Draggin' my Z3

'96ModZ3 · 04-12-05, 06:42 AM

I finally got brave and took the Z3 to the 1/8th to see what it would do. Running street tires (nasty michelin hx's) and essentially a stock 3.2L, I pulled a 9.506 as my fastest time and a 78.68 for my best trap speed. My reaction time sucks right now (best was a 0.741) but I think with some practice I might get it down. It was quite the scene, me and my sleeper Z3 amongst all the racers with their drag slicks and NOS. The best part of the evening was when some guy in a caprice classic with a well massaged V8, NOS (I saw the Purge show!!

) and 22"rims, (You know the type, wanting to turn their car into an SUV) pulled along side of me at the line. He'd been talking trash all night about how fast his car was and I guess he wanted to make an example out of me. Caprice classic 9.928, BMW 9.506, the look on his face, PRICELESS!!

He decided to park his car after that outing never to be seen on the track again that night. What a Blast!!!! I'll be switching out my dif from a 3.45 open to a 3.25 limited slip. I know that's really not the right way to go for acceleration, but with all the torque this motor has and with the limited slip, I hope I'll make up for it in traction. This is a daily driver for me so that's why I'm trying to lower my rpm's. I'll try and take some video of the next one, maybe on the 21st?
Later

djfux69 · 04-12-05, 01:50 PM

not bad. my best was 8.57 @ 83.17 mph

oh and reaction time doesnt have any impact on your time.

bleh · 04-12-05, 03:54 PM

the shorter the track the more emphasis is on traction. you may be slighter slower with the 3.25 but hey, its really really hard to argue with an lsd. also think: at what rpm were you when you finished?

i love it when people think large diameter rims = traction. even bottle fed, he couldnt keep up

. damaging egos

what were your 60fts btw? it seems like they need a little work, but the lsd and tires should help that out. then again im used to fwd cars haha. im thinking those times should equate to a mid-low 14s pass in the 1/4

'96ModZ3 · 04-12-05, 07:53 PM

I was almost bumping the rev limiter in third at the end. My best 60' time was 2.538, and since this is all new to me I don't know what this means.

ops:

bleh · 04-13-05, 01:04 AM

a 2.5 60' means you need to work on your launch. either your spinning or bogging. in a rwd car i would expect a sub 2.0 60ft with decent tires and a decent driver. its all about feathering the clutch.

in my car i bring the rpms up to about 3k-4k and easy out the clutch as quickly as possible but without letting the rpms go bellow 3k and not spinning the tires. its a balancing act, but with practice it wont be a problem.

ill probably get criticized for hurting my clutch, but i dont launch like this all the time.... and thats what its there for, so i dont mind.

the 60ft is a the determining factor in having a good run. this is assuming one knows how to shift.

'96ModZ3 · 04-13-05, 05:55 AM

The motor definately does not bog it runs to the rev limiter before you know it. There's no grip at all in the HX's, so what I had to do was roll of the line and get into the throttle quickly. But if I put my foot to the floor the tires would immediately break loose, it was like driving on grease! I may buy a pair of drag radials to see what the car will really do. As far as my shifts go I think I'm pretty quick, before I figured out how to launch I was through 1st, 2nd & 3rd probably near the 60' mark, the whole time spinning. It wasn't until I backed out of the throttle that the tires caught and that run was a 11.66 with a 60' of 2.876.
As I said earlier in the first post, if I go next week I'll try and take some video and then you'll be able to make some better assessments. I appreciate all the input.

BillCA · 04-13-05, 06:44 PM

I'm coming late on this post. What mods do you have on Z3? I'm a 1/4 mile guy so I'm not familiar 1/8 times. Any idea how your time compares to a stock 3.2?

bleh · 04-13-05, 10:53 PM

some say a good way to assume a 1/4 mile time is to multiply the 1/8 mile time by 1.52-1.56 this of course depends on the car.

you dont need to get drag radials, just a good summer tire. uli and i rock out bfgoodrich and both of us are really happy with them. uli has kdw s and those things are intense. i had to get traction t/a since they dont make the kdw or kdw s in my size. get the kdw s. the tread pattern is siic.

if you want a real performer and dont care too much about tire wear, get the new falken azenis. those things are amazing aswell. if i get summer rims anytime soon the will be wrapped with azenis.

LateNightCable · 04-13-05, 11:05 PM

Yeah, Falken makes some good product.

The Caprice guy needs to figure out what he wants his car to be. A racer or a pimp ride.

'96ModZ3 · 04-14-05, 01:54 AM

Hey Bill,
The motor is basically a stock 3.2 only with cold air and exhaust, the reason that I go by '96modZ3 is because when the Z3 first came out in '96 it only had the 1.9 4 cyl and I swapped in the 3.2 six. That didn't come out until '98 in the ///M roadster. As far as what a stock ///M roadster will do, the only figure I remember off the top of my head is a 0-60 time of 5.2 sec.