Mk5's first time at the dragway

[Straz85]

Took the car to New England Dragway last night. Overall, not very happy. My only engine mod is GIAC X+, weight reduction was spare tire/jack taken out. Oh, and this was on stock tires I was figuring low 14's before I went. Last time I was at the dragway was about 4 years ago with my Mk4 GTI VR6.

Now for the good (or bad) stuff:

First run: I forgot how little time you have between getting to the line and launching, it's literally like 2 seconds, I was still idling when it went green, so I had a bad launch which yielded a 2.5 60' time, 15.0@96.92. Lost to a Mustang (which ran 14 flat).

Second run: Had it around 2500 RPM's when I launched, but I didn't give it enough gas and bogged it down, 2.4 60' time, 14.7@94.05. No idea how I got a trap speed that low, doesn't make much sense to me with only a .1 second better 60' time, but a .3 second better ET. I also spun them way too much from 1st-2nd. I beat a 5.slow on this run

Third run: What I thought was a better launch, quicker shifting, but they for some reason they didn't have my slip. Got my ass handed to me by an AWD 2nd gen Eclipse running low 12's.

At this point it started raining. I waited around for 30 minutes, they started to dry the track, then it started raining harder, so I left.

I figure if I could get a 2.0 60' time, I'll end up with really low 14's. I know HOW to launch, it's just a matter of executing it better. Also, what's the best point to shift? First run I shifted right about at redline, second and third run at 6k RPM's. I'm thinking a little sooner, maybe 5500?

[ARRRRRRRR32]

shift at redline. always.

definitely not bad for the first time taking the gti to the strip.

[duke]

Do exactly what Kylie said... shifting earlier will only put you farther out of boost, farther out of your power band and put you farther back from the competition. You can try it out on the highway Brett, check your speeds at shifts when you shift early and keep an eye on the cluster in general and you'll notice a big difference in speed.

Great first time at the track. If you can get your 60' times down you'll run much faster ETs.

[Straz85]

Originally Posted by audomatik

Do exactly what Kylie said... shifting earlier will only put you farther out of boost, farther out of your power band and put you farther back from the competition. You can try it out on the highway Brett, check your speeds at shifts when you shift early and keep an eye on the cluster in general and you'll notice a big difference in speed.

Great first time at the track. If you can get your 60' times down you'll run much faster ETs.

Shifting earlier won't put me out of boost, I am fully spooled by like 2300 RPM's, even if I shift at 4500 I'm always going to be above 2300. The reason I was thinking I should shift earlier is because I have more torque down low. But if I shift at redline, I have a better gear ratio longer...I wasn't sure which was more important. I did get a much better trap speed shifting at redline, so I'll stick with that.

[GTIboarder]

Should you be shifting when you are hitting your max hp, which will get you the higher trap speeds?

Numbers arent too bad for the first time, I still need to go

[Straz85]

Originally Posted by GTIboarder

Should you be shifting when you are hitting your max hp, which will get you the higher trap speeds?

Numbers arent too bad for the first time, I still need to go

I'm actually going to try shifting a little after redline next time, that way I can stay with a higher gear ratio longer. A few people on vortex ran around 14 flat @100-102 on just GIAC X+ and they all seem to be shifting around 6750 or so.

I'll let you know next time I'm up there. I'm driving to FL later this week, so I'll probably go to the dragway in Orlando.