Took the old girl to the dragstrip last night...

First of all, let me say that I was never that interested in 1/4 mile racing. Then I bingewatched Roadkill over the last couple of months and have gained a new or rekindled appreciation for A) American Iron B) burnouts and C) drag strips. So a couple of buddies happened to say they wanted to go to Bandimere Raceway's open Wednesday night, I said sure. Our crew had my car (02 996 C2 manual), a 997 Carrera S Cab Tip, a Viper, a 2008 Corvette Z06 and a brand new (1200 miles) Corvette Z06. None of us had ever been before. In the end we all had a blast, I highly recommend it. For $30 we could go as often as we wanted. I only ended up doing 4 runs but probably could have done a dozen if I wanted to keep getting back in line but it was fun just watching. The various local PD's and the State Patrol came out to do runs as well with their patrol cars, it's part of a program to keep kids off the streets and streetracing. I lined up against Bill in his 997 S Cab Tip and we were literally neck and neck every time all the way down the track. Seems like the extra power of the 3.8 just makes up for the tip and cab in his car compared to my 3.6 The lining up is interesting, most people on street tires avoided the waterbox and doing a pre-burnout (just go around it), then you line up until the prestage and stage lights light up and then hold until the three yellow lights count down. EVERYONE said just go as soon as you see the third light as your natural delay will make you go at the right time when the green lights up (i.e. don't wait to see and process the green). That worked well, my reaction time was between 0.03 (got lucky!) to .663 but since it wasn't a real race, the Elapsed Time is only for the time that you actually were moving. As soon as you go, the car just hooks up on the sticky surface and you are off and way too busy remembering to shift in time to worry about how the helmet jams your head into the sunroof opening at an angle or how you were feeling hot with the windows closed and the ventilation off... The biggest issue for the C2 was that right as I was approaching the end of the track I was starting to run out of third gear so the conundrum became do I want to hold it in gear right at redline or shift to 4th and lose that time while shifting. I tried both and there was not an obvious answer to me, obviously I have no skills to really draw on. I didn't study the torque charts for my car, in the end a different strategy than going to redline may be best anyway depending on that. Bandimere is at 5800 feet so NHRA publishes a correction factor of .9405 for ET and 1.0563 for mph. I was remarkably consistent (I think) on my runs, with times ranging (all figures pre-corrected) from 13.76 to 13.60 for three runs and then I screwed up one of the runs when I bogged down at the start. Speed ranged from 103.08mph to 104.28. My first run of the night was my best run and was the only one where I left the PSM on but also the only time I was in the right lane. However Bill in the 997 had the same result (first run best) and he obviously switched lanes the other way. After the first run I was cocky and thought maybe with more concentration I could shave a half second off my time. Uh, no. It is HARD to go appreciably faster from one run to the next. There was all kinds of stuff there, from (I am not kidding) a Grandma in a Prius that was first in line apparently comes every Wednesday and stays all night to a Hellcat Challenger to all kinds of Mustangs from the 60's to current, Corvette's, several Nissan GTR's, a couple of home made rat rods, lots of Subaru's that were VERY fast, an assortment of bro-trucks, some GTI's, Golf R's, Focus RS's, lots of Tesla Model S's that all do a very consistent 12.6 (no correction factor since air density doesn't matter) with zero noise, and tons of other stuff including motorcycles as well as one nut on a four wheeler that cleared 120mph at the end of the strip. That's a whole 'nother level of crazy right there though. Anyway, I had a blast, and I highly recommend it, everyone was super friendly, it was very low stress, cheap, and safe. Bill and I had the only two Porsche's there which we found interesting. In the end it's another of those things that you shouldn't knock until you've tried it...

Please tell me the Tesla didn't have the best times!

Sounds like you had a great time (pun intended) which is what it's all about. In the end, barring a few exceptions, car guys (or girls) are car guys (or girls), and can appreciate most any vehicle for its particular traits.

Going to the drag strip is a ton of fun. The 1/8 mile they do at Qualcomm Stadium every few weeks (Race Legal) is fun. It's fun to race; it's fun to watch the racing, and there are typically food trucks, trinket vendors, etc. etc. Where else are you going to see an SRT-8 Jeep racing a Windstar or a monster diesel truck racing a Hayabusa-powered Smart Fortwo?

I used to live in Colorado years ago but at that time had a VW GTi. I used to go to the Fineline Bug-In where they would open up the track for racing. It was loads of fun although my car was dog slow. It would be fun to try it again in the Porsche and see how we (or badly) it does. One word of warning, never trust a car with an awful paint job on the dragstrip! It seems the ugly ones are those that pull 9s-10s!

There's a VW Rabbit with a small-block V8 mid-engine conversion that shows up ever now and then to wipe the floor with everyone else...

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Yeah, too bad they got rid of the Carslbad track to build some more freekin' tilt-ups. A great old-style track. Good write-up, Arthur. I have never tried 1/4 mile.

I wouldn't mind running mine on a drag strip like you describe. My 3.4 C2 can hit 104mph in 3rd. Thats the gear I would hold it in. I would start in 2nd and only one change flat down. Then I would try 1st and 3rd. Then all 3 gears to see the different times.

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Who's Arthur? :-) You SoCal boys should do a get-together at a track sometime. All you need is a helmet (Snell'05 or newer rated) but most tracks even rent them cheap. So cheap, lots of fun winding it out, and some great bench racing afterward... Fontana is having a street-legal event October 1, it's only $20...

Ha, * Walter*.... hadn't had my morning coffee yet. I assume you are still alive? Yeah, I have a helmet and plenty of track driving, just never 1/4 mile. Schnelly, meet me at 2 am on Palomar Airport Road.

Roadkill is awesome. Mike and David are both great guys in real life. I met up with them this year and last year for some drag racing events in Pontiac, MI. I'm not into drag racing but I enjoy watching it

I've been meaning to get out there and try it. A lot closer than HPR.

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I can't see how starting in 2nd gear would get you off the line at all...I think you'll need 3 gears (including 1st)

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Yeah, to hit 104 in third WITHIN the quarter mile in that car will require a very hard launch in 1st and then two more shifts and you MIGHT be close to the goal at the end of the strip if everything goes very well. No way if you start in anything else. I thought at first he had a Tiptronic but now realized he doesn't.

In college going to Lebanon Valley dragstrip, in E. NYS, was a blast! I once had a '69 Dart 340 Swinger with a 4 speed. Ran low 14's, but I had sh&t tires and no posi. Quick car for it's day. I'd love to take the 996 on one and do a few passes!

Unless you're running a taller rear tire, or higher rev limit, shift into 4th. Launch in first. Go around the water box unless on slicks. At your altitude you didn't have the power to need it, but closer to sea level a stock 3.6 would trap 105+. I ran 13.33 @106 at 895ft shifting into 4th. Car easily has another tenth in it driving harder in better conditions. This was on a 60 degree day with high humidity following some rain, all stock, on ****ty 340TW summer tires. Even open-diff 996s launch pretty well, easily cutting 1.8x 60' times.