Soarer Central: Drag Day (V8 Soarer)

Soarer Central General Soarer Chat Drag Day (V8 Soarer)

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Mike Beck
Goo Roo
New Zealand
Soarer Limited UZZ31 & Soarer 3.0GT JZZ31

Posts: 2414
Reg: 11-2005

Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!)

Sunday, August 31, 2008 - 06:49 pm, by: Mike Beck (Gold_40gt)

Right well, after being canceled due to rain a number of times finally today (Sunday), (two months after the original date) we finally got a mostly clear day suitable for drag racing.

It was a private meet I was invited to through a parts supplier company hosting the track. This meant there was a total of about 100 cars, ranging from the odd Vtec Honda with a bit of go to drag bikes and the odd expensive car like an Aston Martin Vanquish (which had trouble getting off the line because of the nasty computers restricting power, it ended up running 15-20second times! Hopeless for a claimed 13 second car!)

Anyway, I took my V8 soarer down (this is probably boring for you TT owners!), it was fully loaded with no weight reduction. The car had a BFI, Yokohoma S-Drive 225 16" tyres, rear mufflers replaced with 2" pipe and a Harry Lemmen's ECU set at 7500. Other than that fully factory.

First runs I got I was a little disappointed by, 16.007 @ 142.67km/h was my first and worst time with a reaction time of .610 (ha) and 60ft time of 2.487s...

After sorting out my launches and getting a bit of practice I got down to running consecutively, 15.8 times and less with more around reaction times of .260 - .450 getting a best time of 15.6 @ 145.3km/h with a R/T of .260 and 60' of 2.4 which I was quite happy with. I ended up getting 3 more 15.6's, 3 15.7's and 6 15.8's did about a total of 13 runs... was a terrific day having fewer people than to those nasty and expensive public days where you get 3 lousy runs!

The car ran great the whole time, glad I put the trans cooler in, I'm sure that helped with the heat getting made warming up the tyres and launching!

I'll post up some youtube Videos of my Soarer going down soon, I really enjoy watching them again and again, sounds quite good too.

From doing this though I've found I'll definitely need the following before going down again,

> 4 Pot front brakes and decent pads - to help with holding the car launching and warming up the rears...
> Exhaust!!! Headers are a must, the restriction with the factory headers and nasty Y joins etc is horrendous, you can just feel it being held back, it wants to go but just cant breath! After about 110 is the worst, its where most of the time is lost I feel..
> Shift kit, the Harry L ecu rev limit is fantastic but the changes need to be made quicker still to avoid that slurring gearchange where you loose quite a bit of thrust during.
-> A unichip, Which I have and will go in once the exhaust is done, that should really transform the cars performance with the breathing mods. Looking forward to it big time!

And If I decide its worth it:
> LSD Type 2 TRD - Factory open wheel type diff is just not suitable for any sort of decent grip,
> High stall torque converter - The sad 2000 limit from factory just doesnt cut it, taking off the line is just so soggy! A 3000rpm limit would be more the business...

Here's some pictures of the day and my car. The white MX5 is oned by the man who bought my Celsior! It has a 1UZFE under the hood, a 5 speed manual, RX7 LSD and a 100HP nos kit! Runs 12s! His wife also brought my old Celsior along (didnt race of course) But it was nice too see it after 7 months, was still in good condition too!

Haha - those wheels I put on didn't do it any justice!

Mike Beck
Goo Roo
New Zealand
Soarer Limited UZZ31 & Soarer 3.0GT JZZ31

Posts: 2415
Reg: 11-2005

Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!)

Sunday, August 31, 2008 - 06:57 pm, by: Mike Beck (Gold_40gt)

Here's my favorite picture, I love it with these LS400 98' rims, they just give it a clean yet modern look without being after market things shouting look at me!

.........Ah, OEM wheels... I love them!

Tyres gripped up well too, I couldn't complain there!

In some of the other pictures, note the Passport G-timer I had fitted, it's a great little device calculates a lot of things from acceleration times to HP at the wheels. Bloody accurate too! Definitely the best on the market. I used it on about 3 runs, for example one run I did was like 15.875 on the actual timer it said 15.907 on the clock so it's spot on, also worked out the HP at the wheels through the acceleration and my weight input, result is 175HP which works about to be 130rwkw.... how accurate is that!

