Since there was no "test and tune" class this weekend I decided to enter the car into a small little trophy class instead of going into the sportsman classes. I was basically using the class to do test and tune, and I only got two passes total unfortunately. But my wife was away for the day and I just really wanted to go to the track. I checked the weather forecast and decided Saturday would be the best day because Sunday (today) looked like rain. and it turns out Island canceled the nostalgia drags today so I am glad I went Saturday.
I have never done any type of bracket racing; just previously did test and tune days. I knew there was a lot more involved in bracket racing, but I decided to give it a shot. Knowing the hot summer weather was not helpful with my quest for an 11 second pass, I decided to try to work on my reaction time, launch, and to finally get to test my new shift light. Lots of cars racing in different classes meant that we all only got one test pass or "timeshot". I decided that I would put a safe WOT ignition tune in the car and I loaded one that has my WOT set to only 35 deg. Knowing that I would run slower, I decided to see if I could get the car to maximize front end lift by putting a lot of weight in the rear. for my first pass I put 200 pounds of weight in the trunk's lower well! sounds crazy, but when I chatted with some experienced racers, they said that many of them had done this earlier in life and I shouldn't feel too dumb about experimenting with this. I also lowered both the front and rear struts/shocks to the lowest setting. Had the front skinnies set at 35psi and the rear drag radials at 19psi. Did a good 2 gear burnout. I wanted to see how the car would leave off of a "high idle" and while focusing on actually really trying to get a better reaction time. My previous reactions times recently are all over the place, because i had been concerned with other aspects of the car/pass. So I launched from an 1,100 rpm high-idle and the car hooked fine but I don't think it pulled a wheel. The track photographer who was there did not get a photo either. bummer. . I also wanted to see how dialed-in my new shift light was, so I didnt shift until I saw it light up at 6,100, and then as soon as that happened I quickly looked at the dash to see where the tach's needle was and THEN I shifted. this caused me to hit the rev limiter at 6,500 . did this same routine again for the 2-3 shift (tack bulb on->glance at dash tach->actually shift) . but I learned that I should slightly lower down the shift light's dial setting. ran a slow e.t. and got smoked by a modified Track-hawk. but my reaction time was somewhat good (for me) and there were no other issues. 12.418 at 110.08 mph. (remember 200 lbs in the trunk, hit revv limiter on both shifts, and a "safe" 35 deg WOT timing)
Since we only had that one time-shot to base our Dial-in for round 1 from, I kept the ECU tune the same, lowered the shift light rpm, and decided to put another 100 pounds in the trunk. so thats 300 lbs in the trunk total (bringing my car weight to 3,800 with me in it). it seems somewhat foolish, but I would rather experiment and try, instead of never trying and not knowing. I wrote a 12.45 dial on the window despite knowing the rule that 100 pounds will add a tenth to an e.t., but I planned on not tagging the rev limiter so I was ok with a 12.45 dial in. Welp, I got an unlucky draw against a guy who has a very dialed in car and is very consistent. So i got knocked out when he went 14.261 on his 14.26 dial in! However, the 300 pounds in the trunk is indeed getting the nose to lift, but again no track photographer (they took breaks because of the heat) so I can not verify if I am close to lifting a wheel yet or not. Honestly, I think I am not, but I am probably really close to having the drivers side front tire up high enough that is is just gliding on the track for a moment. the extra weight caused my pass to be slower, but I am fine with that. I was a little bit better on the tree with a .117 reaction time. But this is new to me and one day I will look back and laugh at my previous .4xx and .5xx reaction times. I later spoke to Jerry (theHazGuy) about some tips and tricks on how to react/time a tree. He has been super helpful to me, along with a lot of the other racers I hungout with and chatted with yesterday. I learned a lot.
Anyways, I got knocked out in round 1, as expected. Only got two passes, but learned a ton from people and drove the car home with no issues. I feel that the adjustment on the shift light is pretty well set, so maybe 1 or 2 more passes and I will lock it in for good. Up to yesterday, I;'ve never had to react/shift from a shift light bulb, but I will get used to it soon I am sure. I plan on going to the Test and Tune this upcoming Sunday August 9th.
I took screenshots of the datalogs for my two passes. I am also pretty happy with the values in my LEARN table too. I know the extra weight in the trunk effected the load on the engine, so some numbers up top aren't really low, but I wont be loading hundreds of pounds of weights in the car for long, probably just experiment one more time if a track-photographer is there. could also try a go pro mounted low on the car facing the front drivers side tire.
Datalog of Run 1:
dark read RPM line, shows me leaving off an 1,100 rpm high-idle and the converter flashing around 2,800 (but its a 3,400 converter.. is this normal??), I hit the revv limiter at the top of both shifts (flat spot on dark red line). ignition timing is the flat green line and was 35 deg at WOT. AFR seems well dialed in (except rev limiter moment and at shift)
Datalog from Run 2:
Left from a 1,600 rpm and converter flashes right around 2,800 rpm. timing is 35 deg. Was much better on the shifts with the 1->2 shift at 6,289 and the 2->3 shift at 6,356 rpm. crossing the finish line lower than usual in the rpm band (at 5,480 rpm but I also have an extra 300 pounds in the trunk). CL comp% and learn were also pretty good.
Only one in-car video from yesterday which was pass 1 against the trackhawk. I must have double clicked the go-pro camera button because for pass 2 I only have a 1second clip! whoops.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyPNq2osf9s