He said its his first time taking the Evo to the track.....Im guessing no better then 13.5

 

Well I wish I could've gotten anywhere near the times you guess had predicted. Needless to say, I'll still be hoping to break into the 13's next time.

This "track" I went to was not a NHRA cert. track, but rather someone's private track as it turned out. They had pretty good timing equipment, a digital time board, and a timeslip printer. However, the overall facility was a joke. The track was not level - I couldn't sit in the staging lights without rolling forward. And during my 4th or 5th run, a 6 point buck ran across the shutdown area at the end of the track. Evidentally the facility is not fenced in.

Anyhow, I got 7 runs in... none of which I'm proud of. The best slip was:

r/t - .9319
60ft - 2.55
1/8 ET - 9.36
1/8 MPH - 79.8
1/4 ET - 14.3
1/4 MPH 101.5

I won't bother with any excuses other than I just can't launch the car for $hit. The MPH is definitly there for a low 13, so I know I just need to get that reaction time down. Most of my "launches" I was revving up to 3500 and pretty much popping the clutch. On my last 2 runs, I was revving to 3500-4000, and slipping the clutch quite a bit. I did notice that when i was slipping the clutch, I was able to build boost almost instantaneously, and my revs never dropped below 4000rpm in 1st gear. I think these might've had the *potential* for 13 second passes, but as soon as I'd shift to 2nd, I could smell clutch, so I took it easy.

So, yes, I've got a lot to learn about launching my Evo. On the drive home I periodically got whiffs of clutch. I'm glad I was at least able to get a 101mph trap speed, so at least I know the car is capable of more. I just need to figure out this clutch/launching issue.


EDIT> Oh, and it was 83 degrees out today. I was using the IC sprayer frequently.

 

That is what I predicted - I told you not to do an idle "launch." It's useless. 101trap would have been 105 or higher with at least a low 13.

IC sprayer doesn't do anything - you should have just launched...nothing below 5k works.

 

When I first took my evo to the track never launching an awd car before I just had read about it went out and tried it, ripped a 12.3 with 1.6 60 foot banged all 4 gears. It was like the harder I drove my car the faster it went. I even side stepped the clutch once or twice but it just spun.

 

So you're saying I would've been better to rev to 5k, and dump it, or slip the clutch from 5k? All I can think of is the drivetrain suffering major shock when you dump 5,000rpms onto it. Can the stock clutch "handle" being dumped @ 5k rpms?

 

What are your mods? And when you say you read about it, what did you do? What did you rev to? Did you dump the clutch, or slip it? How long did you clutch last before it was toast?

 

Revving and 2-stepping are two completely different things. You build more boost with the 2-step. And do NOT dump the clutch, thats just asking for broken parts. You have to get use to the point from when you launch to when you completely let off the clutch so that you dont slip it too much but at the same time you dont wanna dump it. Revving at 5k will barely do you any better then rolling start. You wont realize it till you try it.

 

No one said dump. That's the worst thing you can do. You always slip it a little to get going. Also, 5k is really too low, but you can try it if you want. 5500-6000 is the normal range for stock turbo Evos. There are so many threads talking about this and explaining how to launch with both text and vids. There's a lot you haven't read through yet.

 

Thanks guys - and I have been doing more research on launching, specifically trying to find the vids you mention. It sounds like it's really in the technique of slipping the clutch. As mentioned earlier, I think I was starting to get the technique because I was able to hear the turbo spool, and was seeing full boost almost off the line. I also think that this might be a good time to start thinking about upgrading my clutch. I'm researching the ACT kits currently.

 

Just keep us updated! You'll get better at it as I am new to the track as well! Good luck!