Doel
1000 Posts Club!
Going to a test n tune session at a local drag strip is one of the cheapest, safest, and legal ways to see how fast your car is and I suggest everyone that wants to go fast, to check out one of these events at least once. There are a few things everyone should know before going though. Most importantly, while you're "racing" typically you aren't really racing, these events are VERY casual. You may be lining up against another car, but most people are only concentrating on what their car is running, not what the car they're up against is running, this is called "Test n Tune" for a reason. So relax Stinger brother or sister, it's just you, your car, the tree, and the asphalt in front of you unless you call someone out. You're probably going to see everything from old pick up trucks running 20 second 1/4 miles to blistering fast LS powered monstrosities and crazy turbo b16 civics running 9s or better.
Most people know this but just to emphasize, your time will be relative to the conditions at your track. Higher temps, higher humidity, and higher altitude will all make your car slower. If it's hot or if you're racing in somewhere like Denver, your times will be a lot slower than what you may be hoping for.
If you're on street tires, you absolutely can not do what you see the slick cars doing. What I mean by this is, you do NOT drive through the water box, drive around it. If you drive through it on street tires you're going to trap water in the treads of your tires, then that water will come out of your tires all along the track as you run. That's going to reduce your traction, that's going to reduce the traction of the people that run after you in your lane, don't do it. You'll see slick cars doing big ole smokey burn outs, the reason they do this is to get some heat in their tires which helps make them more sticky. This does not help a street tire. Do a burnout if you want but just be aware it's just for fun, if you do make sure someone takes a video, post it on here, and tell us how you did it
The most you want to do is, after you go around the water box, back up into the damp area in front of it and spin your tires real quick, that'll get a lot of the junk off them. You'll also see slick cars with tires that look almost flat so you might think this is something you should do, it isn't. If you lower the pressure too low on a street tire, the middle of the tire will actually stop making contact with the road and you'll get less traction. If you want to lower pressure, you can certainly try but I wouldn't go lower than 25 psi.
Lastly, expect people to approach you and talk to you about your car, especially if you're running in the 12s or better. Go out, have fun, check out some cool cars, talk to some gear heads, and go fast a couple times.
Most people know this but just to emphasize, your time will be relative to the conditions at your track. Higher temps, higher humidity, and higher altitude will all make your car slower. If it's hot or if you're racing in somewhere like Denver, your times will be a lot slower than what you may be hoping for.
If you're on street tires, you absolutely can not do what you see the slick cars doing. What I mean by this is, you do NOT drive through the water box, drive around it. If you drive through it on street tires you're going to trap water in the treads of your tires, then that water will come out of your tires all along the track as you run. That's going to reduce your traction, that's going to reduce the traction of the people that run after you in your lane, don't do it. You'll see slick cars doing big ole smokey burn outs, the reason they do this is to get some heat in their tires which helps make them more sticky. This does not help a street tire. Do a burnout if you want but just be aware it's just for fun, if you do make sure someone takes a video, post it on here, and tell us how you did it
The most you want to do is, after you go around the water box, back up into the damp area in front of it and spin your tires real quick, that'll get a lot of the junk off them. You'll also see slick cars with tires that look almost flat so you might think this is something you should do, it isn't. If you lower the pressure too low on a street tire, the middle of the tire will actually stop making contact with the road and you'll get less traction. If you want to lower pressure, you can certainly try but I wouldn't go lower than 25 psi.Lastly, expect people to approach you and talk to you about your car, especially if you're running in the 12s or better. Go out, have fun, check out some cool cars, talk to some gear heads, and go fast a couple times.
