 mph difference through the traps- this is explained by clutch lock up vs tire slippage on the computer tape- hope that makes some sense of an inexact science..
 
Couple questions on the tires slippage.
I'm assuming there is a difference between tire slippage and tires spinning. Blowing the tires off won't produce the best acceleration, but tire slippage can. In school a friend was working on max traction vs tire slippage in agricultural conditions (yet being tested on pavement) and found maximum pulling power to be achieved at 20% slip. Im totally assuming the results can be transferred to other situations.
Also, this is second hand information, but I heard there was a difference between radials and bias ply tires where bias ply tires maintain traction while spinning, radials don't. That's why you see the dragsters from the 60's smoking the tires the whole way down the track.
Anyway, this is just theory. I enjoy hearing from people who actually do this.
 
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Bob, thanks for your input, interesting analysis of what is happening during those top fuel and alcohol cars runs down the strip.

A couple of shots from when I was a kid.

Scott Wilsons "Time Machine"
JMWUiU9l.jpg


Wilson and Karbelts Fueler
JtNkSd8l.jpg


Maynard Rupps "The Prussian"
xZr8KQvl.jpg


The Greek in the pits at St. Thomas Dragway
tsHkWeIl.jpg


Niagara Dragway at the top end

TAs8rHCl.jpg


My friend who I miss terribly Brooke DeShaw's B/Altered
zjqhsXml.jpg
 
Bob, thanks for your input, interesting analysis of what is happening during those top fuel and alcohol cars runs down the strip.

A couple of shots from when I was a kid.

Scott Wilsons "Time Machine"
JMWUiU9l.jpg


Wilson and Karbelts Fueler
JtNkSd8l.jpg


Maynard Rupps "The Prussian"
xZr8KQvl.jpg


The Greek in the pits at St. Thomas Dragway
tsHkWeIl.jpg


Niagara Dragway at the top end

TAs8rHCl.jpg


My friend who I miss terribly Brooke DeShaw's B/Altered
zjqhsXml.jpg
 
Are you kidding?
Awesome pics. Interesting advice.
Still a bit sceptical. But always willing to learn.
We can keep going on this.it's great.
I do want to thank all of you for taking the time to respond and putting thought into it.
Meekracer;
Do you think that if we hypothetically made a steel track that was grooved for gear wheels to fit in it..you could run a faster time vs rubber tires that slip?
Hope I was colourful enough in my description for you to picture it
Max
 
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Maximus- LOL_hypothetically a steel track and gears should be faster given enuff power. A thousand crew chiefs are trying to solve the quarter mile racing traction problem every day, so my perception as a driver looking over a crew chiefs shoulder is only current theory, certainly not law. As I get older it gets harder to keep up with rapid changes in technology and equipment. The search will go on-bob
 
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Hi all.
This is my first post on this site and I'm hoping I get some positive I'm put. I bought my first z06 a few months ago. Just got to drive it a handfull of times.
I had the car out last night in 6 degree weather with traction control ON . Car was in 3rd gear and I start to lose traction. Car us squirming and I'm scared and excited. Same thing in 4th gear. Tires are new but I think I may want to put on a drag radial so I feel safer.
Any help?
those tires don't like cold weather
 
don't know how many people on the thread have a ZO6 but I do and I can break it loose with any tire just by standing on it in a low second gear. If I run that up and shift to third it loses bite for about 2 seconds also. Its easy to overcome the traction control with this motor. It's a whole different animal than any other LS motor or LT. Just with a tune you can get 505 to the wheels from the crank but its the torque that makes it so amazing. Your going to have to manage the power. I guess that's a good thing lol.
 
don't know how many people on the thread have a ZO6 but I do and I can break it loose with any tire just by standing on it in a low second gear. If I run that up and shift to third it loses bite for about 2 seconds also. Its easy to overcome the traction control with this motor. It's a whole different animal than any other LS motor or LT. Just with a tune you can get 505 to the wheels from the crank but its the torque that makes it so amazing. Your going to have to manage the power. I guess that's a good thing lol.
I have a z06 thats been pretty heavily modded to the tune of 860 rwhp , im still running stock wheels and tires . Yes you can break em loose in any gear , use the throttle progressively , with Big power comes big responsibility :)
 
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