Skywagon's Return to the Dragstrip

[Skywagon]

I think skywagon is the only guy on this thread who runs 11’s in a car he owns. Sky - I’d like to know how you did it and how I can do it too.

Not sure I follow?

[clochner]

Folks, here is a post I put on Audizine. It has some information some may find of interest??

Fireball,
I have never spun before, except in Dec a minimal amount. Yesterday I was spinning and hopping, all tires, intermittently. I’m running Michelin Pilot Super Sports all around. About 12000 miles on them. I suspect that the finer softer rubber tread, being now non-existent, has reduced my traction abilities somewhat. I’m running 295’s in the back and 265’s up front. My tires are searching for traction for upwards of 3/4’s of a second? I can tell this by simply listening to the videos my son made. I’m, by NO MEANS, suggesting I’m losing 3/4s of a second ET. It is impossible to extrapolate out of this spinning how much it is effecting my ET’s…one or two tenths? I sure don’t know. I think the possibility of this hop/spin is causing short shifting from first to second, about 5500 RPM, Yes I have the REVO DSG tune as well. I also think that repeated launches from 4200 RPM could be making the DSG a little too warm. I have seen the car go up to 7000 rpm in first, no tach lag, many times in the past. I thought I had discovered a way to keep it in 1st up to 7000 rpm, lock it in first, let the governor shift it out of 1st at 7000 rpm, a designed safety item because the shift does happen quickly, and then after the shift simply move the lever left to “S”. Even this stupid old fart is capable of a simple procedure like that. However, that did not work yesterday. I also think my transmission may be overheating to a degree. I had two L/C failures, RPM’s would only go to 2000 RPM at line. The car just had a 15000 mile check so I’d wager all fluid levels are OK in the DSG? I do know my boost is bleeding off quickly. During some practice launches on Friday I noted, with my P3 gauge, Euro Code boost tap installed, boost hitting a peak of about 16.9 PSI at around 5500 RPM but quickly dropping down into the high 15’s PSI as the RPMs reached into the 6000 range. I plan on posting all time slips and videos as soon as I can. I also plan on do some logging soon as well.
I’ve been contemplating a potential reason for my lower trap speeds for some time now. My rear tires are 1/2 inch less diameter than the fronts or, obviously, 1/4 inch less in radius. That amounts to a 1.8% difference in diameter, well inside the alleged 2% limit. The stagger was my idea and planned. I’ve been spanked accordingly. Regardless, these cars are highly computerized and I can’t help but wonder if that small difference is reducing power to the wheels to one degree or another? I’ve also been in contact with REVO since yesterday. I went up to their WV spaces because I was invited. All work performed by them was FREE. It was far from a waste of time. I stayed FREE with a buddy and ate FREE as well. Since my car has headers and a few other mods they were able to solve some issues as well as learn from the car, 2014 b8’5. However, if this problem can’t be solved GIAC is not out of the realm of possibility. Thank you.

Can you pls break up this absurd chunk of text? It is unreadable in its current form. If you can’t edit, I’ll be glad to separate it into proper paragraphs for you.

[Skywagon]

Folks, here is a post I put on Audizine. It has some information some may find of interest??

Fireball,
I have never spun before, except in Dec a minimal amount. Yesterday I was spinning and hopping, all tires, intermittently. I’m running Michelin Pilot Super Sports all around. About 12000 miles on them. I suspect that the finer softer rubber tread, being now non-existent, has reduced my traction abilities somewhat. I’m running 295’s in the back and 265’s up front. My tires are searching for traction for upwards of 3/4’s of a second? I can tell this by simply listening to the videos my son made. I’m, by NO MEANS, suggesting I’m losing 3/4s of a second ET. It is impossible to extrapolate out of this spinning how much it is effecting my ET’s…one or two tenths? I sure don’t know. I think the possibility of this hop/spin is causing short shifting from first to second, about 5500 RPM, Yes I have the REVO DSG tune as well. I also think that repeated launches from 4200 RPM could be making the DSG a little too warm. I have seen the car go up to 7000 rpm in first, no tach lag, many times in the past. I thought I had discovered a way to keep it in 1st up to 7000 rpm, lock it in first, let the governor shift it out of 1st at 7000 rpm, a designed safety item because the shift does happen quickly, and then after the shift simply move the lever left to “S”. Even this stupid old fart is capable of a simple procedure like that. However, that did not work yesterday. I also think my transmission may be overheating to a degree. I had two L/C failures, RPM’s would only go to 2000 RPM at line. The car just had a 15000 mile check so I’d wager all fluid levels are OK in the DSG? I do know my boost is bleeding off quickly. During some practice launches on Friday I noted, with my P3 gauge, Euro Code boost tap installed, boost hitting a peak of about 16.9 PSI at around 5500 RPM but quickly dropping down into the high 15’s PSI as the RPMs reached into the 6000 range. I plan on posting all time slips and videos as soon as I can. I also plan on do some logging soon as well.
I’ve been contemplating a potential reason for my lower trap speeds for some time now. My rear tires are 1/2 inch less diameter than the fronts or, obviously, 1/4 inch less in radius. That amounts to a 1.8% difference in diameter, well inside the alleged 2% limit. The stagger was my idea and planned. I’ve been spanked accordingly. Regardless, these cars are highly computerized and I can’t help but wonder if that small difference is reducing power to the wheels to one degree or another? I’ve also been in contact with REVO since yesterday. I went up to their WV spaces because I was invited. All work performed by them was FREE. It was far from a waste of time. I stayed FREE with a buddy and ate FREE as well. Since my car has headers and a few other mods they were able to solve some issues as well as learn from the car, 2014 b8’5. However, if this problem can’t be solved GIAC is not out of the realm of possibility. Thank you.

