Racing w/ the v8 ST's

[Chris Kulbaba]

If you are racing an ST(AWD) should the traction control be off?

 

[Travis Munday]

I sure hope you mean actual, at the track racing. Since you're asking the question, the answer is yes, keep it on. It will help save you when you outdrive your skill and/or vehicle. If it's drag racing, then turn it off, let the AWD dig do the work. Not to sound like too much of an ass, but a good, trained driver doesn't need traction control (especially with AWD) and would know to turn the switch off as soon as they entere into pit lane from the garage. Since you're asking, I'm assuming you're unsure of your own skill, in that case, the TCS may not be such a bad idea.



If you're just flooring at the lights on the street, then don't do it at all, it's just stupid and proves only one thing, who the bigger idiot is.

 

[gary s]

XST,

last year in the fall, i went to e-town (nj 1/4 mile track) and ran a 16.2 -

and no, trac control was not off.

not sure it matters as this is not a 1/4 mile vehicle

 

[Chris Kulbaba]

Actually I dislike the tractions control, but I just wasn't sure if it needed to be on. The AWD is new to me and I didn't also know how it affected that.

 

[Kevin Lang]

Wow...that wasn't a sanctimonious post

 

[Chris Kulbaba]

Actually I dislike the traction control, but I just wasn't sure if it needed to be on. The AWD is new to me and I didn't also know how it affected that.



As for where I would race... Every Friday night the local raceway has open racing... I want to participate, I also want to win.

 

[Nelson Atwell]

A V-8 engine and some engine tuning won't make up for the fact that the ST is too heavy to race. Also, an automatic transmission doesn't allow a driver to control the acceleration. The only skill it would take is to floor the vehicle and keep the steering wheel straight. My 16 year old daughter could do that and she doesn't even have a license. If you want to race, you should get a different vehicle.

 

[Tom Schindler]

Anyone that thinks Drag Racing is easy is full of it. The ST can be a great vehicle to race. You do not have to be fast.



You just have to be consistant.



That is very hard to do. The slower a car is the easier it is.





Tom

 

[keith wallace01ST]

hey i know that race trac it is coool and fun .....i use to go there like ten years ago when i live in cochrane....

 

[D Potts]

 

[Todd Z]

Most of the racing ( bracket) is the best thing with a truck like ours...



Try to run the same number all the time...



Heck a 9 second car can loose a race to my 16 second ST because I simply hit the number all the time...



Todd Z

 

[gary s]

very good point nelson.

its simply not a vehicle to waste the money on for all the mods that produce little or no added performance.

 

[Gavin Allan]

I like to leave the traction control off. However, it probably doesn't matter when you really get on it and light up all four tires at the same time, such as doing long smokey burnouts to warm up the rubber prior to the race...

 

[Tom Schindler]

Gary,



I bet I could bracket race your Vette with my Trac...and win.



Being consistant will win you the race every time.





Tom

 

[gary s]

tom,



hey speed racer...... you could beat everyone :wacko:

 

[Nelson Atwell]

Tom's truck is so fast. It would be unfair for him to race anyone. To make it fair, he should race towing his trailer full of scrap metal. :lol:

 

[Chris Kulbaba]

Does the traction control light stay on inside the vehicle when you turn it off with the SCT livewire?

 

[Tom Schindler]

hey speed racer...... you could beat everyone

Gary, if you do not understand what bracket racing is, you should keep your mouth shut. You only make yourself look stupid.



Bracket racing is not about being fast. Bracket racing is about being the same speed everytime all the time.



If I race your Vette, Matrix, or 300Z and I constintly run a 21.99 seconds everytime, no matter how fast you run I still win.



It isn't about speed. For those people that know nothing about bracket racing and think drag racing is about speed only, has no clue what they know about it.





Tom

 

[JK II]

LOL @ this thread.

 

[Kevin Lang]

but if you make no mods to your trac and just floor it each time, won't you get the same time each time? The mods that all the performance guys make are mercurial to times in my limited experience, so going stock gives you an advantage, but it's sounds sort of lame. Being the tortoise will win you the race, but it isn't as exhilarating as trying to run it as fast as you can by any means possible and playing the hare.



Drag racing around here is too expensive--10 dollars to run, and you can only run street vehicles on weekends, which leads to overcrowding.



...and when a stock 2001/2000 explorer 4x4 can beat the trac, that's kind of sad....I always thought that the trac was lighter, since it didn't have the rear roof, but it seems that my thinking was wrong, and that it mattered in the land of racing. (I did not race, but I observed an st that did, and that st failed to the explorer.)