So on Friday I finally went back to Firebird Raceway in Chandler, AZ after my 15.4 1/4 mile run a month or so ago. Since I went that time I added my throttle body coolent by-pass, cleaned my AEM cone filter and cut out my bumper inserts. I should note it was in the low 80°s last time I went and the only pass I made I just left it in auto D5.

It was pretty dead this time since it was 100° out. Actually, my outside temp reading on my dash was 99°. Because there wasn't that many cars there I was able to make 5 runs. I tried different techniques for each run. One gate shifted all the way 3/4 throttle to WOT, one gate with WOT, one in SS mode with WOT, one in SS mode with 3/4 throttle to WOT, and then finally back to gate shifting. The weirdest thing is that my fastest time was when I had it in SS and let it shift automatically 1-2 pre-redline, I recall it being around 6200 RPM. I was kinda thrown for a loop on that one. I thought for sure gate shifting at 6800 RPM would give me a tenth or two because of the headers making most of their power up high, but in fact it slowed me down. Odd.

The first run of the day was against a brand spanking new Civic Si Sedan. My first pass was a 15.5. Pretty disappointing. I did completely destroyed the Si by about two car lengths though, so that was good. My second run was from the other lane and once again against the Civic Si. Same results, a little worse with a 15.6. Third pass was against a modded 03 Mustang GT and he beat me by about two car lengths. I ran another 15.5. Ugh. Forth and fifth passes were against a gutted 90 Civic Si hatchback. He smacked me around on the 60' times but I eventually ran him down just after half track both times and got my best ET of the day on one of the passes with a 15.4 and a 60' of 2.4.

I was a little disappointed with my times... once again. Considering the other cars were running slow as hell though, I didn't feel as bad. The new Civic Si I ran against was running 15.9 to 16 flat. I talked to the guy for a while before we went down the track and he had tons of experience running the 1/4 mile with other cars, so considering he was running almost a full second off the expected times of a new Si, well, made me feel better. Also that Mustang GT I raced only pulled a high 14 and I saw a brand new 350Z pull two 14.8s in a row. I'm thinking the combination of altitude and heat just won't let me see the 14s.

I dug up an altitude correction calculator and used it to determine my corrected ET. Firebird sits at 2700 feet above sea level, so the corrected 15.4 equals a 14.99 at sea level. Factor in it was 100° and that probably puts me right around a mid to high 14 second 1/4 mile ET. Okay, now I feel a whole lot better. I guess it makes sense, but considering the cars I've beaten on the street, I guess I had it in my head I should have seen faster numbers. I know heat kills though and after the track has been baking in the desert heat all day long I shouldn't expect super fast numbers. The only true test will be in the fall time when temps drop quite a bit.

If anyone is interested in my time slips I can post them.

 

TB spacers will help you big time with those multiple runs and high temps... Definitely something to look into especially for under $100...

 

Thanks, maybe something to look into.

 

Here's my time slip from my best pass against the gutted Civic hatchback.



So according to the altitude correction calculator I found on this website http://www.wallaceracing.com/altitudecorrection.htm my pass would translate into a 14.996 @ 94.76 MPH at sea level. I wish there was a temperature correction calculator to see what 20° cooler temps would've got me.

 

those outside temps are killer.