Can you pls break up this absurd chunk of text? It is unreadable in its current form. If you can’t edit, I’ll be glad to separate it into proper paragraphs for you.

By all means, yes sir…have at it!

[clochner]

I think skywagon is the only guy on this thread who runs 11’s in a car he owns.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME, DUDE???

[Skywagon]

I think skywagon is the only guy on this thread who runs 11’s in a car he owns.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME, DUDE???

I don’t get that either.

[jran76]

Maybe I missed this as I’ve tried to avoid as much of this as possible, but… Have/can you run your car at any other strips to see what the traps look like? Or, have other tuned S4’s run at this same strip, and if so, what are their traps?

Secondly, instead of possibly going with your third tune, why not invest in a nice set of non-staggered wheels if you are really after the absolute most performance? I know you have felt like your wheels are not an issue (and they are slightly lighter than stock), but you seem willing to dump untold amounts of money into squeeing every last ounce of power out of the car, and I’m not sure why you would neglect the wheels. You’ll save yourself another 10lbs. or so per corner, and eliminate any possibility of the staggered setup causing issues. Now is the perfect time to do it if you need new tires anyway.

[drob23]

Then there’s also the weird thing he’s doing with shifting the car in manual mode and back to auto mode to prevent early downshifting. Which I will comment happens so fast I’m not even sure how you would tell.

As a random background - signals like RPM or MPH are sent over the CAN bus to the instrument cluster from the ECM or ABS module (this is how certain tuners do map switching for instance, they hijack some random needle in your cluster). It’s possible that the tach might not be able to keep up with your acceleration in 1st gear, and you think it’s short shifting even though it isn’t. So unless you are logging the ECM and getting these signals with VCDS (which samples pretty slow admittedly), it’s all speculation.

It would be pretty interesting to log these “manual mode” runs while at the 1/4 mile strip.

Drob,
I have seen my tach go to 7000 RPM numerous times in first gear. Tach lag? Bullshit! After the car goes into second gear I simply move the lever, to the left. I did no “manual” mode runs. Car was upshifting at 5500 RPM during most runs. Thanks.

I’d like to see data logs that corroborate your claims. Otherwise, you’re just adding complexity to the problem by doing your shifting dance.

Although in all honesty, you are posting such good 60 ft and 1/8 mile times that this probably isn’t your issue. But it does create extra opportunities for problems.

[Skywagon]

Maybe I missed this as I’ve tried to avoid as much of this as possible, but… Have/can you run your car at any other strips to see what the traps look like? Or, have other tuned S4’s run at this same strip, and if so, what are their traps?

Secondly, instead of possibly going with your third tune, why not invest in a nice set of non-staggered wheels if you are really after the absolute most performance? I know you have felt like your wheels are not an issue (and they are slightly lighter than stock), but you seem willing to dump untold amounts of money into squeeing every last ounce of power out of the car, and I’m not sure why you would neglect the wheels. You’ll save yourself another 10lbs. or so per corner, and eliminate any possibility of the staggered setup causing issues. Now is the perfect time to do it if you need new tires anyway.

No only this one. I know one thing the trap timers at the strip read 2-3 MPH faster and the ET is .3 to.4 less than the print out. However, the print trumps all!

[Skywagon]

Then there’s also the weird thing he’s doing with shifting the car in manual mode and back to auto mode to prevent early downshifting. Which I will comment happens so fast I’m not even sure how you would tell.

As a random background - signals like RPM or MPH are sent over the CAN bus to the instrument cluster from the ECM or ABS module (this is how certain tuners do map switching for instance, they hijack some random needle in your cluster). It’s possible that the tach might not be able to keep up with your acceleration in 1st gear, and you think it’s short shifting even though it isn’t. So unless you are logging the ECM and getting these signals with VCDS (which samples pretty slow admittedly), it’s all speculation.

