What makes a fast 1/4 mile car?

[Torborg]

It might seem pretty simple on the surface, but I'm hoping to look deeper than peak power dyno figures. Sometimes we see cars with low peak kw that make much better times down the strip than some of the dyno queens.

I know most of the parts come into play (camshaft, transmission, diff gears, torque converter, exhaust, tyres, weight, suspension, intake, engine type, experience of driver, ...), but how much of a role does each play in 1/4 mile times, assuming the car is optimally tuned?

If you were to pick a top 5 "things" in order (from what I've mentioned, or add your own), what ones would be most important?

[Torborg]

Feel free to add supercharger/turbocharger to your list too. I'm not deliberately looking to make this specific (eg. type of charger or cam), but I realize it may need to be that way.

[Mitchg]

From my experience, your 60ft can be the difference of a low 13 to a high 11.

I would say:
- diff gears
- high stall
- tyres
- suspension
- driver experience.

A great package of the above, with the tune, will take a standard LS1 being a 14 second car, to a mid 12 second car, and drop a 60ft from 2.1ish to 1.6-7

Then you add the exhaust, cam, heads etc to go faster and faster.

[Red-Devil]

As above.. But as you do mods you need to make sure that your car has the capability to put that power down..
One example my car.. Running cheap shit 18's.. Did 13.003 with exhaust, intake and tune..

Got cam and heads done.. 12.89..
With the fugly cheap street tyres on it I can't put the power down.. Went up 100odd hp.. And lost .2 seconds on my 60 foot..

[vyls1wa]

Even having the right goal, I went with small headers a smallish exhaust because i never wanted to h/c the car, then. I'm now looking at replacing the whole lot and going bigger,

[bush_basha]

big cubes and FI, lol. Suspension and tyres play a big part aswell obviously

[white lie]

IMO you can't put them in order. Its a combination of everything coming together that makes a package successful. Its just a matter of getting everything right at the right time

But dont forget track and weather conditions

[steves87]

Re-reading your first sentence.... id suggest to myself, ridding as much weight from anything i can and the stickiest tyres i could afford... after that and a bit of practice on the strip id start with power gains....
that would be my personal approach :-)

[JezzaB]

Suspension setup
Tyres/Traction
Driver (more so for manual)
Weight
Power/Torque

Lots of quick cars with lowish power and great setup
Lots of slow cars with big power and poor setups

[XUV]

It boils down to power to weight dunno how accurate this calculator is , http://vexer.com/automotive-tools/1-...MPH-calculator
coz it says I should run 13's at 4500 pounds withy 400hp at the fly , the easy bit as i'd need 700 to break into 10's ,

so how's it stack up with those who race the 1/4

[JohnC]

Driver reaction times and tires with correct pressure make a big difference

[duke5700]

Suspension
Tyres
Shop/Tuner that understands the difference between a dyno and a race track
Driveline Combination/Package - IE does it work together or is it under cammed, under stalled, over cammed, high IAT's, blah blah blah
Driver - Probably more relevant in a manual car.

[XUV]

Driver reaction times and tires with correct pressure make a big difference

yes , but ask a drag racer what his/her pressures are and see if you get a definitive answer and if you do 10 to 1 it's not what they run ...... the secretive fukkers

[duke5700]

Pressure changes depending on the track and grip levels and a good racer will monitor and change them as they need to.

For example from memory, with radials, I would start at 26 psi and work my way down in 2 psi increments.

[JezzaB]

Driver reaction times and tires with correct pressure make a big difference

Reaction time doesn't effect ET. You can sit there for 5 minutes on a green light and still run a 9