Anyone else drag racing their miata or is it just me?

I turned consistent low 7 second passes on my Buell lighting.

Of course it was an 1/8 mile strip

Only drag raced twice. When I was 18 in a friends modified Fox-body, was running high 13s.

On my 2004 R6, consistently ran 11.20s in the 120-122 range.

Forgive me, and I know there is an art to drag racing I fully respect, BUT......

DRAG RACING is like the premature ejaculation of motorsports

Ovid_and_Flem wrote: Forgive me, and I know there is an art to drag racing I fully respect, BUT...... DRAG RACING is like the premature ejaculation of motorsports

Because only one party can win?

calteg wrote:

Ovid_and_Flem wrote: Forgive me, and I know there is an art to drag racing I fully respect, BUT...... DRAG RACING is like the premature ejaculation of motorsports

Because only one party can win?

Because people like to insult things they don't know about. I've been involved in drag racing and offroading, but never autocross or motorcycles, so obviously autocross and motorcycles are dumb.

So I'm thinking of taking the GS430 to a drag racing "fun night," any tips on drag racing an automatic? Should I power brake? (Foot on gas and brake, just shy of losing traction, let off brake and floor it when light turns green?)

dculberson wrote: So I'm thinking of taking the GS430 to a drag racing "fun night," any tips on drag racing an automatic? Should I power brake? (Foot on gas and brake, just shy of losing traction, let off brake and floor it when light turns green?)

Always stall against the converter. Less RPM if you get wheelspin. Mash the gas on the last yellow and adjust the timing based on the resulting light.

tuna55 wrote:

dculberson wrote: So I'm thinking of taking the GS430 to a drag racing "fun night," any tips on drag racing an automatic? Should I power brake? (Foot on gas and brake, just shy of losing traction, let off brake and floor it when light turns green?)

Always stall against the converter. Less RPM if you get wheelspin. Mash the gas on the last yellow and adjust the timing based on the resulting light.

Ymmv, but my foxbody was 0.1 sec quicker just flooring it off the line versus brake torquing. Granted my sample size was 4 passes, and this was on a stock car, with stock converter.

Cooper_Tired wrote:

tuna55 wrote:

dculberson wrote: So I'm thinking of taking the GS430 to a drag racing "fun night," any tips on drag racing an automatic? Should I power brake? (Foot on gas and brake, just shy of losing traction, let off brake and floor it when light turns green?)

Always stall against the converter. Less RPM if you get wheelspin. Mash the gas on the last yellow and adjust the timing based on the resulting light.

Ymmv, but my foxbody was 0.1 sec quicker just flooring it off the line versus brake torquing. Granted my sample size was 4 passes, and this was on a stock car, with stock converter.

Cool!

I've never heard of that happening before. By all means, experiment!

z31maniac wrote: Only drag raced twice. When I was 18 in a friends modified Fox-body, was running high 13s. On my 2004 R6, consistently ran 11.20s in the 120-122 range.

TRP is having a Test and Tune night on Friday the 29th from 6PM to 11PM. SWMBO and I are going. Gonna find out just how tired the Mellenium Escort's engine is before I tear it down for a freshening over the winter. The last rebuild was 105,000 miles ago and it needs it based on the relatively low oil pressure at idle, the weeping front seal, burning a quart every 1500, and I'm pretty sure most of the lifters are shot (as in no longer pumping up completely to give full valve lift) and the fact that it feels weaker from 5000 to 6000 RPM than I remember when it was fresh. I will be surprised if it hasn't slowed into the 16s by the way it feels. I haven't made any passes for 23 years, gonna be fun!

gearheadmb wrote:

calteg wrote:

Ovid_and_Flem wrote: Forgive me, and I know there is an art to drag racing I fully respect, BUT...... DRAG RACING is like the premature ejaculation of motorsports

Because only one party can win?

Because people like to insult things they don't know about. I've been involved in drag racing and offroading, but never autocross or motorcycles, so obviously autocross and motorcycles are dumb.

No...because it's over too soon. And as I attempted to acknowledge in my original post, drag racing is an art. No intent to disparage.

dculberson wrote: In reply to SVreX: I do not disagree that it is quite an accomplishment, but saying "stock motor" in your first post and leaving out "turbo" means incomplete if not downright incorrect info.

Right. That's why I said turbo in the 2nd post.

I also said nitrous in the first post, so that might have been a clue.

SVreX wrote: 13.2 in mine with the original 1.6L, but I've never pulled the trigger on the nitrous. edit: That stock engine has over 200K on it.

In the 1/8th?

