2019 Challenger Widebooty HellKitty (she's giving me the meatsweats...)

[motorheadmike]

So I've done some preliminary drives/tuning with the methanol. Honestly there isn't much to say. It sprays and the car isn't knocking on 91 octane. I moved up from the #2 jet to the #5 jet - this simply allows me to tune/ramp in more or less as I need with the controller. It just gives me more headroom if I find the car needs more meth in the Summer to control knock. The cooling effect is kind of non-existent at least in short bursts on the highway. But, that was a nice to have not a mandatory requirement... the nitrous will fill that role if needed.

Now, what I learned while data logging the car is the discovery that the elevation here is utter sh*t for making power. I knew it would be worse, but not this bad.

This is a pass at my old Quebec stomping grounds (https://airdensityonline.com/track-results/Napierville_Dragway/) on a 90*F day in July. The airflow and boost are good for the conditions.

By comparison here is a snapshot from a 68*F May day here in Saskatchtoon (https://airdensityonline.com/track-results/Saskatchewan_Intl_Raceway/), note the airflow and boost are way down at the same engine/road speed despite the air charge temp being much lower. The calculated horsepower is a pretty strong indicator of what's gone sour.

Simply put the Density Altitude is sh*t on the best of days here. I guess I am going to appreciate having atmosphere in a bottle in the trunk.

Now the challenge is how do I further compensate for this condition without doing things that would cause me to really alter the engine (like we all know I want to)? I decided that the car needs to get lighter... much lighter for drag use. So I bought a 55 series Kirkey seat and some 28x14.5-17 Hoosier QTPs. Combined this will shave another 50lbs off of the car (offsetting some of the weight I added with the nitrous and meth). And I am working on getting an aluminum front bumper bar to get even more weight off the nose... and closer to the 3999lbs target I have for this car (without ruining it). I just need larger lithium batteries to drop in price.

 

[Supercharged111]

A 13 kpa loss? So around 2500' higher? I gain 30 when I drop in elevation from CO. Strangely my kpa doesn't change with the seasons and IAT. I thought it should though. I'd have to compare kpa to IAT and actual MAF flow to see the correlation.

 

[motorheadmike]

A 13 kpa loss? So around 2500' higher? I gain 30 when I drop in elevation from CO. Strangely my kpa doesn't change with the seasons and IAT. I thought it should though. I'd have to compare kpa to IAT and actual MAF flow to see the correlation.

It would definitely seem so, but not quite that bad. Here are the measured elevations of the tracks I spent most of my life racing at:

Cayuga, ON (near Niagara): 675.9 ft
St. Thomas, ON (near London): 741 ft
Grandbend, ON: 803.8 ft
Napierville, QC (near Montreal): 197 ft
Luskville, QC (near Ottawa): 187 ft
Milan, MI: 672.6 ft

and then there is here...

Saskatoon Int'l Raceway: 1682 ft

Motherf*cker.

So on any given day I am will be fighting off at least a physical 800 ft handicap. Obviously the DA in the Summer is going to get ugly. For reference Napierville will go into negative DA in the Fall.

Good thing I like boosted cars.

 

[motorheadmike]

Oh... here's what the QTPs look like on a widebooty car on the same wheels.

Much sexier than the current M&Hs.

 

[Northernregal]

It would definitely seem so, but not quite that bad. Here are the measured elevations of the tracks I spent most of my life racing at:

Cayuga, ON (near Niagara): 675.9 ft
St. Thomas, ON (near London): 741 ft
Grandbend, ON: 803.8 ft
Napierville, QC (near Montreal): 197 ft
Luskville, QC (near Ottawa): 187 ft
Milan, MI: 672.6 ft

and then there is here...

Saskatoon Int'l Raceway: 1682 ft

Motherf*cker.

So on any given day I am will be fighting off at least a physical 800 ft handicap. Obviously the DA in the Summer is going to get ugly. For reference Napierville will go into negative DA in the Fall.

Good thing I like boosted cars.

1682ft is pretty good. Come for a weekend, enjoy the 5-6000ft DA in August here. I'm at 2900ft alt in RD.

 

[CopperNick]

Now just me here wondering if the summertime humidex in Sask is also going to factor in when you make your runs? I get that the humidity down east can be killer but being as low to the ground as most of your Ont/Que tracks were and close to the lake, not sure what the cumulative effect would have been. Out in the borderlands, with nothing for miles and miles but miles and miles, and at a greater altitude, ............


Well my memory of summers was being ecstatic that I could get to sleep over at my Aunt's while we visited the grands. She had a basement and it was cool. NO A/C cause this was the 60's but being below ground brought its own sense of comfort in high summer on the plains.

So higher altitude plus higher relative humidity plus some degree of oxygen loss, minimal arguably but still there, and what does all that do to your tuning?

Oh, yeah, dig the Hoosiers. They a pure track tire or, like the M-T's, given a minimal tread pattern just to be able to qualify as a "street tire"?

Saw a lot of both the Hoosiers and the McCreary's as a pit rat at the local 3/8th's dirt oval. Different genre entirely but never forgot the smells of alcohol fueled small blocks winding out at speed, generating enough torque that you could visibly see the frames twist and shift under full throttle.


Nick

 

[motorheadmike]

Now just me here wondering if the summertime humidex in Sask is also going to factor in when you make your runs? I get that the humidity down east can be killer but being as low to the ground as most of your Ont/Que tracks were and close to the lake, not sure what the cumulative effect would have been. Out in the borderlands, with nothing for miles and miles but miles and miles, and at a greater altitude, ............


Well my memory of summers was being ecstatic that I could get to sleep over at my Aunt's while we visited the grands. She had a basement and it was cool. NO A/C cause this was the 60's but being below ground brought its own sense of comfort in high summer on the plains.

So higher altitude plus higher relative humidity plus some degree of oxygen loss, minimal arguably but still there, and what does all that do to your tuning?

Oh, yeah, dig the Hoosiers. They a pure track tire or, like the M-T's, given a minimal tread pattern just to be able to qualify as a "street tire"?

Saw a lot of both the Hoosiers and the McCreary's as a pit rat at the local 3/8th's dirt oval. Different genre entirely but never forgot the smells of alcohol fueled small blocks winding out at speed, generating enough torque that you could visibly see the frames twist and shift under full throttle.


Nick

I have no clue how the Summers are going to compare. So far Spring is far wetter than anticipated.


I'd think I would rather have water displace oxygen than not have oxygen available.


The QTPs are a DOT tubeless slick. These tires are listed at 13.5-.7 section width. Beefy. The real goal is to hopefully get better launches on these versus the current drag radials.

 

[64nailhead]

I look at meth injection as an insurance policy. Trying to have it add power via additional fuel and timing is living life on the edge imho.

If you can use it to cool the intake charge and cylinder temps, then that is the safety that meth allows.

 

[olds307 and 403]

We had about the same altitude in Yorkton. Traction was a b*tch, guys were running 8 or 9 psi in slicks, so I did the same. It is ridiculously wet here this Spring. Our town reservoir has risen at least 10 feet, if Saskatoon is as wet, expect awful air this Summer. It looks like you have a couple of work arounds.

 

[Rktpwrd]

1682ft is pretty good. Come for a weekend, enjoy the 5-6000ft DA in August here. I'm at 2900ft alt in RD.

I’ll see your 2900’ and Mike’s 1682’, any raise you 3428’ here in Calgary. Hence my laughing at Mike’s “crappy air” post.