It would be pretty interesting to log these “manual mode” runs while at the 1/4 mile strip.

Drob,
I have seen my tach go to 7000 RPM numerous times in first gear. Tach lag? Bullshit! After the car goes into second gear I simply move the lever, to the left. I did no “manual” mode runs. Car was upshifting at 5500 RPM during most runs. Thanks.

I’d like to see data logs that corroborate your claims. Otherwise, you’re just adding complexity to the problem by doing your shifting dance.

Although in all honesty, you are posting such good 60 ft and 1/8 mile times that this probably isn’t your issue. But it does create extra opportunities for problems.

Drob, I’m not doing it because I want to. I did it in an attempt to stop the short shifting. I’ts a very simple procedure, even a senior citizen like me can do it!

[drob23]

Maybe I missed this as I’ve tried to avoid as much of this as possible, but… Have/can you run your car at any other strips to see what the traps look like? Or, have other tuned S4’s run at this same strip, and if so, what are their traps?

Secondly, instead of possibly going with your third tune, why not invest in a nice set of non-staggered wheels if you are really after the absolute most performance? I know you have felt like your wheels are not an issue (and they are slightly lighter than stock), but you seem willing to dump untold amounts of money into squeeing every last ounce of power out of the car, and I’m not sure why you would neglect the wheels. You’ll save yourself another 10lbs. or so per corner, and eliminate any possibility of the staggered setup causing issues. Now is the perfect time to do it if you need new tires anyway.

No only this one. I know one thing the trap timers at the strip read 2-3 MPH faster and the ET is .3 to.4 less than the print out. However, the print trumps all!

Huh, really? That seems strange.

[d.p]

Maybe I missed this as I’ve tried to avoid as much of this as possible, but… Have/can you run your car at any other strips to see what the traps look like? Or, have other tuned S4’s run at this same strip, and if so, what are their traps?

Secondly, instead of possibly going with your third tune, why not invest in a nice set of non-staggered wheels if you are really after the absolute most performance? I know you have felt like your wheels are not an issue (and they are slightly lighter than stock), but you seem willing to dump untold amounts of money into squeeing every last ounce of power out of the car, and I’m not sure why you would neglect the wheels. You’ll save yourself another 10lbs. or so per corner, and eliminate any possibility of the staggered setup causing issues. Now is the perfect time to do it if you need new tires anyway.

No only this one. I know one thing the trap timers at the strip read 2-3 MPH faster and the ET is .3 to.4 less than the print out. However, the print trumps all!

Huh, really? That seems strange.

So you are saying that your trap is really 115-116 and your times closer to 11.5 - 11.6? How did you figure that out?

[Skywagon]

Maybe I missed this as I’ve tried to avoid as much of this as possible, but… Have/can you run your car at any other strips to see what the traps look like? Or, have other tuned S4’s run at this same strip, and if so, what are their traps?

Secondly, instead of possibly going with your third tune, why not invest in a nice set of non-staggered wheels if you are really after the absolute most performance? I know you have felt like your wheels are not an issue (and they are slightly lighter than stock), but you seem willing to dump untold amounts of money into squeeing every last ounce of power out of the car, and I’m not sure why you would neglect the wheels. You’ll save yourself another 10lbs. or so per corner, and eliminate any possibility of the staggered setup causing issues. Now is the perfect time to do it if you need new tires anyway.

No only this one. I know one thing the trap timers at the strip read 2-3 MPH faster and the ET is .3 to.4 less than the print out. However, the print trumps all!

Huh, really? That seems strange.

So you are saying that your trap is really 115-116 and your times closer to 11.5 - 11.6? How did you figure that out?

First of all I apologize, I meant to write .03-.04 hundreths of a second. My mistake. Those are the numbers on the illuminated signs at the traps. One time it showed 11.95 @114mph. I don’t understand the difference but all I have are the higher time and lower speed print outs for proof.

[clochner]

Sky - let’s get those slips and vids. 3 pages into this thread, and we still haven’t seen them.

[euroswagr]

I have personally ran multiple vehicles at Coastal and my times (ET/trap) were nearly identical to similarly modified vehicles that ran on other NHRA/IHRA tracks around the country.

It isn’t the timing system or track so let’s get rid of that theory.

[justincredible]

Sky - let’s get those slips and vids. 3 pages into this thread, and we still haven’t seen them.

This.

K sky. The spinning is possible but it seems faster cars then you are able to put down the power without any of these issues. So you want to help people help you. Put up videos and post the slips. The reason people are being so harsh is your taking something so simple and by doing it your own way your making it much much harder. Then your not saying anything that makes sense to those that are far more successful then you have been.

