Real world numbers

[Fast One]

Hi guys,just wondering if anyone has ever run the rs6 at the dragstrip,while stock or chipped?I saw one at englishtown,nj (raceway park)yesterday,and the first run was 13.4@105.5,second and third was 13.7@103.Strange since car and driver and motortrend got 12.8@108 and 12.6@109 respectively.

[Erik]

Sorry. I have only G-Tech times. They indicated high 12:s for unchipped and low 12:s for chipped (500 hp).

[RobertV]

You are not talking about that much time, it may have all been in the launch. The "pros" from the mags do this for every car and have been able to perfect the process. I also think that they do not use christmas tree lights on a drag strip, they use something like the G-Tech (thus no reaction time comes in to play.)
Just my .02 cents
REV

[Fast One]

Thanks alot Erik, for the numbers.Robert you also make a good point about reaction time,makes a big difference in time,could easily be a half second off due to slow reaction.PS. My dad picked up his rs6 in august,and i've driven it many times,whew!awsome car!!!!

[Erik]

Not sure about the reaction times.
0.5 secs is normal, but at least in Sweden we get the times without the reaction time on the dragstrip.

[JAXRS6]

The elapsed time (ET) clock does not start running until the front of the car breaks a light beam.

The reason for aspiring to good reaction times is that they help you beat other cars. They do not, however, shorten the ET for a quarter mile or any other distance.

In about a dozen trips to local SE Michigan and Florida dragways, mostly in my S4, I've seen cars wait for several seconds after the tree before they launch. The other car will be long gone by the time he starts, yet he may get a better quarter mile time -- because the four or five seconds he waited don't count in the ET.

Why is a quarter mile racer disqualified for a foul if he reacts faster than .5 sec? I don't know; maybe someone else does.

One figure that is helpful to examine, I've been told, is the 60 ft. time. Should be two seconds or better, at least as a goal. Others at audiworld who do this more than me have said that for every tenth of a second shaved off to 60 ft, several other tenths are picked up by the end of the run.

I've taken my RS6 to Milan Dragway in SE Michigan twice, because I felt it was no faster than my chipped S4, and I was right -- until I turned off the ESP. That was good for almost half a second, but my best time still is just 13.674 -- not up to expectations vs. car magazines, as you point out. (My 60 ft. time on that run was 2.132, so there's room for improvement.)

HOWEVER -- I may shave off another half second simply by going to another track in Florida. I shaved off a half-second there from my best S4 times at Milan as well as Moroso in FL. Could not break 14.2 despite repeated attempts/visits. But on my one visit to the Bradenton, FL, dragstrip, I broke 14 with a missed shift, then did it again! Ended up at 13.775, an improvement of .425 just for being at Bradenton. (It was not very cold & none of the locals expressed surprise about their times.)

If I can duplicate that improvement on the RS6, I'll be down to 13.25 -- still short of the car mags but not by much, and I'll take some slack because I'm a semi-old fart, not a pro. (I'll know more after heading south around Thanksgiving; my beast is resting for the moment.)

And if I add a chip...watch out! But that's another story, and a decision yet unmade.

For more on "Drag racing the RS6," I got a lot of input from others when I posted elsewhere not long ago (some info from above is repeated in my opener):

http://forums.audiworld.com/rs6/msgs/27.phtml

[Fast One]

Jax thanks for the numbers.Do you have the trap speeds on your runs?As for .5 being perfect reaction on the dragstrip,thats the amount of time from the last yellow light to the green,hence perfect reaction time.Anything less means you left before the green light.

[JAXRS6]

Hate to sound dumb but if trap speed is the speed at the end of the quarter, it was 103.18 in my best (Michigan) run with the RS6 so far. I don't have records handy for the S4.

If trap speed is something else, let me know....

[ott]

Like said, r/t has no influence to ET. Btw, NHRA has changed the procedure how ideal r/t is calculated. It is 0.00 starting from this season, which means that r/t is measured from the moment when green light goes on. I guess in the future this is adopted in all drag race competitions.

Car magazines run 1/4 mile tests using VBOX, GPS based equipment from Racelogic. It is very accurate, superior to G-Tech, but as they measure speed exactly at 1/4 mile mark, it is not directly comparable with "real" drag strip, where trap speed is an average of last 10 meters or so. Probably 1-2 mph difference.

I have run once with my S6 Avant and it went:

60-ft 1,898
ET 13,784
Trap speed 155,468 kmh. (96,6 mph)

As you can see, I got really good launch because of manual trans. and therefore quite low ET compared to trap speed. Trap speed indicates, how much power does the car deliver to the wheels and as racing weights of S6 and RS6 should be roughly similar, so +110 hp. gives you 10 mph higher trap speed. Theoretically RS6 w. manual trans should run low 12's. - tip. is for sure holding it back and causing shitty launch.

[Erik]

Originally posted by JAXRS6
Why is a quarter mile racer disqualified for a foul if he reacts faster than .5 sec? I don't know; maybe someone else does.


It's because people can't react faster, so it's considered as if you're going to early. 0.5 secs sounds a bit hard though, maybe 0.4 is more fair?

[ott]

If you run Sportsman tree, ideal is 0,5 and if Pro-tree, then 0,4. It has nothing to do with "real" reaction - it's just the time interval between last amber light and green light. If you get lower r/t than ideal, you crossed the starting line before the green light.

Some explanations about what is drag racing:

http://www.nhra.com/basics/basics.html

[JAXRS6]

Looks like it'll be very useful as a reference.