How do i get a radial slick to hook on a marginal track ??

[racerAL]

The bias-ply M/T worked out pretty good. The car was a bit slower than the radials (when they hooked) but all in all I think they are gonna work out pretty well. They are a used set ( 20 passes) and have the stick shift side wall. The guy I got them from always ran tubes but I didn't have time to get tubes so I had them mounted without. I haven't ran tubes in years so I'm hesitant to put tubes in them. Even before I went to the Hoosier radials I didn't run tubes in my bias Hoosiers, never had any issue of them losing air or the slick moving on the rim. I marked these slicks and they didn't move at all yesterday but I'm alittle worried about how much they are wadding up. I started with 14.5 lbs and in the video of the car it seem to be wadding them so I up the pressure to 16lbs and it spun a tad ( lost. 07 in the 60ft.) so I took them back down to 14.5 and it was consistently 1.48-1.49 with a very soft set up and low rpm launch( compared to what I was running with the radials when they were hooking). I was able to go 4 rds and the car was working well, so I consider the change a good change.

[1320racer]

Originally Posted by racerAL

I switched to the 30x9 Hoosier radial slick last spring. I had no issues with getting the slicks to hook. I ran at 4 different tracks and at all of them traction was no issue with my 60 ft avg in the 1.44 - 1.46 range, and the car was lifting the front end nicely. Fast forward to this summer and i have had a lot of issues with the car spinning at the starting line. A few weeks ago at Norwalk for the no box race the car was good with no issues, but when i go to my home track (which is marginal at best), I can only get the car to hook before the heat gets in the track. Last Saturday my first two time runs were without issue, but as soon as the sun gets higher in the sky and has had a chance to build heat in the track(119 degrees) the car spins on the hit. My question is what if anything can i do to make these radial slicks work on a "hot" marginal track ? I have lowered launch rpm and soften the rear shocks as much as possible.

Originally Posted by racerAL

58 passes going into last weekend.

Originally Posted by racerAL

if I'm only going to get 50-60 passes out of the radials, I'll switch back to a bias ply slick. Im going to add weight in the trunk and take some timing out of it and hopefully I can get it to not spin.

Originally Posted by racerAL

it's highly possible I'm doing to hard of a burn out. I'm taking out some timing and added 100 of weigh, hopefully it helps.

Originally Posted by racerAL

I've been at 21psi..but I haven't tried anything different in the heat. I was pretty sure I didn't want to go lower and was afraid to go much higher. I'll try 22psi tonight at test and tune.

Originally Posted by racerAL

Rear suspension is ladder bar and Strange adjustable socks and coil over springs. , on a well prepped track my car 60ft in the low 1.40's. Car weighs 3555 race ready and has less than 550 hp. I run 4.56 gear and a 9 inch Dynamic converter.

Originally Posted by racerAL

The bias-ply M/T worked out pretty good. The car was a bit slower than the radials (when they hooked) but all in all I think they are gonna work out pretty well. I started with 14.5 lbs and in the video of the car it seem to be wadding them so I up the pressure to 16lbs and it spun a tad ( lost. 07 in the 60ft.) so I took them back down to 14.5 and it was consistently 1.48-1.49 with a very soft set up and low rpm launch( compared to what I was running with the radials when they were hooking).

Originally Posted by Mike Pearson

Nothing can fix a bad track.

this^^^

Radial slicks requires a car that works and a starting line that is prepped! Track prep on test/tune days at most tracks along with "marginal at best" prep on race day won't cut it!

If you chose to race on junk tracks or it's your only option, stay with bias slicks.

You also went the wrong way with your shocks and while I'm an advocate of running a good double adjustable shocks, they are not a deal breaker at your power level IF you put the time into setting up the chassis/suspension.

Years ago, a friend out of Va that raced a Chevelle similar to mine with the same power running on Hoosier 30 x 9 radial slicks had 200 lbs. bolted in his trunk to get it to hook consistantly.

That said, I've been running radial slicks for 17 years, the first 9 were Hoosier 30/10.5 on my footbrake launched 3880 lb. Chevelle with 59% of it's weigh on the nose. Shocks were single adjustable Koni gas shocks and this car 60 footed a best of 1.28 on these tires with no weight in the trunk ever and I put 75-100 passes on each pair, aired to 21 lbs. before pulling them off and putting them on a 3100 lb. Camaro with less power that got another 75 passes out of them.



For the last 8 years, I've been running Hoosier 32/13.5 radial on my footbrake launched 3144 lb. Firebird, with a 4 link and DA Afco shocks and this car has 60 footed a best of 1.17 on these tires and I put 150 passes on each pair before swapping them out.

[1320racer]

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[racerAL]

Thanks for your input Ed I appreciate it. But you have me a bit confused on what you said about my shock setting. I'll admit that I'm new to the whole adjustable shock deal and I'm learning as I go. My understanding was that if I wanted to soften the hit on the slick I should soften the shock. Is this incorrect? I had the shocks set to the tightest setting with the radials and a much higher launch rpm at Norwalk a few weeks ago and the car worked great. Then without changing anything I took the car to my local track and the car spun badly at the hit. Doing what I thought was correct I softened the shocks and took out 800 rpm from the launch and it was better but still spun. What am I missing? Am I going about it totally wrong?

[1320racer]

Al, if your shocks are single adjustable, start with the rears set at full stiff and the front at full loose. if the car hooks then spins, start tightening up the front shocks. Your typical burnout should be no longer than 4 seconds, half that when it's HOT out and pay attention to the starting line condition, stage outside of the bald spots if possible.

[racerAL]

Ok, I'm seeing what your saying. I want to slow down the the front lifting up. I run Calvert 90/10 front shocks so there is no adjustability with those. I will look into getting a set of adjustable front shocks. And thru this thread, I have discovered I was doing too much of a burnout, so I'll make sure to not do that any longer. Thanks again.

[1320racer]

good luck and keep us updated on your progress.

[j gardiner]

I run the Hoosier radial on my stocker which I also bracket race. I just got 210 passes to the cords on mine. If you have tread on them they should hook. They are not worn out till the tread is gone. That being said on a marginal track you can have problems. First walk the starting line to see if you can find a better spot to stage in. Then knock about 5 degrees of timing out of it and 2-3 lbs of air out of the tires and if you have weight you can try that too. Sometimes no matter how well you have your car set up you have to go to plan b

[Lenny5160]

I have single adjustable shocks on the rear, and run them fully tight on a good track and loosen some on a marginal track.

My car has leaf-springs with Cal-Tracs, so I believe the softer shock setting enables the Cal-Trac bars to drive the rear downward more quickly, providing more bite. I don't know if this relates at all to how a coil spring car would work.

[racerAL]

Tons of good info and insight guys...i appreciate all the help. Hopefully I can put it all to good use. Thanks to all. This picture is from last fall at my local track (the track im having all the issues at now) the radials had probably 35 passes on them and the weather was perfect and the track had plenty of bite. 1.43 60ft. tight setting on the shocks and 3600 rpm launch.