So, last week was the first time I took the evo to my local track to do some 1/4 mile racing and I couldn't have been more dissapointed in my driving. Now my shifting was fine and was on time but where I got killed was the launch. I was cutting some 2.6 60 ft times with bogging out dramatically. Unfortunately, I'm a little paranoid of blowing my transfer case and or transmission or clutch by doing a Launch. Now I know not to dump the clutch and that I have to slip the clutch until it engages and then once it starts to engage then release it at the same time I floor the car. Now one thing that did suprise me was my trap speed. My car made 300 AWHP with the mods listed below in my sig and I would have thought I would be trapping around 107 to 108 but my best trap speed was a 105.8 mph. Also when I was driving the car down the track, going in to 4th gear the car feels like it gets sluggish and doesn't pull as strong as 1st through 3rd gear. Could there be something wrong with my car towards the top end of the rpm band? Or is the stock turbo just reaching its limits at that point? I was thinking that maybe since I have the stock fuel pump that its costing me fuel towards the top end of the rpm band or that my stock intercooler is restricting the air flow to the motor? All in all, I finished the night with a dissapointing best of 14.1 1/4 mile with my car. So if anyone has any info as to what could be affecting my car at the top end or if the mph I'm running is right for my mods please let me know. Oh and if anyone has any suggestions about improving my technique for launches without having to launch the car at the 2step and risk breaking expensive parts I would greatly appreciate it.

 

i am also trying to save my clutch and transfer case due to the fact that i don't have money to replace them so what i do is slip the clutch at 3500 rpm and get a 2.15 60 ft time and a 13.5 1/4 mile with a 106 trapt speed with a 285 wheel hp evo so practice doing a 3500 rpm launch without bogging

 

thats the 1 thing im worried about 2 my tranny i need to start trying some launches and slipping the clutch

 

i would say launch off the 2 step that would improve it greatly and as long as you slip the clutch right you shouldn't break anything. I have 67000 miles on my car with the stock clutch and the mods in my sig and run a 12.7 at 110.

 

whats the 2 step?

 

I'm kinda new to trying to launch my evo... sorry lol

 

its going to take some practice!!! i hit 13.1 with TURBOBACK alone soo its gonna take some practice your should be in the 13's easily...shift at 7k aswell cus with the mods you have you wont make anymore more power at 7k, and you should be at the 1.8-1.6 at best for your 60ft. so practice practice practice!!!

 

The "2step" is the launch control that some newer evo8s have and evo9s i believe. It ingaudges around 5500rpm I think and if you have a evo 8 you can get it the 2step in a tune or if you have a newer one then it might have one allready.

 

the fuel pump could possibly be why the car feels slugish up top... i will tell you extremepsi.com is having a sale on them for black friday! lol im ordering one

 

what clutch do you have? if you lanch right the only thing you will worry about is your clutch if its stock. you car is capable of more, but it does take time. I got my 03 VIII to a 13.0 with a new clutch and 95% stock.

its all your 60ft, dont worry about trap speeds or reaction times just yet. just focus on lowering the 60 to about a 1.9-1.8 and the rest will just come.

then once you get more familiar with the car and how it launches, you can start stretching out your gears a little (emphasis on the word "little") more.

I was the same way, but once you learn how the car reacts to your driving it becomes much more fun.

good luck my friend, just dont stress it,

 

it sounds like the launch is just killing the e.t, that trap will come up a little too without a nasty bog. Also I would log the runs down the track and make sure it's not knocking on shifts or overly rich, both of which won't show up on a dyno tune usually.

 

Is the stock trans that weak? You can always increase the tire pressure, this will take some load off the trans/clutch and allow the tires to spin a little easier. This way you dont have to slip the clutch which in a turbo/awd car is never a good idea.

If you dont want to launch using the 2 step.

Bring the clutch up to just below where the car wants to start moving, bounce the rpms up/down from 3k-5k a few times and at the bottom of the down swing go WOT. Then just release the clutch at one time as the tach hits the rpms you want to launch at.

This is exactly how I launch my A4 1.8t and how I launched Smogrunners EVO8 at the USCC.