Racing with top down.Not a good outcome.

[Quagmire]

Has anyone ever raced with top down? Just curious i did it tonight hard felt noticeable sluggish? And plus i lost vs a ls3 vette, not proud of it at all.When racing with top down always check and make sure all things are strapped down, if not a coke can might hit you at 100 mph while shifting to 4th.I was just testing out my new hdpro camera, got a couple of 20-120 pulls to see how it held up. Overall, very happy with camera. Then i found a ls3 08 vette on the highway, he got a roll on me but caught up until i missed 4th, because of coke can flying by ,yes yes yes i know driver mod, going to 1/8th mile tom.
\[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYXTOHKGzeA"]YouTube - ‪cobra run.wmv‬‏[/nomedia]
So things not to do,
1:Heat soak the blower before race ie 2 20-140 pulls 5 mins before race.
2:Race with top down.
3:Lose

Love the hdpro camera, i got the 960, on sale at bestbuy for 150.
Will post more vids at track tom.

 

[FICannon]

I would race from light to light(NOT IN TOWN)with the top down. My PG Conv Cobra wouldn't go past 140 with the top down and I had 345rwhp so I know how you feel.

 

[Posi]

I ran back to back a couple of weeks ago with the top down and up. Car ran pretty much the same time but with the top up it went 2mph faster in the 1/8th mile. The top up pass was also the 2nd pass and was completely hot lapped.

 

[SLPRCTM]

Street raced, nope. HPDE, yep. Flying around a road course with the top down is a blast!

 

[CobraBob]

You don't know what mods that Vette might have had. Yes, missing 4th gear didn't help, but you don't really know what you were up against. A lot of people race with the top down. But, be safe.

 

[MrSwa]

I had a '98 GT vert before my 03. I'm sure there is more drag with the top down than up. The air has no surface to travel over. This seems to be somewhat supported by Posi's run. I'm not an expert by any means when it comes to fluid flow, but there is no boundary for it flow over without the top. The air will be crazy turbulent (which is why people who sit in the back seat have there head hit with air from every angle). It there is more drag, then the car would be slower. How much slower is the question. It might not even be detectable without proper data logging. Again, this is just my opinion.

 

[FAsnakes]

Outcome (more than likely) would have been the same with the top up and a sack of ice on the blower.. .

It looks like you hung in there well until that slow shift.. Also, looks like he bulilt up momentum by starting before you (behind you). It's hard to close that gap when that happens..

 

[Quagmire]

Ya from what i can see it was stock. And yes he did hit like 1sec to 1.5 sec before i hit. I feel that if even hit i would take hime

 

[V6&V8SHO]

You were heat soaked. Pushing that much boost too.

Mine with 2.93 upper and 4lb lower on a hot day will be toast after 1 run. Have to let it cool down or it is just pushing hot air. I data logged on a 90F day and 1 pull in 3rd will push the blower IAT's to over 150F.

 

[Quagmire]

wow over 150 iat shit. Has anyone ever did hp loss compared to iats? Would it be progressive or sudden loss?

 

[Tifosi2003GT]

Killer chiller

 

[ramstein]

If you shifted faster and didn't miss the gear you would have pulled him i think.
It doesn't seem to make a difference, not a noticeable one for me.
How do you know it was LS3 vette?
What power do you make?

 

[Quagmire]

Found the guy at the track saw it was an 08. Making little over 500 hp

 

[Silver2003Cobra]

top up vs top down.. makes a HUGE difference especally on high speed runs (atleast in my S2000 it did).. top up I was able to hit 152 mph, top down best it would do was 136 mph..

so yeah, your at a huge disadvantage (in top speeds) with your top being down..

 

[V6&V8SHO]

wow over 150 iat shit. Has anyone ever did hp loss compared to iats? Would it be progressive or sudden loss?

It will always be progressive. After a certain point the car will start pulling timing. I never do back to back runs on hot days.

 

[FromGTtoSVT]

doesn't make a difference with the top up or down.........

 

[Silver2003Cobra]

doesn't make a difference with the top up or down.........

hmmmm, what's the fastest you've driven your car with the top down.. guaranteed that it's slower than with the top up..

 

[SBVERT03]

I recently got my first comes, its also my first vert. I had also wondered how much slower the car would run with the top down. I mean it feels faster with it down due to the sensation of the airflow but obviously logic tells me that the car will be faster with it up. My biggest question though is just how much of a disadvantage we are at. I know about the basics, but let's say a vert (with top up) has the regular bolt ons (exhaust, cai, irs brace, sfc's, tune.) And it races a coupe with the same mods on the street from a roll. Does the coupe have that much of an advantage or is.it more of a drivers race?

 

[Crackerballer]

JFC, if you are worried about being caught with your top down (and you aren't Paris, Lohan, or a Kardashian), then either:

1: Never put it down
2: Buy a coupe

Yes it does make a difference at higher speeds, physics at work.

 

[SBVERT03]

Not to thread hijack, but any opinions on my questions?