First Time on the Dragstrip

[Mac Attack]

Long story short – After all this time, I finally took my daily-driver '92 NSX 5-speed to the 1/4 mile track the other night. The car was pretty quick but I couldn’t get any traction.


Car Mods:
- NO PERFORMANCE MODS except for a Unifilter rolleyes: ), and a lightweight battery.
- I've lightened it to about 2800 lbs by removing the stereo, tools, spare, engine cover, and little things here and there. I'm about 160 lbs (not included in the 2800lb weight), and the tank was sitting at 1/8th full.

Still sportin the Fat Fives with 225 width Kumho Ecsta MX tires on the rear. The small stock wheels are ugly, but they do have low rotational inertia.

Darlington Dragway in SC is a 1/4 mile track that was about 85 miles from home. When I arrived at 7PM (about 75 deg. F), the car was immediately taken down the strip without waiting to cool down. With a hot engine, I made the following pass:

60' 2.77sec
330' 6.72sec
1/8 mile 9.73sec@ 84.72MPH
1/4 mile [email protected]

You couldn't pull around the water box - you had to go through it. I didn't do a burnout because I've never had problems with traction on the street (but I'm not into burnouts either). I would never have thought I was going to have traction problems on a dragstrip.

After that disappointing run, I immediately pulled back around and got in the other lane. Did a quick burnout and made the following pass:

60' 2.27sec
330' 6.02sec
1/8 mile [email protected]
1/4 mile [email protected]


Excuses:
Note that my rear air pressure was around 40psi cold. I wasn't going to deflate since I had to drive ~85 miles back home and was out in the middle of nowhere. Kumho Ecsta MX's are decent when dry but suck when wet, and I should have done a better burnout. Also, I launched at a low 1100-1200 RPM's since it was obvious I wasn't going to get traction, but also didn't want to stall the engine and feel stupid. I still had to feather the throttle in first gear.

The engine was really hot the 2nd pass since my 1/8th speed on the 2nd pass was almost 1.6MPH SLOWER than my 1st pass. With traction and a cooler engine, a 111MPH trap speed should be 13.0 seconds flat at least. I may go again but to a different track with better traction to see what she'll do....

So, did I get a Type R engine by mistake or something? :biggrin: A 2950lb vehicle has an estimated 315HP to get these trap speeds!

Dave

 

[Steve Theodore]

Those seem like VERY impressive times considering your mods. Well done!

 

[tosugrad]

A 2950lb vehicle has an estimated 315HP to get these trap speeds!

Dave

Where did you get the extra 45hp from??

 

[tonyf]

I bet with a little practice you can do better. I have a 95 with headers and AIS and have turned 13.5-13.6 consistantly. Try coming off at about 3k just enough to keep your RPMs up but not over spin the tires too much. you need to let it spin a little to keep the torque up. I found my best times were when it spun almost all the way through 1st gear but still pulled.
Tony F

 

[tonyf]

Has anyone tried this with a 97 or up? I'm curious as to what a 3.2 with factory tuned pipes would do.

 

[nsxtacey]

Has anyone tried this with a 97 or up? I'm curious as to what a 3.2 with factory tuned pipes would do.

low 13's from what I've seen

 

[Mac Attack]

Where did you get the extra 45hp from??

The only performance mod other than weight reduction is a Unifilter. I doubt that made any noticeable difference.

I bet with a little practice you can do better. I have a 95 with headers and AIS and have turned 13.5-13.6 consistantly. Try coming off at about 3k just enough to keep your RPMs up but not over spin the tires too much. you need to let it spin a little to keep the torque up. I found my best times were when it spun almost all the way through 1st gear but still pulled.
Tony F

I gave up after the 2nd run. I was worried about it breaking and Allstate having to flatbed me 85 miles home. I didn't want the tires to spin - I wanted it to grip and go. I was expecting a launch at 3k RPM like you said to keep the torque up, but ended up smoking them anyways with a 1k RPM launch Looking at other track times here, a 1.9sec 60' is pretty good.

I can tell I'm going to have to go to the "House of Hook" next time:http://www.carolinadragway.com/preview/about.php

 

[docjohn]

Best na times we have heard from a 3.2l coupe has been 12.5 sec pass.

 

[s14_tat]

holy trap speed batman!!! you sir have a factory freak!! don't ever sell that car, Its one of a kind.

 

[Mac Attack]

holy trap speed batman!!! you sir have a factory freak!! don't ever sell that car, Its one of a kind.

In my experience, they always run real good right before blowing up. I'm hoping that's not the case here!

Here's the two timeslips. I was by myself the first time, and the second time was an older stripped Civic hatch with a turbocharged Integra engine. He redlighted and jumped out front with his slicks, and pulled slowly away after that. Very quick car!

Darlington Dragway doesn't show your "opponents" on the time slips. They didn't even have the timing towers lit up so the spectators could see the times I like to go and watch mostly. I guess grudge matches are so popular down here that what you run is kept secret when you get on a track and off the country roads?

The Civic:

Interior pics so you can see what I've removed. Pretty decent shape for a 17 year-old daily-driver with almost 100k miles huh?

 

[davidf]

What kind of shifter setup is that? It looks neat.

 

[Deltron Zero]

What kind of shifter setup is that? It looks neat.

Yeah. I've never seen that before. It does look good.

 

[Mac Attack]

What kind of shifter setup is that? It looks neat.

