My new boss and also old friend is a big car guy. He spent some time at the Baytown track just east of Houston. It's well-known to the 1/4 mile drag racing crowd, but I've never been there. He hadn't either, but knew some guys who are semi-professionals with 9 second cars.

After spending some time watching them warm up for the races Friday night, he thought it would be fun to go out there and run our cars.

We were just chatting in my office and I said I'd love to give it a whirl once and see what kind of numbers we post. I'm only into road racing and have no idea how to launch and stuff, but I'd like to try it once.

Anyway, the big question was about the burn-out area. We both have AWD and he said they have this wet area w/ hoses where you get your tires wet, then burn them out to white smoke in order to get them warm.

How do you deal with this in an AWD car that can't do a burn out?
He said there's really no way around the water, so we'd be racing with wet tires.
How do you guys who drag race your 911 Turbos handle that?


PS. I wouldn't dare line up against someone I don't know in a supposedly slower car b/c I don't want my lack of skill at this kind of driving turning me into an internet celebrity as the 911 Turbo who lost to a stock Mustang... or something like that. hehe

 

I forgot to contact you when I was Houston a few weekends ago. We went to a really cool indoor go-kart place off of 6(?) after having one too many beers. It was an old K-Mart if I remember correctly. Anyway, on with some answers...

A. Stay far away from the water pit in your 911 turbo. You have AWD, so you use that to your launching advantage. You can't really do a "true" water pit burnout anyway, so there is no use in even getting your tires wet. There has to be a way around it as all cars will not use the water pit (and shouldn't be forced to do so).

B. I was lauching around 2700rpm with PSM off and a quick clutch slip, but others will tell you 4000rpm with a slower clutch slip. Either way works, but the later will burn your clutch out more quickly I would say.

Go out and have fun. However, you will feel SERIOUS wheel hop in the rear. That is the nature of the car's design/setup (if you have the stock suspension that is). Personally, that is horrible for your car (along with the hard launches). In moderation, your car will be fine. Just keep it in moderation.

 

I don't want to disagree with Ruiner but I have done some major smokey burnouts with my TT. That being said it is torture on the clutch and don't do it anymore. Go out and have some fun. If you do get beat invite the car that won to a road course and show that what a Porsche is intended to be used for

 

You can "spin" them for a little while, but you will still move forward (AWD) to the point of where your rears won't have enough time to truly heat up IMO.

 

Thanks for the info.
You should have called! I love karting. That place is really nice too. I don't live too far from there.

As for the track, my friend didn't see a way around it, but I'm sure you're right that there has to be a way.

I'm not really worried about getting awesome times, etc, so I'll just do a 2700 rpm type launch. My friend is in an M Coupe with a couple of mods, but not a lot. I should be faster. Neither of us are drag racers though.

If I get video, I'll post it. This will probably occur the weekend after 4th of July.

 

Scott,

Expect to mess up your first time. It's not rocket science, but lining up is a process and you want to make sure you pay VERY close attention to other people before lining up yourself. The staging lights, where to line up at, when to go, etc. Observation is your friend, and even observing you will most likely still feel very nervous and mess up the first launch. Don't worry about it, it happens to EVERYONE their first time.

Remember, it's for fun and it's not a big deal. Relax, take a deep breath, and try to enjoy yourself. That's when drag racing can be fun.

Good luck, and let us know how it goes.

-m

 

Thanks Marcus!
Small world, I met your friend "srika" on an acura forum. (I recently bought a TL)