Gear Heads/Another day at the track!

Wass Up?

I went to the track again last night. My best time for the night was a 14.49 1/4 mile. My 60 was a 2.172 and my speed topped at 95.47 MPH. I\'m pretty happy since the last time I was at the track my best was 14.76 1/4 mile. 13s here I come.  

How does HP relate to shaving time of the 1/4 mile? For instance, if I want to shave off two tenths how much HP do I need to gain?

Thanks!

Ace

[Titan]

Kickass. I hope that when I get my car, I\'d take it to the track every so often.

I can only say if you go once you will be hooked.

Ace

Ave thats awesome man!!  What are you running for a car, hp, engine, etc..

HP is important yes, but more important is weight!!!  The more weight you shave the better the time!  Take out everything you can, the passenger side seat, the rear seat!!  (its actually easy to do once you do it once)

You see any audis up there, all the guys are a part of my club, Bostonaudi.org -> you should hook up with them sometime!  they don\'t care if its not an audi, there are some guys there that are really good!

Thanks!

It\'s a 2000 Mustang GT convertible. I put in 3.73 gears and a chip.

The car stock has 260 HP. Next time I go up I\'ll look around for the Audi club guys. I think next time I will pull out the rear seats and maybe lay off hamburgers and fries for a while.

Ace

well as old Carol Shelby said "Horse Power sells cars, torque wins races."  So don\'t focus souly on the HP, torque is where it\'s at....but then again, hp and torque usually correspond.

Also, like mentioned above weight is not our friend.  Think of it this way;  every 100 pounds lighter you are, equals a tenth of a second off of your 1/4 mile.  While that figure isn\'t always perfect, it\'s pretty close.

Sounds like someone needs to hit the gym, lose those extra pounds and you\'ll be dropping some time.

Originally posted by theomen
but then again, hp and torque usually correspond.
 

Actually, they always correspond. Horsepower is derived from torque.

what I meant is that you can have a car with 300hp and 200lbft of torque, or you could have a car with 250hp and 325lbft torque.  The second one would be the more desirable.

And to build on what you said Stap;
HP= Torque*RPM/5252
Torque is the only thing that a driver feels, and horsepower is just sort of an esoteric measurement in that context. 300 foot pounds of torque will accelerate you just as hard at 2000 rpm as it would if you were making that torque at 4000 rpm in the same gear, yet, per the formula, the horsepower would be *double* at 4000 rpm. Therefore, horsepower isn\'t particularly meaningful from a driver\'s perspective, and the two numbers only get friendly at 5252 rpm, where horsepower and torque always come out the same.   The only time I really take HP seriously is when i figure out peak performance.  but when it comes to the strip, I\'ll take a tourquie car over a horsepower beast.

Yeah, my friend has an 87 Mustang GT and it\'s a torque monster compared to my car. It aso has about 35 less HP. His car just snaps you back when he hits the gas.

I beat him at the track, though. He couldn\'t hook the tires up. He just sat there, tires spinning.

Ace

I have that problem.  Until I can afford some slicks, I have to go about 1/4-1/2 throttel until mid second or I\'ll spin my tires.  It took me the longest damn time to get it where I could get a decent launch without tire spin, thanks to the damn turbo lag.

[GmanJoe]

Originally posted by Ace
Wass Up?

I went to the track again last night. My best time for the night was a 14.49 1/4 mile. My 60 was a 2.172 and my speed topped at 95.47 MPH. I\'m pretty happy since the last time I was at the track my best was 14.76 1/4 mile. 13s here I come.  

How does HP relate to shaving time of the 1/4 mile? For instance, if I want to shave off two tenths how much HP do I need to gain?

Thanks!

Ace

Mine is 14.8 or 14.9 S-L-O-W! It\'s a stock \'99 Impreza RS. No turbo. Nothing.

The only mod is a rear sway bar. I prefer road courses. At autocrosses, I have yet to be beaten by a Mustang. Maybe the good drivers here are driving other cars besides Mustangs.

[Kurt Angle]

I wish I could afford a fast car.

Car prices and insurance premiums screw us poor folk in the UK.

Cool man!!  My car is only rated at 200-210hp and 210 lbs/ft torque, and Im heavy.  But I can still make a decent run.  Quattro alows you to put all that power right to the wheels with no slip.  Which is very important, also the main problem with high power rear wheel drive cars.  They can\'t put the power to the ground.  The thing though, quattro is heavy, very heavy.  For every 10 pounds you shave off its another 10th of a second!!!  So its all about the weight baby!!

Plus I only drag to get a base line time!  Time and money are much better spent up at WalkinsGlenn or any of the other race tracks!  That where the Audi shines, not the drags, but in the corners and on the track!  


But I plan on supercharging my baby here soon enough, give me numbers around 290 horsepower and 275 ft/lbs - Its a bit exspensive upgrade, but well worth it!  I can hang with the big dawgs around those numbers...  And still drive around in the snow!!!

[GmanJoe]

Thanks. My next car could be an Audi. My 99 Impreza is nice and decently quick, considering it doesn\'t have a turbo.

If I did....I\'d be doing 13.4\'s all day with the other WRX\'s and their $500 mods (stock, the car does 13.9 or very low 14\'s).

I want an Audi coz of its refined looks. Plus the AWD! I can\'t give that up! Rain is nothing. Snow is fun! I hate gas guzzling SUV\'s that seat no more than a sedan(5 people)!  My Impreza\'s rally looks may get a lot of positive attention from the younger audience.....but my collegues are a bit more on the Lexus/Mercedes taste. So.....Audi is it.

I\'ll keep the Impreza too!