Yeah. I've never seen that before. It does look good.

Thanks, after my OEM leather one wore out, I wanted to do something different along the lines of my minimalist interior.

I painted the stalk a semi-gloss black and went with the Arc Ti knob. I still need to put a nice 5-speed shift pattern at the base someday, but I'm the only one who drives it anyways :smile:

 

[Deltron Zero]

Thanks, after my OEM leather one wore out, I wanted to do something different along the lines of my minimalist interior.

I painted the stalk a semi-gloss black and went with the Arc Ti knob. I still need to put a nice 5-speed shift pattern at the base someday, but I'm the only one who drives it anyways :smile:

What's the center console made of? I like the whole thing. I would maybe add a radio though.

 

[Mac Attack]

What's the center console made of? I like the whole thing. I would maybe add a radio though.

Thank you. It's 0.025" thick aluminum sheet I got from Lowes. It's not professional by any means - I should buy another sheet and use the current one as a template since there are a few improvements I could make, but I probably won't :wink:

Here it is painted gloss black awhile ago:
http://www.nsxprime.com/forums/showpost.php?p=885211&postcount=42

When I do my door panels I'll have to ask cwood1388 to paint everything for me!

 

[VegasSpeed]

Damn, an NSX is really not the best drag car stock I guess. Where it accels is all around a track with handling I imagine. If I were you I woud just turbo or supercharge that thing and call it day. The weight savings is just a hassle to me.

 

[Mac Attack]

Damn, an NSX is really not the best drag car stock I guess. Where it accels is all around a track with handling I imagine. If I were you I woud just turbo or supercharge that thing and call it day. The weight savings is just a hassle to me.

Weight savings helps you with all-around acceleration. Not just in a straight line. Reducing weight will help it go around a roadcourse better.

I posted the trap speeds (not the e.t.'s since I couldn't get any traction) since they are comparable to a slightly modified C5 Corvette, and a bad driver in a C6 (we have a lot of those at work).

Not bad at all considering it is a stock 3.0L naturally-aspirated V6 that is 17 years old with almost 100k miles on it. I'm very surprised with the trap speed that showed it was putting down significantly more power than I've heard of any other 3.0L doing. This was without headers/exhaust too (significant bottlenecks to the 3.0L).

 

[4AU4LIFE]

First of all, props to you for doing your racing at a track. You immediately earned respect for doing that.
Next, I assume you still have a/c but just decided to live with only the a/c vents in each door and nothing in the middle? Is this geared more toward racing than anything?

 

[RON98]

props on the 13.5

very quick

 

[ChongLee]

First of all, props to you for doing your racing at a track. You immediately earned respect for doing that.

+1

 

[Greg Z]

Those trap speed are great. I would question the accuracy of that tracks equipment personally. By comparision, I ran a 13.1 @ 107 mph on 18in Volks and a lot of mods. Your Traps just don't seem right to me.

 

[Drift]

Those trap speed are great. I would question the accuracy of that tracks equipment personally. By comparision, I ran a 13.1 @ 107 mph on 18in Volks and a lot of mods. Your Traps just don't seem right to me.

Sweet! very healthy trap speeds!
Coming from an 03 Cobra, you give me hope!

I was also blown away by a guy here with a turbo setup (only 8 psi) pulled a new z06 on a 120+ roll. I'll probably never do FI but simply amazing.

 

[Mac Attack]

First of all, props to you for doing your racing at a track. You immediately earned respect for doing that.
Next, I assume you still have a/c but just decided to live with only the a/c vents in each door and nothing in the middle? Is this geared more toward racing than anything?

Still have A/C for now. When it dies I'll pull it out and retire the car from daily-driving duties. Hopefully that will coincide with my planned mods below.

I blocked the center exit, but that air is forced with greater velocity through the sides now. It gets hot down here in South Carolina, and the HVAC arrangement still works pretty well (and I saved some weight).

Those trap speed are great. I would question the accuracy of that tracks equipment personally. By comparision, I ran a 13.1 @ 107 mph on 18in Volks and a lot of mods. Your Traps just don't seem right to me.

That's always a possibility, but highly doubtful. Here's a link to the track:
http://www.darlingtondragway.com/

Let's put it this way: Last Wednesday night there were more trailered professional vehicles there than street cars. They run almost every day of the week, are an IHRA member, and have nice facilities. This was my favorite that night:

*I'm not new to drag racing, I've made quite a few passes in my day. I've used a G-tech pro in other vehicles, and it has matched well (within a few tenths and a few MPH) to the track. With the G-tech out on country roads, I've gotten consistent 13.1's @ 113MPH in the NSX launching at 2500RPM's and good traction (sorry 92NSX). Of course I wouldn't have posted that by itself since people would have questioned it, but the track runs are consistent with what I had expected (except for the poor traction).

*One of the spectators at the track that night actually stopped by today when I was in the front yard blowing bubbles with my daughter. He said his friend with a new STi was getting 13.0's at 100MPH that night and everyone was surprised at how fast I went. That sounds about right for one of those.

*The starter at the track told me after the first pass that I needed a helmet - he was radiod that the car was too quick. He asked what kind of car it was and I pleaded with him to let me run again and showed him my 1st 14 second pass.

The car has always felt pretty strong. I can't wait to retire the car and start the mods at the next TB/WP/clutch change in 20k miles! I'll be building it up for this road track about 1 hour from me:
http://www.carolinamotorsportspark.com/