1/4 mile Drag Times
Discussion
Ballistic Banana said:
dustyC raced me at Thorney Island. He did a 13.7
slower than the 4.3, he must have been wieghed down by his Hairy Chest and Medallion
BB
in fairness its more skilled than you would imagine. The amount of torque in any TVR is pretty big and so trying to get away is not easy. The surface at Thorney island was not great and I was all over the show, which meant the first 60feet times were awful. Both DustyC and I recorded 110 mph terminal speeds. Cuzza was in a standard elise and beat me by 0.1 of a second with a terminal speed of only 98mph, purely because of the lack of torque meant he had done the 60 feet time before I had really moved
I will post up a short video of Dusty and me leaving the line when I get home from work if you want.
Please do Shnozz 
I would be interested to see that.
I can well imagine that things can get quite hairy at the start trying to keep some traction and To me I would also be cacking myself that something would brake as you dumped/dropped the clutch. as like you say theres so much Torque.
BB
I would be interested to see that. I can well imagine that things can get quite hairy at the start trying to keep some traction and To me I would also be cacking myself that something would brake as you dumped/dropped the clutch. as like you say theres so much Torque.
BB
The view of a first time attempt at drag racing, by me!
The best way to start is not to dump the clutch.
I did a few trial runs away from the crowds on my own and found bringing it in slowly gets you a fantastic start and brilliant times.
However when theres about a thousand people watching you, someone slagging you off over the tannoy, and the air is filled with the smokes and smells of tyres and clutches you can imagine what happens when you queue up to the lights:
Arms go straight and rigid, head tilts forward slightly and then that famous red mist comes right on down.
The lights change through their sequence quicker than the flick of a switch and thats when all that practice goes straight out the window. Right foot goes down and left foot comes up, all a tad too quickly, que lots of noise and tyre smoke!
Its then realised that theres not much time to ponce around trying to prevent the wheel spin by lifting off the gas, you just want to get off that damn line!
Whack it in to second and a rolling wheel spin gets you going as you see the rear of your contender getting smaller as they depart (up against a tuned newer Celica GTfour on my first go).
Banging against the rev limiter with the red mist in full effect and as the traction comes into proper effect the Griff starts to do its thing and catch up with the enemy!
Racing along side the noise of his excess turbo pressure venting through the dump valve reminds that gear changes are necessary!
Eventually crossing the timing gear line at the end of the runway a cars length ahead and then its a sigh of relief. Let off all the pedals, relax shoulders and arms and coast...phew.
Shit, hang on, the end of the runway is coming up, and beyond that is the sea! Slamm on the brakes as hard as possible and swing the car round to coast back up the taxi lane. Through the crowds to collect your ticket and then have another go!
Apart from realising the end of the runway comes up quick you make all the same mistakes the second time too!
Did two timed runs, the second one against Shnozz (4.0 Chim) got me a 13.72 at 110MPH (just checked my ticket). Shnozz was aproximatley one second slower but with the same terminal speed and we reckon we had the same experience so the gap was probably about right between our cars.
Shortly after this I needed a new clutch....but I'll be back for more next year anyway. Didnt realise it could be such good fun and such a big rush!
For the record my car is a 1996 Griffith 500 and is standard all round. Bridgestone S03 tyres with about 5000 miles on them were used. The roof panel was also off and the back section down.
The hand book stats a 1/4 mile time of 12.2.
I believe that with practice I could shave a second off my time. the car felt capable of it.
I imagine even more practice or an expert would be able to achieve the 12.2 time. Would probably help to have the roof up and no hangover too!
BB: Feel free to use this on the new site. Can probably dig out some pics to go with it. Adam
>> Edited by DustyC on Wednesday 27th October 20:24
The best way to start is not to dump the clutch.
I did a few trial runs away from the crowds on my own and found bringing it in slowly gets you a fantastic start and brilliant times.
However when theres about a thousand people watching you, someone slagging you off over the tannoy, and the air is filled with the smokes and smells of tyres and clutches you can imagine what happens when you queue up to the lights:
Arms go straight and rigid, head tilts forward slightly and then that famous red mist comes right on down.
The lights change through their sequence quicker than the flick of a switch and thats when all that practice goes straight out the window. Right foot goes down and left foot comes up, all a tad too quickly, que lots of noise and tyre smoke!
Its then realised that theres not much time to ponce around trying to prevent the wheel spin by lifting off the gas, you just want to get off that damn line!
Whack it in to second and a rolling wheel spin gets you going as you see the rear of your contender getting smaller as they depart (up against a tuned newer Celica GTfour on my first go).
Banging against the rev limiter with the red mist in full effect and as the traction comes into proper effect the Griff starts to do its thing and catch up with the enemy!
Racing along side the noise of his excess turbo pressure venting through the dump valve reminds that gear changes are necessary!
Eventually crossing the timing gear line at the end of the runway a cars length ahead and then its a sigh of relief. Let off all the pedals, relax shoulders and arms and coast...phew.
Shit, hang on, the end of the runway is coming up, and beyond that is the sea! Slamm on the brakes as hard as possible and swing the car round to coast back up the taxi lane. Through the crowds to collect your ticket and then have another go!
Apart from realising the end of the runway comes up quick you make all the same mistakes the second time too!
Did two timed runs, the second one against Shnozz (4.0 Chim) got me a 13.72 at 110MPH (just checked my ticket). Shnozz was aproximatley one second slower but with the same terminal speed and we reckon we had the same experience so the gap was probably about right between our cars.
Shortly after this I needed a new clutch....but I'll be back for more next year anyway. Didnt realise it could be such good fun and such a big rush!
