This Saturday, the closest drag strip near me is holding a thing called Street Legal Drags. I have been dying to visit the strip for as long as I can remember and now I finally have a chance.

I checked the projected weather forecast for Saturday in the area where the strip is located and the high is listed at 92 degrees Fahrenheit.

I know that if I sit in line waiting to stage, my motor and intake temperatures will skyrocket....because of this, I am shooting for a 13.5 @ 105mph. Realistically, I am expecting to see a time closer to 13.7. If I run below a 13.7, I will be happy.

Any tips to reduce heat soak to the intercoolers? Nitrous spray on the intercooler is out of the question...as is water/meth injection.

I'll keep you all posted...

 

Sounds like fun! Let us know your times.

 

Definitely.

I finally got the Mina exhaust today. Installed it in my garage by myself.

I did not have a camera to document the install but I must say that the entire thing was very straightforward. The Mina exhaust slips right into the factory midpipe/resonator at the rear axle and all you need to do is tighten a clamp and hook the exhaust onto the rubber supports.

Now for sound. When the car is wide open, I must say the car resembles the sound of an Audi RS4 or a V8 AMG Mercedes. The exhaust noise as a whole is not loud and obtrusive. To the untrained ear, it might sound like the exhaust came from the factory (Mercedes AMG/Audi RS4). However, coming from the factory Jaguar exhaust, it is a world of difference.

Now for the one thing that irks me. at about 1700-2300 rpm, the exhaust drones a bit. What is really unfortunate is that the motor sits between that range under normal cruising so it might become annoying. It may take me some time to get used to, and I hope I do learn to get used to it. However, this is my initial impression...between the RPM range stated above, it drones a little too much.

Overall, the sound is amazing.

So power...Mina claims a 10-12 HP increase. Do I feel a difference? I really can't say I do...however the throttle response does seem to be a bit better. The tranny also seems to bang off shifts faster...

So am I happy and would I recommend this system?

Yes.

Pictures and video coming soon!

 

The heat is relentless on cars with forced induction. When I arrived at the track at about noon, the outside air temperature was 100 degrees. Each pass I made (total of 5) the outside air temperature was at least 100...the highest I saw was 102.

According to my computer, my air intake temperature when I left the line was always fluttering between 185-195 degrees Fahrenheit. I blame the heat for the terrible times I turned back.

First race was against a Honda Civic hatchback from the 90's (EG6). I rolled on the throttle thinking it would break loose as it normally does but I completely forgot the track temperature was 150 degrees. Ended up with a 14.7 @ 101. The civic ran a 15.5.

Second race was against another Honda Civic but this is the late model Si with intake and exhaust. This time I turned a 14.0 @ 101 with the civic trapping a 14.9.

Third race was against a the new Subaru WRX STi...I turned a 13.9 @ 102 and he managed a 14.7.

Fourth race was against the E60 M5.....I turned another 13.9 @ 102 while the M5 got an amazing 12.66.

Fifth race was against a Mustang GT (not the new retro body style but the one before). I turned another 13.9 @ 102 while the Stang managed a 15.2.


From what I noticed, all the cars that were naturally aspirated did not suffer from heat soak and ran times that were close to what they should. For example, an SRT-8 300C was managing 13.2-13.5 @ 107~ and the M5 was not far off from its 12.5 1/4 mile time that it should achieve.

All the forced induction cars were suffering massively...supercharged mustang GT's were only managing low 13's. A Dinan stage 3 135i with a test pipe only managed to obtain a 12.7. A Dinan stage 3 335i with catback was only managing 13.3's.

Heat takes a toll on forced induction cars....only the N/A cars were running close to what they should but almost every forced induction car I saw today was running waaay slower than they should.

I must wait until winter to see what I can do...as for now, I guess I will have to live with a terrible, terrible 13.9.

 

Sounds fun and great to see you representing Jag on the strip! I bet there was a lot of amazed people to see such a classy sleeper looking car beating out much sportier looking rides.

 

This teen boy pulled up next to my grandma at a red light and revved his engine.. So my grandma looks at me and asks what that means.

Lol I told her that he wants to race. So when the light turned green, my grandma floored it and won lol. No joke. She's 81.

She's a crazy driver... She probably got 4 speeding tickets last year. She blames it on the engine.. "Well, with this big engine, I can't help it."

