thos Posted February 4, 2004 Posted February 4, 2004 Hey all, There's a 1/4 mile drag strip competition coming up over here, and I'm half thinking about putting the Westfield up. They've broken it up into classes so I'd fit into the 1600-2000 naturally aspirated class, so I reckon my 1.8 Zetec should do pretty well. There's hardly any Westfields over here in Ireland, and the event mainly looks to be a Fast and Furious style thing. I'm in the middle of getting a set of throttle bodies onto the car so mightnt have it finished in time, but just wondering if anyone has any tips for 1/4 mile racing ? I've got a full screen, is there any advantage in ditching this for the day ? How about dropping the rear tyre pressure a little for better take off grip ? Anyone got any 1/4 miles time for a Westfield ? Thanks, Tom Quote
adhawkins Posted February 4, 2004 Posted February 4, 2004 You'll definately be better without a front screen. Aerodynamically speaking that's one of the major factors. As you get to the top end of the speed range, removing the windscreen should give you a few extra MPH. If you've got a number plate that hangs down below the radiator grill, removing that will probably help too. Andy Quote
Bananaman Posted February 4, 2004 Posted February 4, 2004 Theres some 0-60 times here. If you contact Graeme flukemotorsport@hotmail.com. I know he's done some 1/4 miles at Brighton, although his car is far from standard. Quote
Matt Seabrook Posted February 4, 2004 Posted February 4, 2004 Practise you starts most drag races are won on the start line Fluke site is not very up to date on the 0-60 times I emailed Graham my 0-60 times 6 months ago and they are still not on the site so far best 0-60 I have managed is 4.3 seconds but ave. at 4.5. Fastest qtr mile speed was 116mph and 12.8 seconds see my web site for videos Quote
Paul Hurdsfield - Joint Manchester AO Posted February 4, 2004 Posted February 4, 2004 There was a thread on here about this about 18months ago I posted times set by Glen Hardman and Myself at Santa Pod both of us in std 2.0ltr Zetecs on carbs. He ran without a screen and i ran with one, try a search and see what you come up with, if not i will dig out the times tonight and post them for you. Quote
Paul Hurdsfield - Joint Manchester AO Posted February 4, 2004 Posted February 4, 2004 Ok just did a search And it worked Here goes, on the first run Glen Hardman and I went together Lane 1 Lane 2 Glen Me 1.250 Reaction 1.265 2.083 60ft 1.945 5.877 330ft 5.786 9.087 1/8et 9.056 76.59 1/8mph 75.43 14.294 1/4et 14.284 93.22 1/4mph 92.58 Second run Me 0.853 reaction 2.275 60ft 6.224 330ft 9.524 1/8et 74.83 1/8mph 14.775 1/4et 92.21 1/4mph Glen will have to give you his second run times. Mine is an SEIW on the road in 2000, 7.000 miles on the clock 2.0ltr Zetec, 45DCOE Webers, Alpha 3D management, all bought brand new, std Westfield Exhaust System, Rolling road at RE Engineering in Bury said 135BHP at the rear wheels MT75 box 3.62 (I think) LSD Yoko A520 tyres 205-50-15 18psi Glen ran without a windscreen. I ran in full luxury road trim, boot box, carpets etc, Sidescreens and rucksack in the footwell, Hood, tools and gallon of petrol in the boot, and ¾ of a tank of fuel. Quote
adhawkins Posted February 4, 2004 Posted February 4, 2004 Is this the thread you're talking about? Andy Quote
Mike H Posted February 4, 2004 Posted February 4, 2004 Have a look at Ian Crocker's site: SEiGHT.com and click on the Performance link. Mike Quote
Paul Hurdsfield - Joint Manchester AO Posted February 4, 2004 Posted February 4, 2004 Is this the thread you're talking about? Andy No it was on November the 2nd i think Quote
Paul Hurdsfield - Joint Manchester AO Posted February 4, 2004 Posted February 4, 2004 Yippeee!!! Thats the first time I've done that and it worked after a bit of editing Quote
adhawkins Posted February 4, 2004 Posted February 4, 2004 Congratulations People obviously talk about Santa Pod too much Andy Quote
Nick M Posted February 4, 2004 Posted February 4, 2004 Tyre pressure might not be worth worrying about if they're just normal road tyres. The sidewalls won't move enough to make much of a difference to traction. As Matt said, there's a lot of time to be found in the start so practice your launch technique and try to find the optimum combination of rpm and clutch slip to keep the engine on song. Gearchanges are also important - quick and precise and don't hit the rev-limiter or hang on to a gear for too long if you don't have one. Find out where your engine produces peak torque and power and experiment with changing gear to make the most of this. Quickest my car has run has been a 13.8 at, I think, 101mph. But I was getting terrible wheelspin in second (poor track surface and concrete road tyres) and I was hitting the rev-limiter about 50feet from the finish line - it was debatable if a gear change would have been slower than hitting the limiter for a second or so. Oh yes, and the driver needed practice in hitting the gear changes just right.... Quote
thos Posted February 4, 2004 Author Posted February 4, 2004 Thanks guys, I'll definitely try testing the launches. Hopefully the tyres will be A032r's or maye a048r's, but that's a whole different story ... I've been checking out what the competition are like, there's a tuned Mk1 GTI 1.8 16v, with a boot load of Nitrous, who usually does the 1/4 somewhere in the 12's. Quote
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