2008 Cobalt SS/TC

Since it was such a beautiful day and was going to otherwise be a quiet night for me, I decided to go to the local dragstrip to get some 1/4 mile runs in. Luckily for me, I live right next to Raceway Park in Englishtown, NJ which is a fully NHRA accredited drag strip. This is as accurate as 1/4 tracks get.

It should be noted that this is the first FWD car I have ever taken to a drag strip. I have raced RWD cars all my life and was quite good at getting them to run some great times (consistent 1.6 sec 60' times), but I will admit that I have a lot of learning to do with the variances of FWD drag racing.

The only modifications my car has is the Trifecta Tune and a K&N drop in filter. Stock tires were used.

My objective was to get a definitive comparison between the stock 1/4 mile runs I have made vs. the new ones with the tune. This was done in what I consider to be street trim. Normal tire pressure and a 1/2 tank of fuel was used in the stock and tuned testing. Car weights with me in it were identical at 3080 lbs.

Before the tune, I ran a 13.8 @ 103 mph. Decent numbers for a stock SS/TC and right about where I expected them to be.

Having arrived at the track early, I got in a total of 5 runs. As I began racing it became immediatly apparent that traction off the line was going to be a huge problem. My first run was an indicator of that.

I will list the times first, then a description of that run...

Run #1 - 14.2 @ 107.35

This was done with no changes to the traction control. It had some serious spin off the line and continued into 2nd gear. The ESC light was flashing away for most of the run and I took my time with the shifts. Once approx. 50 mph was reached, the car had a consistent and steady pull. Shifting was done at redline.


Run # 2 - 13.9 @ 103.9

For the 2nd run, I wanted to see how launch control would work. It did NOT work out very well. After some serious bogging down, the car felt very slow as the traction control was active and then once it sensed grip, it began to move briskly again. This bogging caused a serious dent in my trap speed.


Run # 3 - 13.7 @ 106.12

I then wanted to test what would happen when all the computer systems were totally shut off. After holding the traction control button for 5 seconds, all systems were deactivated and then I launched as I normally would. While the launch was much smoother, the increase in torque from the tune caused the tires to spin a bit more then I would have liked immediatly after a gear change. I also took notice of the cars powerband and began to see that taking it up to redline made the car feel as though it was running out of power. I made note of this for the next run.


Run # 4 - 13.6 @ 107.02

Putting my focus more on trap speed then ET, I put the car back in competitive mode and took a standard launch. I decided to pay extra attention as to what rpm the car felt like it was starting to run out of steam. I saw that around 5900 rpm looked like the magic number. I shifted at redline up until 3rd and then shifted at 5900 rpm into 4th gear. Definetly an improvement.


Run # 5 - 13.7 @ 108.68

I took a VERY relaxed launch in comp mode on this run since I was purely interested in max trap speed. My 60' time of 2.375 was a testament to this. In every gear I shifted at 5900 rpm however I made the unfortunate mistake of briefly missing the shift to 2nd gear (my attention was too focused on the tach...a shift light would be ideal). Even with the brief hesitation, the car felt a lot stronger when shifting at the 5800-5900 rpm range. The power was much more solid throughout the run.

The track then closed down for the night so I headed home.

I learned a lot about our cars today...

These are quick little cars with just the tune. Everything else on my car in totally stock. No upgraded piping, intercoolers or intakes....just the tune.

With a proper shift during that last run, a 110 mph trap speed was a certainty. Traction is the huge issue and to net very low ET's, one needs a lot of practice with the launch. Once traction is achieved however, these cars perform quite well when shifting in the proper powerband. It should also be noted that "Launch Control" is totally useless for getting good times. Avoid it at the track. Comp mode yields the best results since it controls wheel spin without incorporating too much power limiting traction control.

I will return to the track in the next few weeks with the objective of netting a 110+mph trap speed. ET should drop dramatically as well.