 

Made two passes in the '02 Super V8 tonight at Firebird Raceway. First time ever at a track so wasn't sure how I would do.

Tires were the P-Zero rossos 255/45/19 on the Apollo rims. A/C and traction control off, sport mode on.

1st run was a 14.22 @ 99.57 with a reaction time of .596
2nd run was a 14.34 @ 98.63 with a reaciton time of .716

2nd time I didn't really warm up the tires and wasn't really concentrating on the tree and the R/T shows it.

Odd thing I noticed on both runs is that it felt and sounded like tires spun on the last couple of upshifts at the end of track. I thought I had read that the ecm drops the rpms at upshift so I wouldn't have expected wheel spin even with my foot on the floor

On the 2nd run I thought I was going to get to run against the '00 XJR that was there but he backed out of the staging lanes as I pulled up. I think his best time was 14.66 for the night as it was his first time with his Jag also. I only talked to him briefly but he's already ordered a pulley off ebay so hopefully I'll see him there again and can track his progress with modifications.

Great fun. Firebird runs the Street drags almost every Friday and some Saturday nights so I'll be trying this again at some point.

 

thanks for posting sinrose, next time see if you can get a video of you at the line, i'd love to see it! That's respectable for a s/c xj, i think.

 

If your worried about heat soak, take a ice cooler full of ice and water. Soak towels in it. Wring out the excess water and then lay them over the intercoolers and blower. With the hood up and push up your car through the staging lanes. Then pull the towels off and throw them back in the cooler for next time. This will draw out alot of heat and not leave water dripping down the back of the engine to spoil your launch with wheel spin. Just make sure you dont use your good towels or your wife will kill you

 

Thanks for the tips Brutal.

I wasn't too worried about it last night as 14.0 is the limit for no helmet. Faster than that they would have kicked me off the track for the evening unless I could have borrowed one.

Next time out I might go back to the 16" rims with Michelins and see what they can do. Half the fun was watching the other guys looking at me in my "old man's car" as my wife calls it and the chrome Starburts fit that part even better. Even the tech inspectors gave me looks until they saw the supercharger under the hood.

If I can find someone to shoot some video next time I will.

 

^^^lol I can believe that, you should see the looks I get with a lifted 4x4 trucks, big tires, roof rack with tool boxes, axe, and jack. And its a V6, but they quit laughing when the blower whines real loud (Way louder than any stock Eaton setup) at my 7k rev limit. Its still slow at 5500#, no way to get the rpm up quickly with a truck torque convertor, but its still fun and not as fast as my Suburban or the El Camino...people just dont expect it..
here's a vid clip on the dyno when we were tuning when the blower comes up on full boost
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sn1EvGKO1Yo

 

13.9 sounds pretty good on a 100 degree day. Also, what do they say the super v8's run? They have to weight a bit more than a xjr

 

I haven't found any 1/4 mile specs for the Super V8 but the weight is only about 29 lbs more than the shorter XJR for '02.

With 92,000 miles on it now it seems be running as it should and I hope to break that 14.0 barrier. I'll have to pick up a helmet for next time.

 

and i wouldn't worry about the helmet thing unless the track is really strict...everyone of my runs has been in the 13's, and they haven't told me anything yet

 

whats the best way to launch the car with traction control off or on ??

 

Glad to see this thread revived! Here is a video of my car on the track on a different day:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvXtnwLtK2U

The ambient temperature on that day was about 95 to 100 degrees. A little cooler than the first time I went to the track, but still hot nonetheless.

Cincinnati, I've found that launching the car with traction control off is the best way to get a good launch. At the track, I powerbrake to about 1500rpm and launch at half throttle until I feel I am comfortable that I will get full traction...then I go to WOT.

On the street, conditions are different but I apply the same method. But it is certain that you will launch better at a track than on the street. I've found that I get pretty good traction at the track and variable traction on the streets.

 

Nice, looks like you ran a 13.6?

 

Closer to a 13.7 really. The time was a 13.696 @ 104.11. Not too bad for almost 100 degree weather. Hopefully I can utilize the towel trick that Brutal suggested and get a better time.

 

patrickw813, do you do a burnout in the water box or just drive around it and go straight to the tree ?