I should throw the old tires on the Manic Miata and run it down to Cecil County Dragway some evening. I'd be interested to see what it does. I know for sure one thing it does is get a lot of wheel hop if I launch it too hard.

gearheadmb wrote:

calteg wrote:

Ovid_and_Flem wrote: Forgive me, and I know there is an art to drag racing I fully respect, BUT...... DRAG RACING is like the premature ejaculation of motorsports

Because only one party can win?

Because people like to insult things they don't know about. I've been involved in drag racing and offroading, but never autocross or motorcycles, so obviously autocross and motorcycles are dumb.

Umm.. I've heard far more autocrossers diss drag racing then I've ever heard drag racers diss autocross. Even in this thread.

I'll be the first to admit that I suck at both drag racing AND autoX. And I really got away from both when I took up W2W road racing on both bikes and cars. It takes real talent for either. A talent to be a good drag racer or autocrosser...the ability to put together cosistent runs over a relatively short event. I don't have that talent. With RRing I had time to settle into a rhythm helped mask my lack of talent that rears it's ugly head in my case.

In reply to Ovid_and_Flem:

I shouldn't have came back with my dickish tone. I am in day three of quitting smoking cold turkey and its made me a little unpleasant. I apologize.

In reply to gearheadmb:

Day 3 becomes day 4. Keep it up!

(Ex 5 pack a dayer here)

SVreX wrote:

dculberson wrote: In reply to SVreX: I do not disagree that it is quite an accomplishment, but saying "stock motor" in your first post and leaving out "turbo" means incomplete if not downright incorrect info.

Right. That's why I said turbo in the 2nd post. I also said nitrous in the first post, so that might have been a clue.

I actually thought the same thing. I heard stock motor, nitrous not used yet, as "I installed the nitrous on my challenge car but didn't hit the button as I was on a shakedown run and it went this ET all motor".

No worries, though. I get it now. It's a turbo on a stock longblock.

That 33-second step van sounds painful. Even back in the 20th century some tracks had 19.99 dial-in limits for bracket races. Even a bone stock 4-cyl automatic sedan will do that.

I need to get back, it has been 8 years since I bracket raced. Next time will be in a Miata, but autocross keeps getting in the way. There's still some kind of instinct in my brain based on my ProSolo R/T's and 60ft times. I'm great off the line right up until I have to turn the wheel and then I finish mid-pack

I won a lot of money (and fame?) bracket racing my 84 Rabbit GTI. It's only slightly less depressing when you realize that it's 0-60 is faster than an 84 Camaro.

I now have a purpose built car, still stupid fwd, to play around with. I have learned that if you don't need to buy brakes and tires and expect the suspension to deal with turns you can make a lot of compromises and racing becomes (a bit) cheaper.

tuna55 wrote:

dculberson wrote: So I'm thinking of taking the GS430 to a drag racing "fun night," any tips on drag racing an automatic? Should I power brake? (Foot on gas and brake, just shy of losing traction, let off brake and floor it when light turns green?)

Always stall against the converter. Less RPM if you get wheelspin. Mash the gas on the last yellow and adjust the timing based on the resulting light.

^ this is the way to do it, which my 16 year old self didnt know. That is why the rev-limiter neutral drop at the drag strip in my 1990 plymouth sundance fused itself into drive, no more reverse or neutral, always drive.

on that neutral drop run it ran a 19.4 @ 68 mph... not even highway speeds...

gearheadmb wrote: In reply to Ovid_and_Flem: I shouldn't have came back with my dickish tone. I am in day three of quitting smoking cold turkey and its made me a little unpleasant. I apologize.

Oh, I didn't take it that way. No need to apologize. I was trying to make it clear I wasn't trying to put down drag racing ....I'm just no good at it.

Congrats on 3 days!

Good to see there are some folks on here that will admit to taking a car down the 1/4-mile. Wifey and I used to do it quite frequently before the kiddos came along. Might have to invest in some new rubber and get back there. FWIW, best in the T2 was 13.60 @ 104 mph. Never did have the heart to strip out that beautiful leather interior, and probably never will.

Good to see there are some folks on here that will admit to taking a car down the 1/4-mile.

My 5spd Caravan ran 18.2 when it was stock. Now it has run 14.0. My SRT4 caravan has run 13.3.

I'm tempted to find out what my Lexus Hybrid runs but i'm not going back to the track until it's well under 100f. Another 2 months..

An autocrosser typically hears "stock motor" and hears "stock class". A drag racer typically hears "stock motor" and hears "not built motor", or more specifically, "not built bottom end".

Just an observation.