I went to the strip again today. I almost didn't go due to the rain last night, but it was dry enough so the track was open. Temperature was 50 degrees again, track elevation is 626', barometric pressure was 29.88 mm Hg. This time, I did take out the booster seat, junk, water bottles, dry cleaning, and toolbox but otherwise the car is still showroom stock. The rear tire pressure is 36 PSI and today, the gas was 1/4 down to 1/8 during my runs. All in all, practically the same conditions as last Sunday but minus probably about 40 pounds or so (1% reduction in total weight).

BUT, I had NO traction today! I tried launching at 2K, 1.5K, 1K, no brake. Major burn out, minor burn out, just lightly spin, and no spin. No matter what I did, I had too much wheelspin or wheel hop. The ONLY way I could manage even decent launch was to do a minor burn/spin and FEATHER the gas! The previous 3 times I went, I was able to always mash the gas but today, I couldn't. As a result, I had HORRIBLE 60 feet (unlike last weekend). I wanted to see if ECT PWR vs. normal would make a difference, but I was not able to get enough good runs to make a statisically accurate comparison.

In either case, here are my launches: 2.014 2.465 2.016 2.565 2.116 2.069 2.339 2.042 2.530 2.018 2.397 2.360 2.243 2.202

I had 2 more, but I don't have the slips - one of them was bad anyways, the other one was good - I actually beat an 06 GTO (he had the hood scoops - but he had two people in his car). As you can see, I had some realllly bad launches. I mean, absolutely no way to control the wheelspin.

In either case, here are the results that I was able to get a 2.0xx

2.014 8.725 81.49 13.532 102.47 ect power
2.016 8.708 83.00 13.503 103.25 ect power
2.069 8.680 83.58 13.444 103.57 ect power
2.042 8.664 83.65 13.417 104.31 no ect <---- my best ET and MPH
2.018 8.686 83.26 13.460 103.78 no ect

Last week my 60' times were ALMOST a 1/10 quicker than today's!!! I'm thinking that a stock IS350 with GOOD traction and good weather can get as low as 13.2xxx. In addition, I noticed that a 1% reduction in weight gives about a 1% improvement in top speed and probably a 1/10 second too but because my launches weren't as good, I didn't improve by that much. Now, I'm about 190 pounds... If I were a skinny 150 lbs, that'd take me down another 1/10!

Because I did not get enough good runs due to the launches, I cannot conclude if the ECT power is slower or faster... but then, my best two today were w/o ect power (but had to feather the gas).

One extra note.... my oil change light went on today. I'm at almost 5000 miles since the last oil change. Maybe old oil is has less viscosity and gives more HP giving me such awesome stock 1/4 times??

 

Here's the timeslip of my new best:

http://home.comcast.net/~youngsongdmd/newbest.JPG

 

Oh, I beat a modded S4 - he had some bigger turbos and software but he only managed a 13.6 and 101 or so. Also, a TL type S automatic was about 15 seconds and a 350Z did a 14+ if I recall. I also got beat by modded Evo - he was in the high 11's. A Camaro and I were going back and forth for a while - he had some kind of exhaust. It is interesting that we are able to hang with the LS1s as long as they're not too modded!

 

Well you said it rained/was damp cuz of yesterday? Was there alot of cars to put down rubber? Was the track prep'd with sticky stuff...err... in baseball they call it pinetar Lotta variables, BUT even thou weight is bad, when it comes to traction there are benefits. One of my cousins used to keep 200lbs of free weights in the back of his 69 GTO cuz he couldnt 'hook up'. Course this is an extreme example and not your 40lbs.

 

Today, the track prep definitely was not as good as last Sunday either. Last Sunday there were more people and a lot of guys running slicks keeping the track sticky. Today was almost all street cars.

 

Isnt 36 PSI high for the rear tire? try running like 31 or 32 im sure you will get better results. I think one guy ran as low as 29 in the rear and high as 45 in the front. In general you want higher psi in the front and low in the back. That should help with hooking up. And maybe do some burnouts to warm up the tires.
ECT/PWR shouldnt make a difference as it only forces the auto to hang on to gears longer. Since you should be straight up flooring it the computer won't be adjusting shift times anyway. I believe most people run in normal and best results are without torque burnouts (don't hold the brake). Good luck, and use the search, there are many 1/4 mile threads.