I went with a friend to a drag strip on the weekend in his 340+Bhp Vauxhall Astra VXR - Pics

[RichUK]

I don?t really know much about 1/4 mile drag runs, but is that a pretty good time/speed for a 1/4 mile run?

His car was a stage 3 tune with some other bits added too.

His best reaction time was .692.

Here are some pics taken that day. The fastest road legal car does 0-60 in 1 second and a 1/4 in just over 7s (that day) at around 180Mph IIRC.

Fastest road legal car in the world 1

Fastest road legal car in the world 2

Fastest road legal car in the world 3

Mate's car on the drag strip

Jet car - 1/4 in 6.2**s @ 270+Mph

The VXR stand with my mate's car second

 

[Ktulu]

Can't wait for a Saturn Astra Redline. I love this car.

 

[I Saw OJ]

13.5@107 from a car with 340hp isnt that good of a time. Still fun non the less.

 

[RichUK]

Originally posted by: I Saw OJ
13.5@107 from a car with 340hp isnt that good of a time. Still fun non the less.

Yeah, that's what he said, too. People that day were moaning about the heat. Also the car is front wheel drive.

 

[RichUK]

Originally posted by: Ktulu
Can't wait for a Saturn Astra Redline. I love this car.

Is that the U.S. equivalent of the VXR?

I?m guessing it is. The VXR as standard has 240Bhp.

 

[Ktulu]

Originally posted by: RichUK

Originally posted by: Ktulu
Can't wait for a Saturn Astra Redline. I love this car.

Is that the U.S. equivalent of the VXR?

I?m guessing it is. The VXR as standard has 240Bhp.

Yes, I suppose Redline is Saturn's version of the VXR models by Opel. If it carries the same engine that's in the Sky Redline, it should be around 260 Bhp for the states.

 

[Aimster]

E46 M3 runs 13.3

so... but it must have been a hot day there

 

[lagvoid]

what was his 60' time?

 

[RichUK]

Originally posted by: lagvoid
what was his 60' time?

0 - 60 time?

His 0-60 time would be just over 5s

 

[Ktulu]

Originally posted by: RichUK

Originally posted by: lagvoid
what was his 60' time?

0 - 60 time?

His 0-60 time would be just over 5s

That's pretty damn good. Maybe 1/4 mile time has more to do with the cars gear ratios.

 

[DougK62]

Pretty typical for a FWD car with that kind of power. His trap speed says that it's faster than a 13.5. He just needs more practice running it.

 

[CaptnKirk]

Originally posted by: RichUK

Originally posted by: lagvoid
what was his 60' time?

0 - 60 time?

His 0-60 time would be just over 5s

60' time - that's the ET that it takes to travel the first 60 feet of the track.
It's an indicator of how the vehicle is hooking up traction wise, and accelerating from a stand still.

The really fast cars have 60 foot times under one second.

 

[RichUK]

Originally posted by: CaptnKirk

Originally posted by: RichUK

Originally posted by: lagvoid
what was his 60' time?

0 - 60 time?

His 0-60 time would be just over 5s

60' time - that's the ET that it takes to travel the first 60 feet of the track.
It's an indicator of how the vehicle is hooking up traction wise, and accelerating from a stand still.

The really fast cars have 60 foot times under one second.

Ahh, I see what you mean.

Come to think of it I do remember looking at his printed tickets he received at the end of the 3 runs, and there were quite a few different times for each of the runs. I think there were about 6 or 7 sets of figures per run. I only looked at the 1/4 mile time, though.

 

[Aharami]

that time seems a bit high. but then again car's FWD and heat would cause some loss. Turboed R32s with ~360 whp run high 12s/low 13s

 

[SlowSpyder]

FWD kills ET while still getting good mph. A few years back when I was at the track with my Spyder I ran a 14.0 @ 103.8mph... 2.5 second 60' time. If I could drive or would have used some DR's and shaved a few tenths off my 60' time, I would have had a much better ET. For comparrison my old AWD Eagle Talon would run 14.0 @ 98mph with 1.7 second 60' times.

 

[CaptnKirk]

Originally posted by: RichUK

Originally posted by: CaptnKirk

Originally posted by: RichUK

Originally posted by: lagvoid
what was his 60' time?