For the record my car is a 1996 Griffith 500 and is standard all round. Bridgestone S03 tyres with about 5000 miles on them were used. The roof panel was also off and the back section down.
The hand book stats a 1/4 mile time of 12.2.
I believe that with practice I could shave a second off my time. the car felt capable of it.
I imagine even more practice or an expert would be able to achieve the 12.2 time. Would probably help to have the roof up and no hangover too!
BB: Feel free to use this on the new site. Can probably dig out some pics to go with it. Adam
>> Edited by DustyC on Wednesday 27th October 20:24
and sounded good too DustyC said:
The view of a first time attempt at drag racing, by me!
The best way to start is not to dump the clutch.
I did a few trial runs away from the crowds on my own and found bringing it in slowly gets you a fantastic start and brilliant times.
However when theres about a thousand people watching you, someone slagging you off over the tannoy, and the air is filled with the smokes and smells of tyres and clutches you can imagine what happens when you queue up to the lights:
Arms go straight and rigid, head tilts forward slightly and then that famous red mist comes right on down.
The lights change through their sequence quicker than the flick of a switch and thats when all that practice goes straight out the window. Right foot goes down and left foot comes up, all a tad too quickly, que lots of noise and tyre smoke!
Its then realised that theres not much time to ponce around trying to prevent the wheel spin by lifting off the gas, you just want to get off that damn line!
Whack it in to second and a rolling wheel spin gets you going as you see the rear of your contender getting smaller as they depart (up against a tuned newer Celica GTfour on my first go).
Banging against the rev limiter with the red mist in full effect and as the traction comes into proper effect the Griff starts to do its thing and catch up with the enemy!
Racing along side the noise of his excess turbo pressure venting through the dump valve reminds that gear changes are necessary!
Eventually crossing the timing gear line at the end of the runway a cars length ahead and then its a sigh of relief. Let off all the pedals, relax shoulders and arms and coast...phew.
Shit, hang on, the end of the runway is coming up, and beyond that is the sea! Slamm on the brakes as hard as possible and swing the car round to coast back up the taxi lane. Through the crowds to collect your ticket and then have another go!
Apart from realising the end of the runway comes up quick you make all the same mistakes the second time too!
Did two timed runs, the second one against Shnozz (4.0 Chim) got me a 13.72 at 110MPH (just checked my ticket). Shnozz was aproximatley one second slower but with the same terminal speed and we reckon we had the same experience so the gap was probably about right between our cars.
Shortly after this I needed a new clutch....but I'll be back for more next year anyway. Didnt realise it could be such good fun and such a big rush!
For the record my car is a 1996 Griffith 500 and is standard all round. Bridgestone S03 tyres with about 5000 miles on them were used. The roof panel was also off and the back section down.
The hand book stats a 1/4 mile time of 12.2.
I believe that with practice I could shave a second off my time. the car felt capable of it.
I imagine even more practice or an expert would be able to achieve the 12.2 time. Would probably help to have the roof up and no hangover too!
BB: Feel free to use this on the new site. Can probably dig out some pics to go with it. Adam
>> Edited by DustyC on Wednesday 27th October 20:24
Cheers Dusty I am sure I will use it. Got some great info and pics and getting more stuff weekly so all coming together, just I am bit slow getting it all together and online.
The Griffith pages
BB
Ballistic Banana said:
The Griffith pages
BB
Great site Simon. Keep up the work, it'll end up a well visited place!
HarryW said:
who I don't think has forgiven Tim yet .
Eh? for what?
Edited: Im guessing this is because of that video thread a while ago which I just re-visited (searching "Thorney" in the events forum for times and it brings up the video thread).
I think you both misread it as Tim asked for opinions so I just tried to offer advice (ie "just post clips not 10 mins of vids" and "scrap the car park bit"). At that point he decided he didnt want opinions anymore!
And yes I was so deeply hurt that I didnt get my car on to your video. What? Why would I care if my car was on it or not? I dont even watch the stuff I record myself and end up constantly taping over it!
Dont take it to heart you two. Chill
(Cuzza and the BEC blokes; rest assured that I do still have the video footage of you at thorney as you asked me to keep it! Cuzza/Shnozz: do you have a video camera? I'll bring the tapes tonight. I dont have access to a camera at the moment).
>> Edited by DustyC on Thursday 28th October 08:52
>> Edited by DustyC on Thursday 28th October 08:53
JoolzB said:
Good vids those. I'm impressed with the performance of the S against the Chimp, it seemed to keep with them all the way. Although to be fair the Chimp driver was applying lippy and looking in the mirror when the lights turned green.
and more than meets the eye to it as well....
the chim driver had owned the car less than a week IIRC
and the S is a V8S that has had lots of ££££££s on getting it to the same power as the average joe's 5 litre RV8.
shnozz said:
Good vids those. I'm impressed with the performance of the S against the Chimp, it seemed to keep with them all the way. Although to be fair the Chimp driver was applying lippy and looking in the mirror when the lights turned green.
and more than meets the eye to it as well....
the chim driver had owned the car less than a week IIRC
and the S is a V8S that has had lots of ££££££s on getting it to the same power as the average joe's 5 litre RV8.
Yeah looks like there is too. That would explain the performance of the S then but can u explain why the Nova seemed so down on power?
JoolzB said:
Good vids those. I'm impressed with the performance of the S against the Chimp, it seemed to keep with them all the way. Although to be fair the Chimp driver was applying lippy and looking in the mirror when the lights turned green.
Thanks for the voite of confidence there , can't quite remember whether he was in my wing mirror view or just my interior one by the end of the 1/4 though 
. As shnozz said he'd only had the car a week and I think he might have layed a little too much rubber down.
Harry
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