Hope some of you find this helpful when you take your tuned car to the track. Good Luck!

 

nice!!! good looking out to find your best shift points, wish i could know what it is for my ss s/c...I have no clue how to notice if my car losing power when I shift at red line...

 

ur car is s/c'd u dont lose power by taking it all the way to the redline.....

and op nice times

 

What were your 60' times for all 5 runs?

 

Don't have the sheets in front of me but 2.289 was the lowest which yielded the 13.6 run
and 2.375 was the highest which was the 13.7 @ 108 run..the remaining runs were somewhere in between.

Not the best launches....they will need to be improved.

 

great track experience!

 

yes you do. not bad bad as a turbo car but you do. thats why some guys do the boost bypass mod on a track day.. holds boost better all the way to redline.

 

whats the boost bypass mod??

 

u dont really lose enough to change where u shift. cuz the lower u shift at the lower ur rpms are gonna be in the next gear......

 

Those are pretty good for 60' times for this car. I don't know how you are going to improve much upon that.

 

I think if you work at it, anyone can achieve a 2.0-2.1 60's in the SS/TC. My Brother is pretty consistent with 2.1 60' times in his SRT-4 with pretty much full bolt ons. I'm sure once he gets tuned it will be alittle harder to get 2.1 60's, but I think with practice it can be done.

 

I pulled a 2.226 60 in my third run ever on a FWD platform, so good 60's are definitely possible!

The thing that pisses me off are these traps! I only gained 1 mph (to 102.5) with the Trifecta tune! Guess I'm gonna have to use the NLS next time!

 

Well stock those are pretty easy but now I am pushing close to 70flbs of TQ and so is he. I think slicks or DR's or in order to get any better, but I could be wrong. I am never one to say something is impossible.

 

As I'm sure we all know, tire pressure is huge. I went with 25 lbs and found a nice spot.

 

I have the Hahn intake and I'm Trifecta Tooned, and the best 60' I got a few weeks ago was 2.3, and that was on 20psi up front. I think 25psi seems to be the right spot, and my local track sucks for traction, so I think with more seat time I could get 2.1 or so. I wanna order some MT DR's for this Summer, and I dont think they make good slicks in 18" do they?

 

Mickey Thompson makes a drag radial tire (ET Street maybe?) in a 245/40/18 if I'm not mistaken.

 

Nitto makes a 245/45/17 that would most likely work better.

 

yah i had my first experience with FWD last sat at the dragstrip.... PITA

couldnt get a 60' better than 2.3

1/4 - 14.2
MPH - 105.77

Stock... that surprised me

 

I said they have DR's out there for our stock rims, just not slicks.

I believe it would work, only problem being you would have to find different rims that fit over the Brembos, because not all 17" rims would fit.

 

Its not fitting over the brembos that is the problems, its the clearing of the front of the brembos that is the problem. There are allot of issues with allot of 17's aswell.

 

Either way, the Brembos are the problem for 17's, or slicks!!

 

I know with a small spacer the SS/NA wheels will fit and I have heard the OZ Ultraleggera's in 17's will fit but I haven't found any hard evidence of that yet. People are having just as hard of a time with finding 18's that will fit aswell. The reason that there haven't been many 17" wheel finds is that not many people want to do the research and don't want to drop down to 17's because it won't look like they are riding dirty and all there honda buddies will make fun of them. I will most likely buy a set(2) of SS/NA wheels but I would love to have a lighter alternative. I don't have much access to wheel companies around here that will take the time needed to research for proper wheel fitment. If its not in there data base then they don't have the time.

 

Yeah I know what you mean!! Once I get my take home Patrol car, I will most likely look into getting a pair of DR's, most likely MT's and just mount them on the car for when I go racing. Just gotta find some rims that I like that will clear the Brembos.

 

I think it will just take time.

 

I will agree with you on that!! If it comes down to it I might even get rid of the Brembos just so I can run 15" slicks, but that will be aways down the road.