# 1/4 mile results - baselines



## the head (Mar 16, 2004)

I took the 540 out to Houston Raceway Park for some shakedown runs. It was pretty interesting compared to a lot of cars I have run over the years. First off, I ran the car heavy, meaning that the spare was in the trunk along with the floor mats and all of that. I should have left the baby seat in the back but I had to draw the line somewhere! 1/2 tank of gas was in it. With me in the car it weighed 3964# right after my first run. I didn't let the car cool down much between runs to stay consistent. I tried running both sport automatic and shifting myself. I also took off the air filter top, just to see what would happen.

Best run of the night was a [email protected] with a dismal 2.2 60' time. Traction was not the issue as it never spun (I tried to run with and without traction control).

Best run with the air filter out [email protected] with the same 60' time. So it was a little quicker with the stock airbox and air filter hooked in. We pushed the car all the way to the starting line with the hood up so that it wouldn't keep a lot of heat in the engine bay - once a car is moving the underhood temps generally drop to ambient but this was more of a "see if there is a restriction" test.

Some interesting notes: best 60' was coming off the line at about 1000rpm. More didn't matter, less slowed it down. The sport shifting is still entirely too soft. I would imagine at least another 0.3 secs off these times is there with a good shifting auto. I think my truck shifts quicker than this thing does - it's pretty soft. So soft that in my opinion, getting the auto trans reprogram from Dinan is a must. I'm a firm believer in getting the power you have to the ground first before trying to add more hp that barely gets to the pavement. I think that the trans software is now at the top of my list on things to do. I'm sure a gear in the rear would help a lot too. The car simply did not pull well until about 3500 rpm from a standing start and no wheelspin. I ran 50psi in the tires up front (bleeding them down for the trip home) and 30 psi in the rear.

I was pretty surprised to see that kind of mph out of it. I was figuring about a [email protected] for the car but it did better than I thought so I'm happy. The car is a bone stock 98 model. All in all it was a good outing for some baselines. Your mileage may vary.


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## JetBlack330i (Feb 8, 2002)

Do you have 0-60mph numbers?


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## humanoid (Mar 31, 2002)

Good report excellent baseline info!

Like you said for an auto the Dinan software helps alot and getting a 3.15 or 3.45 lsd diff would be even better.


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## rph74 (Dec 27, 2003)

Very nice! Thanks for the info. I plan to take my 540ia sport out to the track soon... I'm surprised that your best time was with a 1000rpm launch. So was it faster shifting yourself, or in sport auto?


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## the head (Mar 16, 2004)

They do not clock 0-60 at the dragstrip so I don't have those numbers.

Numbers were roughly the same shifting myself or letting it do it by itself so I eventually just let it do its thing on its own.

Obvious solution? Why is that? For a lot less money I can reprogram the trans to shift a lot quicker. From what I've read the manuals are a handfull to launch from a dead stop and there is always the possibility of a missed shift. I've drag raced a lot of cars and the autos are a lot easier to to control. I suppose if you want the "full driving experience" then that's fine but I prefer the auto in these situations. On top of that I live in Houston and there are zero curvy roads around here so the fun of th stick in the curves doesn't exist for me.


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## Mike Bell (Mar 18, 2004)

Good stuff to know. Sounds like it was fun anyway. 

You mentioned a baby car-seat. I was wondering if you could post a apic of the back seat with that in? I have 2 girls, and the back-seat size of this car is my only delimna, and I actually haven't seen a good shot of it yet.


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## norcal 528i (Dec 2, 2003)

If you are running the quarter or fighting traffic an auto trans is the way to go. The auto gets a bad rap in these cars because very few folks run them on the dragstrip. I agree that a manual rules for autrocross.


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## the head (Mar 16, 2004)

I'll get it after I replace my camera. I took some pics of some clips that need removal to change the valve cover gaskets and in the process knocked my camera to the ground and it's hosed.

I only have one kid so I center the seat in the middle. She likes to see the road as we drive (as much as a 2 yr old can, I suppose). Normally we take mom's Expedition when we go anywhere with her but I still have to commute her around a little. Big thing is that her feet reach the seat backs so I either put shoes on outside the car or run the seat far enough up that she can't kick them.


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