0 - 60 time?

His 0-60 time would be just over 5s

60' time - that's the ET that it takes to travel the first 60 feet of the track.
It's an indicator of how the vehicle is hooking up traction wise, and accelerating from a stand still.

The really fast cars have 60 foot times under one second.

Ahh, I see what you mean.

Come to think of it I do remember looking at his printed tickets he received at the end of the 3 runs, and there were quite a few different times for each of the runs. I think there were about 6 or 7 sets of figures per run. I only looked at the 1/4 mile time, though.

Got a couple friends that run NHRA Pro classes, here's a snapshot of their runs, with the incremental times and speeds:
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Left Lane: Kurt Johnson Runs 6.744/204.85, Now #1
Right Lane: Warren Johnson No Time, Now #18

WJ made the burnout, then was pushed back behind the water box and off to the side.
KJ had a nice launch, a 1.003 short time, and went to #1.
Kurt Johnson's incremental times:
60ft-1.003 sec., 330ft-2.824, 660ft-4.340/162.59mph, 1,000ft-5.645.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Left Lane: Jack Beckman Runs 4.914/313.88, Now #7
Right Lane: T. Johnson Jr. Runs 4.843/310.55, Now #4

Beckman had to drive through some early tire shake, but otherwise this was a good looking pass for both cars.
Jack Beckman's incremental times:
60ft-0.931 sec., 330ft-2.384, 660ft-3.383/255.68mph, 1,000ft-4.206
Tommy Johnson Jr.'s incremental times:
60ft-0.907 sec., 330ft-2.339, 660ft-3.315/260.61mph, 1,000ft-4.129

- - - - - - - - -
the '60ft' shows how the car launched from the starting line
'330ft' is the first 1/4 of the track and shows how the car is sustaining it's acceleration
'660ft' is time to 1/2 track and the spped it's reached.
'1,000ft' shows mid track performance and indicates if it's still pulling strong.

notice how little 'speed' these cars were able to add to their performance from the 1/2 track to the finish - 42 MPH for Kurt's Pro Stocker,
and 50 MPH for Tommy's Fuel Funny Car - aerodynamic drag eats up the horsepower really fast when you get above 137 MPH.
A typical Fuel Dragster is giving up over 3,000 HP just to aero drag alone over the 2nd half of the track.

 

[lagvoid]

yeah, I was wondering what your friends 60' (feet) time was. I assume he just drove his car there and raced as is? Didn't switch tires or anything? I normally see cars running street tires between 1.8-2.5+ for the 60' time. I can't launch so I consider 1.8-2.0 a good time. Again, the avg varies depending on rwd, fwd, and awd cars.

 

[RichUK]

Good lord, those are some crazy times. I take it these are proper dragsters in action (bit of a silly question?)?

I would love to see some proper dragsters in action. The jet car was pretty cool, when it was going down the strip and parallel with me there was this massive boom which pretty much knackered my ears for the rest of the day, lol.

So I guess in some ways the terminal speed is sometimes a better indicator for overall performance? In this case a 107Mph 1/4 mile

Some of the cars there that day were insane. They had stripped out pocket rockets running circa 300Bhp 2.0L Turbo?s running IIRC mid 12s on the 1/4 mile.

It was a good day out, I've never been to anything like this before.

 

[RichUK]

Originally posted by: lagvoid
yeah, I was wondering what your friends 60' (feet) time was. I assume he just drove his car there and raced as is? Didn't switch tires or anything? I normally see cars running street tires between 1.8-2.5+ for the 60' time. I can't launch so I consider 1.8-2.0 a good time. Again, the avg varies depending on rwd, fwd, and awd cars.

Yeah he just ran it as is. Some of the guys there were pushing there cars down the drag strip queue, I?m assuming this was to keep the heat down under the bonnet before the run?

He actually burnt the clutch a little on the last run, and it stank for ages.

 

[SlowSpyder]

Yea, your mph gives you a good idea of the horsepower you are getting to the gound (or hp/wieght) and what kind of potential you have. E.T. is more of a total package, how much power you make, how good the driver is, how well the car hooks up, etc.