I made it out Milan Dragway two weeks ago for the National Shelby Dodge Auto Club convention. Obviously the car doesn't fall into the category of a Shelby Dodge, but they welcome all cars for the drag racing day to help cover the track rental fees. Anyway, the only mod to the car is a magnaflow catback. My best time was as follows:

Best ET
60' == 2.25
1/8 == 9.66
MPH == 74.89
1/4 == 14.95
MPH == 92.60

Best Trap
60' == 2.34
1/8 == 9.78
MPH == 74.12
1/4 == 15.07
MPH == 93.15

I have to say I really wasn't happy with any of my launches. My best being a very mediocre 2.25. As is expected, my best '60 yielded the best 1/4. I made 11 passes and found that shifting at redline was yielding better gains than shifting 250-500 before. With some more launch practice, I'm fairly certain I could cut .1 off my 60' or .2 of my final ET. Even though the car isn't fast, it was pretty nice to be able to make 11 passes, break nothing and be able to drive back home to Chicago with power steering and functioning AC.

 

Manual or automatic?

 

Hello Fino,
I see you are in Itasca.
I am in Aurora.
I have added you to my Illinois members thread.
Consider coming to one of our Chicagoland meets this summer.

 

+fireamx

It's manual.

VALKRYDERGUY

I will consider coming out for the cruise on 8/3, but I'm not sure at this point. Thanks for the invite.

 

nice times what rpm were you launching?

 

Inbetween 3-4K. It seemed to launch better with the more RPM's I used at the line. I didn't have the guts to launch it any closer to the rev limiter in fear i would break something and be stranded in MI.

 

i know in the 6spd you cannot go to the rev limiter in nuetral. I think its like 4200 or 4300 is the max while you arein nuetral...Not a bad launch, but a decent amount of tire spin which is no good...

 

Matt,

I didn't know that. I gave it a try yesterday coming off of the expressway. When I was on the exit ramp I put it in neutral and hesitantly stood on the gas. It shot right to redline. I thought that wasn’t supposed to happen, but then I realized it could have something to do with the ECU seeing that that the car is still rolling. So when I came to a stop I tried it again and sure enough it held right at 4200 like you said. I wish I would have known this when I was at the track. I think I could have yielded some better ’60 times. Is there a reason why 4200 RPMs was specifically chosen? Is this supposed to be the ideal launch RPM, or am I reading too much into it?

 

i think its more of a engine safety limiter. its no good for the engine to be at redline when its stopped. thats when you start breaking ****! haha

 

I thought the 1800-2200 range was best for launch, or is that just for the Auto/SRT folks? I havn't been to the track but I don't think I have honestly tried to take off any higher than 2500 unless i wanted to make a lot of noise or get a little sideways.(considering max Tq is at 3k going over that would seem like automatic tire spin to me...) I had a blowout on I95 a couple weeks ago and just got new PS2s put on the car. I launched it just over 2000 and there was no spin at all and it felt almost perfect to me. I would assume the track would be a bit stickier than regular roads but not 2k different. Did you have a lot of spin? and which tires are you running? I wonder how much it will take to get the N/A into the 13s... I would be happy with high 13.

 

I have Eagle F1’s on the car. I think that 1800 – 2200 is for the SRT crowd because I would get little to no tire spin at 3k. You could be right, and the track conditions could have played a part in it. To be honest, I have never done a "hole shot" on the street with my crossfire and that could yield different results.

Overall I was trying to get some tire spin off the line and take advantage of the sling shot effect. I figured with some more aggressive launching I could do this, but I experienced some wheel hop on one of the runs and that made me realize I need to drive this car back home. I'm sure in the end it would have been fine "pushing the limits" a bit more, but I really didn't want to chance it.

Evan

 

the first time i went i tryed to lauch at around 3or 3500 and it felt really good but then the tires bit and i bogged out! sucked! im going to give it a shot again seeing the results you got. i been lauching at 1800 -2500 lately but i just cant bring my 2.3 60ft down. i also think im loosing some time shifting into second because im getting tire spin.

 

i took mine out last night for the first time. my first time running at a track in any car. my best time was 15.032 @ 92.53mph. it was a hot night and i didn't let the car cool down. i'm sure i'll break 14's with my setup eventually. i was leaving at aound 2k and spinning, 2nd gear would spin decent at the shift, and 3rd would chirp. look at my cousins girlfriends 06 v6 stang, i need to improve at the first half of the track. they posted a 14.8 best with slower 1/8 and 1/4 mph times. shes been pumping the usual mods in the car so i'm not ashamed to loose. right when we decided to quit, they announced they are shutting down to prep the track. i bet i would have gotten my 14 after that.

 

Well I know it's been a few years since the original post, but I brought my Crossfire to the track again. This time I changed the way I launched it. Like suggested above, I just staged the car, stepped on the clutch, put the gas tothe floor and when the lights went green I just dropped the clutch. As mentioned above the car will hold the RPMs at 4200 when the car is in neutral and the gas pedal is to the floor. By doing this I improved my best time to date with the car by .118 sec and .75 MPH. It should be noted that I even beat my old personal best that were on Eagle F1's. This pass was on the stock all season Continentals. Anyway my best time was:

ET




60' == 2.154
1/8 == 9.549
MPH == 74.93
1/4 == 14.832
MPH == 93.90



That launching method really seems the way to go, at least for me. The caris completely stock except for Magnaflow exhaust and has just about 57,000 miles on the engine. Anyway, I thought some of might find this helpful.

 

Congrats on the improvement!

When Road & Track tested the Crossfire a few years ago, the data panel at the end of the article had a foot-note down at the bottom stating that the best times were obtained by launching at ~4,000 rpm... So I think you're right on the money with your findings.

I'd love to get mine to a drag strip simply for the numbers, even though I very rarely race in a straight line. The N/A really isn't geared for 1/4 mile racing (figuratively and literally) like it's big brother '6 is, but it's still fun to play and "get the numbers".

I'm taking mine down to Steele Alabama this fall for some runs, I'm curious to see what mine will do with the handful of mods I've got. If I hit 14.2x I'll be a happy camper.

 

Hey John How do You like those DWS's? I have 400 miles on Mine and I think they are performing better than My T1R's I have been running. I thought that 275's were the widest Rear tire You could run on an NA.

 

I've driven them everywhere from the Dragon, to the interstates at >150mph, and even in light snow. It's a solid performer in all conditions. It's not the BEST at any condition (well, except wet traction... I think it's one of the highest rated wet tires out there), but it's the only tire I've ever had that can perform in ALL conditions without embarrassing itself.

The 50K mileage estimate/warranty is a bit optimistic though. I have ~18,000 on the set and I'm going to have to replace the rears soon. The fronts might have another 6,000 on them, but I'm hitting the Dragon this fall with them so that'll fix that.

Overall, great tire for the money and even better if you don't have the space/resources for multiple sets of wheels...