Ok so I've read that some people make generalizations about three major components of your 1/4 mile time slip - the trap speed, the 1/4mile time, and the 60' time.

Obviously the 60' time is a good judgement of launching ability and traction, but how does the balance of the other two weigh in?

I ask because my bro ran 12.7@ 113mph w/ a ~1.9 60'. This is with a procharged '99 mustang gt w/ 4.11 rear. Obviously the 60' is pretty much as good as its gonna get, but i thought the trap speed was a little low given the nice 12.7s time, and the ~50 degree weather at the track that would especially benefit the charger.

Is there a balance to the time slip? Last year when he ran 13.1@112mph, my uncle (long time drag racer) said the trap speed should be good for mid 12s. I had no idea where he pulled that from, but now its starting to look like he was right.
Any track gurus have the "magic formula"?

There are some calculators out there but I'm not sure on their accuracy,So many things factor into the equation,tire setup,weight,driving skill,and weather.It's just like when I ran a 15.4 at 90mph and then a 15.2 at 79mph.



15.2@89mph 2.171 60ft. 9.830 1/8 R.I.P. "LULU"

BIGGSZ24 wrote:There are some calculators out there but I'm not sure on their accuracy,So many things factor into the equation,tire setup,weight,driving skill,and weather.It's just like when I ran a 15.4 at 90mph and then a 15.2 at 79mph.

I should have clarified...his 13.1 was at the same track, same time of year (last year) and reasonably the same weather conditons.

Basically, i was wondering if any balance of the three components of the slip can tell you something about the power, torque and general nature of the car running the 1/4 mile

well my friend has a 79 camaro witha chevy 350 and yes its modded but not gunna list them and his best was a 12.6 at 108mph and i THINK dont quote me but i thought he said his 60' was a 2.0 so i guess in my opinion it is hard to guage with those three at times.

helll... my best 60 ft time is 2.400.... (time in my sig)


A lot of it has to do with the driver.

lets say 2 people get the exact same time put with different trap speeds. The person with the faster trap speed probably hooked better.

Times can vary although if you konw the sport well enough.... you can tell if someone is bs'ing or not

While ET's can vary, I think 1/4mile mph is a good indicator of your horsepower. Your times are a better indicator of your ability to hook the car up and drive.

I ran an 11.96 @ 113mph with a 1.69 60' in the t/a. i wouldve been faster if i had a good transmission in it. i couldnt bang 4th gear, because it would grind and not go in. that ate up a good 1/2 second since i had to shift into 4th slower than the other gears. im thinking 11.7-11.80 @ 116-117 if it had a good trans in it


2000 Cavalier Z24 5spd CRM
Eibach Anti Roll kit, Poly motor/trans mounts, custom made CAI, Header, cutout, tuned by me with HPtuners
14.81 @ 91.09 mph 2.06 60'
97 Saturn SC1 with DOHC swap. 13.7@98mph on motor. +75 shot 12.8 @107mph

Weebel wrote:lets say 2 people get the exact same time put with different trap speeds. The person with the faster trap speed probably hooked better.

Your assumption here is actually the opposite. Given the same 1/4 mile ET, the one who has the better trap speed is actually the one with a worse launch. Let's assume the same car is running right next to itself. If you can imagine, a better launch means the car is actually down the track further but with approximately the same speed at the same time as the slower launch. This means, in the same amount of time, the car with the better launch can get down the track quicker, but the car with the worse launch can actually catch up because it has more track to gain the MPH to get down the track faster. Keep in mind we are talking about maybe a tenth of a second difference in 60'.

Many people use the terms quick and fast interchangeably. This is a mistake. Quick is the TIME per distance it takes you to get from point A to Point B and Fast is your SPEED per distance difference from point A to point B. I'll use a real life example to illustrate my point. A few years ago, my dad was running our turbocharged Eclipse and an old 5.0 Mustang. The Mustang ran low 10's in the 130 MPH range, but the Eclipse ran 10.80's in the 135 MPH range. The Mustang is quicker but the Eclipse is faster relative to speed per distance, not time. This is also due to the ability of a rear wheel drive car being able to launch better (quick) and the ability of a front wheel drive car to make more horsepower at higher RPM (fast).

As far as a 12.7 @ 113 MPH in a RWD with a 60' of only 1.9, that MPH is actually a little high because of the slow 60' for a RWD. As explained above, you can't compare 1/4 mile MPH between a FWD and RWD because of the different aspects and physics of the cars. For example, when the Sunfire was running high 12's, I had 60' times in the 1.8 even high 1.7 range (slicks) but was barely breaking the 110 MPH mark.

Other things to consider are weight of the vehicle, weather, track prep, track condition, turbo, N/A, supercharged etc. etc.

When all is said and done, The quicker the 60' time, the quicker the pass.





Street-Legal 2003 Sunfire 10.58 @ 139 MPH

1.9 60 foot the best he's going to get? You're nuts. With that amount of HP he could easily pull a 1.7-1.8. Find a place with better track prep.

O noes!