You said you would get logs to Primetime. I would very much suggest that. Of you are blowing off boost that 100% makes sense on all the issues with the car and it’s mph. It might even help explain why the car is hopping. The guys tried to warn you and other about revo. This is why. Every time you get a company like revo that wants to be a major player they try to stir excitement. Too any people put there faith in the sales teams of these unproven companys. Now you get people like you that , get just be revo s test guy so they can figure out what the other guys already figured out. This is why you see so , any guys not excited about these other company’s trying to get into the B8 s4 game.

At this point with APR and GIAC having figured it all out why would people go with a company that is still trying to learn what the real company’s already know.

Slips and video with logs should help give you real answers

[sakimano]

I think skywagon is the only guy on this thread who runs 11’s in a car he owns. Sky - I’d like to know how you did it and how I can do it too.

And i think you’re an idiot who doesn’t pay attention. The poster right above you just told you he does run well into the 11s. He went 11.6. As do others including primetime whp also went 11.6
Oh look rynurz posted too. What’d he run? Oh yeah 11.6. Not to mention the b67 guys posting here who have run almost into the 10s never mind 11.98. So shut the fuck up 13boy.

Let’s turn your statement around. I think you’re the only fuck up in the thread who runs 13s.

[sakimano]

Maybe I missed this as I’ve tried to avoid as much of this as possible, but… Have/can you run your car at any other strips to see what the traps look like? Or, have other tuned S4’s run at this same strip, and if so, what are their traps?

Secondly, instead of possibly going with your third tune, why not invest in a nice set of non-staggered wheels if you are really after the absolute most performance? I know you have felt like your wheels are not an issue (and they are slightly lighter than stock), but you seem willing to dump untold amounts of money into squeeing every last ounce of power out of the car, and I’m not sure why you would neglect the wheels. You’ll save yourself another 10lbs. or so per corner, and eliminate any possibility of the staggered setup causing issues. Now is the perfect time to do it if you need new tires anyway.

No only this one. I know one thing the trap timers at the strip read 2-3 MPH faster and the ET is .3 to.4 less than the print out. However, the print trumps all!

Huh, really? That seems strange.

So you are saying that your trap is really 115-116 and your times closer to 11.5 - 11.6? How did you figure that out?

First of all I apologize, I meant to write .03-.04 hundreths of a second. My mistake. Those are the numbers on the illuminated signs at the traps. One time it showed 11.95 @114mph. I don’t understand the difference but all I have are the higher time and lower speed print outs for proof.

You’re full of shit.

Whoever filmed has shit eyes and or the clocks have a couple of burned out bulbs.

Your az post is classic skywagon. Completely clueless like your buddy westwest

Notice the commonality? Revo tune. We have never seen a revo tune natch the other tuners on race gas. Not even close.

The trend continues.

However skywagon still thinks it is wheelspin. After twenty people tell him he’s way off base… It’s still wheels in. After three of the 5 fastest b8 s4 guys tell him it’s not…sjywagon insists It’s still wheelspin.

[justincredible]

The one way to kill the wheel spin argument would be video. Time slips would help as well. But something to think about. The mph see, s consistent and the times that we know of are considered consistent. If the car is getting wheel spin the wheel spin wouldn’t be consistent each time as a variable. What I’m saying is. Of your getting consistent times and you feel your hurt by spinning it’s hard to have consistent wheel spin

[shizzrock]

Wouldn’t bald tires have more traction on a dry track? I’m just wondering because I thought the whole 12000 mile thing was beside the point.

1. Take off the ferris wheels and put your stock rotors on that you still have because you were trying to sell them for 3 grand.

2. Plug the hole.

3. Run race tune and don’t run any meth.

4. Don’t try to do any extrasensory shifting to “trick” the DSG

5. Put your heat on FULL BLAST

6. Take the extra set of calipers out of your trunk.

7. Wheel spin is your friend, it heats up the tires so eventually they will stick.

8. Post results and compare.

[Ring_It_Out]

Shizzrock, concerning tread grip…Less tread with *slicks has never meant more grip…at least not in all my years of road racing. This is due to heat cycles. After 3-5 cycles (getting tire hot, then allowed to cool)…that remaining rubber will be harder and grip is sacrificed.
Now, if you’re talking about dot street or dot competition tires…these tires can get greasy and squirmy when heated excessively and actually lose grip…when *new. To overcome this…those tires should be heat cycled and rested for a period of time before heating them up again. I think it’s generally 24 hours or more? This is why tirerack offers a shaving service! It’s thought that by shaving down the top tread, the tire will offer less greasy/squirm and potentially provide more heat cycles with less loss of life in the tire. I don’t know, as I never used such service…I only ran on full race slicks.

All that said, I think it’s been established that Sky’s issues are not with spinning his wheels! ;D