Remove spare and trunk junk for dragging?

[Nismo221]

Well I see were everyone is removing their spare tire, jacks and everything else that comes with the Z. And we all know you will lose weight when you do this, about 50 lbs i think is what everyone is saying. But this is my question, Does this hurt your traction? I ask because think you are removing weight from right over your rear wheels. So I was wondering what everyone else thought. If someone has played around with how much weight can you remove without effecting traction or if it even effects it at all?

[OKC Z]

I belive it does. I tried it last week when I went to the track. The first time I ran it I did it like other times and I got tons of wheel hop and ended up running 15.3 that time. Im not sure if it was the track, rpms, or the weight. I had left everything at home so I couldn't test my theory. All the other times I had to baby it out. I think it will affect even more if running low on fuel. Just my opinion.

[Nismo221]

I have toyed with the idea of removing everything but putting weight bags right over the wheels " or close to right over". Idk if it would make any difference. But this way I could play with the amount of weight in the car.

[Florida_GATOR]

Or weight lifting plates, and find the perfect weight between good traction and being less weight.

[tranceformer]

I have cut 1.8x 60ft times on stock tires with and without the spare tire in the hatch. Having some weight over the rear does help but track prep, tires and technique are more important.

[theDreamer]

If you are worried about the weight transfer, think about moving the battery to the rear and taking out the junk in the trunk.

[Nismo221]

Originally Posted by theDreamer

If you are worried about the weight transfer, think about moving the battery to the rear and taking out the junk in the trunk.

Good idea thx

But I would not say I'm worried, just more curious of the effects on our cars

[Nismo221]

Originally Posted by tranceformer

I have cut 1.8x 60ft times on stock tires with and without the spare tire in the hatch. Having some weight over the rear does help but track prep, tires and technique are more important.

So pretty much your saying the small amount of weight your talking about, I think its 50 lbs, does not make that much difference? Or is it that with the added weight we are slower but get better traction. And without we are faster but have less traction. But the end result is about the same? I would like to look at time and mph. The times may be close but I bet the mph are faster in the cars with less weight.

[tranceformer]

Originally Posted by Nismo221

So pretty much your saying the small amount of weight your talking about, I think its 50 lbs, does not make that much difference? Or is it that with the added weight we are slower but get better traction. And without we are faster but have less traction. But the end result is about the same? I would like to look at time and mph. The times may be close but I bet the mph are faster in the cars with less weight.

I'd say it's more like 30 to 35 lbs.

I looked through my time slips, can't really find any two that would clearly show a significant difference between spare vs no spare.

I just noticed you have a Nismo, it will probably be more difficult for you to launch. Stiffer spring rates will hinder weight transfer. You're probably better off leaving the spare in there and relocation the battery to the rear. That's my 2 cents.

To answer you question, I'd say the spare does make a difference but not as big a difference as other factors. On any given night, (whether I have the spare or not) my 60ft time depends mostly on:

1) how good the track prep is
2) how good of a burnout I did
3) how quickly I floor the gas pedal once the rear tires grip and the rear squats (if i don't get that part right, i get a ton of wheel hop.. no bueno)

hint: tire pressure also helps

[jnaut]

I have absolutely nothing in the trunk other than an odyessy battery (15lb) and I cut 1.81 60ft. Its mainly about tire pressure/ track prep and the drive mod.

[b1adesofcha0s]

For the couple of runs I did, I noticed that track prep made a huge difference in 60 ft times. It was good for my first run when I got the 12.986 and got no wheel spin. Apparently something happened after that run, which I didn't see, but affected the track prep and I couldn't hook up again like I did for the first run. I didn't do anything with tire pressures or the spare tire though.