May I reitterate a little ?

( I don't care if you were correct, it's Mr Racer vs Mr Gifted Ameturer ).

Dude just cos it's an auto doesn't mean that any driver in the seat is the same. As I said, basically, better drivers own lesser drivers. And the stats for the slower version ( which he was driving ) say the supra will win so you were theoretically wrong but had a lucky guess. All that ticked me off tho was you advising him to bail ... that was kinda painfull to read.


Stealth06 - How does your auto hold against your friend's manual ( I can't actually find any manual supras in my area to race )

It held up pretty good he won by a little more than the 3000gt did. But the supra launched it.

You know, if you didn't lose by much, you could always take everything out of the car before you race the guy next time. Spare tire, jack and stuff, even the targa top removed could help some. Take off the aircleaner just for that race and put some higher octane fuel in it and bump the timing advance up quite a bit. Put a little more air in the tires for less rolling resistance, esp since you probably won't spin the rear tires at launch with the auto.

Make sure your o2 sensor is working right so the mixture is good and turn off the A/C. I dont know if manually shifting a auto car is better or just floor it in drive, maybe some here could answer that one. There are things to racing that can make you fast, but with the auto, you are kind of limited. I think the engine starts to drop hp around 6k, so it is a matter of keeping it in the power band. That is a good way to beat some drivers, because some run it to the redline, but the power has usually fallen off by then.

Get a good tune and good fuel and try some of the things I mentioned. They will help some. Try it again and let us know.

Russ

you can remove your spare tire, and the other stuff in your trunk,
take the backseat off too

i dunt know about taking the targa off, cuz i believe that gonna create drag and wind resistance, which will make him slower than when he had it on

i wouldnt take off the aircleaner, why?
because why would want unfiltered air to get your engine?
in the long run those things can ruin your internals
plus is it really worth it for this race?
how much money are you gonna make if you win?

and jus keep the tires at normal pressure, over-inflating your tires will reduce your contact patch which will in term you'll loose grip, and traction
and it can make your ride bumpy in a race, remember you want your car to stay connected to the road as much as it can

and its not really manual shifting the auto its jus launching it
put it in the lowest gear possible , when you launch it have it redline then put it back to "D", then punch that pedal , and hope for the best

Well I just meant take the airfilter off for that race! I am assuming that it won't be on a dirt road. I differ on the tire inflation deal though. If the rear tires had a problem with spinning then yes lower the pressures a few lbs, but not too much, but the N/A auto supra is not going to spin the tires, so for less rolling resistance I still suggest bringing the tire inflation up to at least the recommende limit. It will mean less rolling resistance and the difference will be so slight as to not even be noticeable as far as the ride goes, but it will help mileage and it will make the car roll better. When you are done with the race and if it is too rough, back the pressures back to 30 or so.

You are probably right about the wind resistance with the top off, so keep it on and keep the windows rolled up during the race. You WILL notice a difference with the air filter off, even if you have a K & N filter and the difference will be a little bit faster car.

Russ

yea your right the targa was the only thing that actually matter, the rest the effect would barely be noticable

but the air filter trick, tried that once, yes u can feel the diffrence
the sound too, its a beast
tried it with my other car
i thought i was driving an old gto with the throtle body on top of the hood,
it will make your car breathe better, but its up to him to do it, so if something goes wrong, he cant blame nobody lol

I might try to do all that stuff but i don't know if it would be worth it because he would still have to not launch it for me to win and if he knows something is up he will probably launch it.

I have tried the airfilter trick and it is defiantly louder so he might notice that.

Well that is the world of street racing! The intake roar is more noticeable, but you don't have to tell the competition everything! The timing is a more helpful deal anyway. More than the lack of an air cleaner or thinner oil. Of course that is another trick for a few more horsepower, synthetic oil. It is better and clicker and is better for your car, unless it leaks or burns oil pretty bad then it gets expensive.

Try to get the timing to be at least 34 or so degrees total timing advanced. You will have to use premium fuel, but the added hp is very noticeable. If you notice it pinging under acceleration then back it off a few degrees and try it again. When, or if you do up the timing, you will have to back the idle down some too.

These are all things street racers have done for years, and more. You want your car to run its best at all times of course, but for short bursts you can bring things closer to the timing edge so to speak. Another thing is you could play with the cam timing a little. If you wanted you could advance the cam timing a degree or two and get a little more low end at the sacrifice of a little top end and the same with retarding the cams.

These are things you can do that will not hurt your car any, but let you play around with the parameters of the car. You could even put an electric fan on for a few more easy horsepower. All these things are small initially, some more noticeable than others, but added together can make a 1/2 second difference in a quarter mile and that is a lot for free.

Just giving you things to consider. Make sure you have torqued your head bolts to 70 ft lbs at least to take care of any gasket problems. We all know that racing any car does put more strain on a car and wears parts out faster, but it is fun to do occasionally.

Good luck

Russ

Thanks for the write up!! That should help alot.