According to my friend our times are 1 sec slower because of the elevation. Is this true? So if a car was supposed to run 13's, it should run 14's in Colorado? According to him, where they test the cars the do it at sea level, or something like that, which gives them a second faster. Im not to sure but he is a big car person, so i cant say that it isnt ture if i dont know. This is a proabably a noob question, but i am curious.

 

that is right, thin air =slow times,

 

Thanks just making sure that my friend wasnt just telling me bs.

 

np

 

An N/A car might be at a 1 second disadvantage but a turbo charged car does much better at altitude.

Here my best 1/4 mile run in my Evo at Bandimere the summer before last corrected for altitude per the NHRA (turbo) rules:

R/T .264
60' 1.715
330 4.887
1/8 7.493
MPH 95.70
1000 9.684
1/4 11.533
MPH 122.13

Altitude corrected for Bandimere (5800 ft above sea level)
11.122 @ 126.95 MPH


It's about 1/2 second difference as you can see.

 

On a N/A car you lose approx. 3% of your power for every 1000 feet above sea level that you are. So, if you are running at Bandimere you lose 17% to 18% of your power for N/A. FI cars are much different because 8 psi of boost here gives you the same amount of power that it does at sea level. I'm not saying the FI cars will have the same times but they will be a lot closer than the N/A cars.

 

Actually the lose on an N/A car is almost 5% per 1000'. It's less on a turbo charged car but still significant. What many people do not take into consideration is the fact that turbo's are not really as effecient at altitude in that they can't make as much boost and take longer to make boost. I have dyno sheets of my car from Denver and Philly. My turbo maxed out at 30psi in Denver but made 34psi in Philly (HKS3240). It also took 20% longer for the turbo to hit full boost in Denver. There are a lot of variable to be taken into consideration when discussing FI at altitude.

My Evo is 1/2 second faster at sea level vs. Bandimere in Denver in the 1/4 mile, that's a significant difference. I also had a supercharger G55 Mercedes (6psi) that I ran at Bandimere, my best time was 14.9 seconds. I also ran this car in Detroit and did a best of 13.9 seconds. Again, altitude makes a huge difference.

Four years ago I bought a BMW M5 in Chicago and drove it to Denver. I loved the car until I got to Denver. My tire shredding M5 in Chicago now felt like a fat, slow pig.

 

Great info. THanks for the explanation on that

BY the way...when is that beast going to be ready again. I can't wait to watch it run??