A great day, cant wait to return with it more track ready!

Mike Beck
Goo Roo
New Zealand
Soarer Limited UZZ31 & Soarer 3.0GT JZZ31

Posts: 2419
Reg: 11-2005

Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!)

Sunday, August 31, 2008 - 08:37 pm, by: Mike Beck (Gold_40gt)

Here's a few runs of me down the track, if you listen you can here the intake... I do need an exhaust though, gives the 1UZFE no favors being silenced from the world!

James Cahir
Tinkerer
ACT
Soarer TT

Posts: 59
Reg: 04-2008

Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!)

Sunday, August 31, 2008 - 08:56 pm, by: James Cahir (James987)

Nice Soarer, those rims suit it

Daniel Clarke
Goo Roo
NSW
TT 2.5L 6 cylinder

Posts: 3905
Reg: 03-2006

Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!)

Sunday, August 31, 2008 - 09:49 pm, by: Daniel Clarke (Dieseltrain)

Mike Beck wrote on Sunday, August 31, 2008 - 06:49 pm:
4 Pot front brakes and decent pads - to help with holding the car launching and warming up the rears...

Save your money and learn to use the Handbrake mate

Move into waterbox, Raise handbrake and hold button in, Foot on footbrake also, Start stalling it up and release handbrake but keep foot on foot brake. This should make it easier doind the burnout.

When staging, Come into stage and follow the same procedure as the burnout, Except, when its time to go, Droop the handbrake and relase the footbrake simoultaneously as you hit the loud pedal.

The best part about the Soarer handbrake is its drum design... Holds great

Mike Beck
Goo Roo
New Zealand
Soarer Limited UZZ31 & Soarer 3.0GT JZZ31

Posts: 2421
Reg: 11-2005

Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!)

Monday, September 01, 2008 - 06:35 am, by: Mike Beck (Gold_40gt)

Hmmm I shall look into that. Thanks Daniel

Matthew Sharpe
Goo Roo
North Island
JZZ31

Posts: 3723
Reg: 10-2005

Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!)

Monday, September 01, 2008 - 06:51 am, by: Matthew Sharpe (Madmatt)

Car is looking great Mike!

Mike Beck
Goo Roo
New Zealand
Soarer Limited UZZ31 & Soarer 3.0GT JZZ31

Posts: 2422
Reg: 11-2005

Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!)

Monday, September 01, 2008 - 12:42 pm, by: Mike Beck (Gold_40gt)

Thanks Matt, it has come a long way since I got it thats for sure!

Still a lot to get done yet though.

Phil Gibson
Goo Roo
WA
'91 fsg UZZ31, '94 black/black UZZ31

Posts: 1230
Reg: 07-2005

Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!)

Monday, September 01, 2008 - 02:55 pm, by: Phil Gibson (Sciflyer)

Headers, Exhaust and TT ratio LSD should see you into the 14s

Don Bagnall
Moderator
New Zealand
Mercedes Benz SLK230 Kompressor

Posts: 6966
Reg: 05-2005

Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!)

Monday, September 01, 2008 - 04:14 pm, by: Don Bagnall (Baggs)

Excellent Mike...........well done

Benjamin Burgess
Goo Roo
NSW
Toyota Corolla Conquest

Posts: 1905
Reg: 07-2005

Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!)

Monday, September 01, 2008 - 05:54 pm, by: Benjamin Burgess (Jampac)

Daniel Clarke wrote on Sunday, August 31, 2008 - 09:49 pm:
Save your money and learn to use the Handbrake mate :-)

Move into waterbox, Raise handbrake and hold button in, Foot on footbrake also, Start stalling it up and release handbrake but keep foot on foot brake. This should make it easier doind the burnout.

When staging, Come into stage and follow the same procedure as the burnout, Except, when its time to go, Droop the handbrake and relase the footbrake simoultaneously as you hit the loud pedal.

The best part about the Soarer handbrake is its drum design... Holds great :-)

You know you got problems when you got the handbrake fully yanked, foot hard on the brakes and there big 4 potters and your moving under stall. Can't say I ever did have my one move off the line as long as above was in check with foot and hand brake