Swapping to drag radials today, test tonight

Curious to see if the car likes them.
Taking off 28 11.5 QTP's, installing Hoosier 275 drag radials

Hoping the car " feels" like it has a touch more gear with no growth

Do a much shorter burnout with them. large burnouts are not needed. Good luck.

Quick question too. Have QA1 singles on the back( coilovers with ladderbar suspension)
Would it make sense to loosen the shocks up a couple of clicks wifh the radials?

Maybe. But after you make that first lap with no changes other than the tires. Otherwise you won't know what did what.

Yeah, its not that simple. You need to figure out what it likes. Like mentioned above, make a couple base line passes to start, then make one change at a time to see if it liked it. Try it a couple clicks looser than your baseline setting, see what it does. If better, keep loosening until it falls off. Then go tighter a couple clicks at a time till it falls off. Hopefully you get good track prep for the Drag Radials.

I made the same switch a few months ago, I like them I can run more pressure and its more stable top end. I ran tubes in my Q.T.P.s I am not with the drag radials. My 60 fts got a little better ( low 1.50s) but I did a gear swap at they same time ( 4.10s to 4.30s) so I don`t know which helped lower the 60 ft. Good Luck with them!

Still at the track. Going to make one more hit and call it a season
New best each pass
11.40, 11.38, 11.36
All three with a 1.61 60 foot. Previous best 1.62.
Can't wait to get the right converter in this car, doggy out of the gate.
I am convinced this thing will dip into the 10's with swapping to a 904, fresh air hood, and having the converter right, its WAY off
While car was on lift I loosened shocks two clicks. Haven't touched it since

11.40, 11.38, 11.36

Love it!

Great job with a cool car. We'll take more pics of that car when you have a chance. Hint, hint...

Still here.
Car just surprised me.......... air getting good
11.26@ 118.40 with a 1.58 60 foot.... yee friggin ha.
Now my brother is making me back that pass up. So waiting in line for 5th and final pass.

That's getting it, made my switch to radials a few weeks ago and I will never go back .. good luck and keep after it 👍🏻

Wow that last pass you really picked up. Nice going and good luck on the last pass. Ron

Fell of a little on the last pass. Couldnt equal the 26
Here is the slip on my best pass..... best so far in this car

RT....0589
60.....1.5861
330....4.5915
1/8.....7.1503
1/8 mph....95.54
1000... 9.3741
1000 mph..109.4

1320.....11.2690
Mph..........118.48
There is nothing it doesnt like with radials. No bias tires for me ever again
Really pretty tickled, she is headed on the path to 10's i hope. After many years, i am surprised to find myself getting the itch again. Keeps me breathing. I thought i might be gettin to old to really dig this again...... but must be i aint.... lol... lol......

Awesome! You've got that thing flying.

That's pretty f'n cool!

Where are you at What strip

Nice effort

Tex

Nice runs.

I have been running drag radials for a few years now. Last year I broke my 3.91 gears and swapped in some 4.56s and a friend gave me some 28" Bias Ply Slicks to use because I needed the extra height. It felt weird going back to that little bit of sway down track. The car went a 1.58 60ft on the bias ply and over the winter I changed over to a 28x10.5 Pro Bracket Radial, first pass was a 1.52 60ft. Like everyone has said though they do get unpredictable when track conditions go away.

Michigan. US131 Motorsports Park

As long as the track(s) where you go prep reasonably well, you're good. The ones that don't will bring out a radial's evil twin,, "Slippy".

Call M/T ... The reason the radial PRO was design was for marginal tracks ... they took the feed back from the racers and designed a tire that just flat out works if you go to a track that is just not prepped at all yes you will have a problem.

99% of my racing will be at either US131 or Norwalk. Both are excellent facilities/ tracks that always have hook.

I think I still have some shock tuning to do with mine, the few times it has spun on a marginal track it has hooked first then lost it shortly into the run.(I log driveshaft RPM so its easy to see)

Congrats on another set of new bests! Your progress has been a blast to watch. I just turned 50 and after a bit of a break am deeper into this sport than ever. Old dog, maybe. New tricks - heck yeah!

I have had shock issues but not tire issues.. I have a race pack in the car under the dash . So I see drive shaft speed as well a put a go pro under the car pointed at the shocks so I'm Standing them up next year and getting better stocks to control the rear .. I'm as tight as I can go and it wants more .. so that's my winter upgrade well one of them.. lol

I had a thought to try shifting it at 6500 last night just for the heck of it instead of 6000, where i currently shift it at but never ended up trying it.
My hope is not leaning on it will help this thing live a happy life. Next year when i get it back in good air i will try it though just to see.

That's great Don! This year was my first time trying the 275 drag radial and I also loved them. Car just goes straight with no movement or drama like slicks normally do.

You made some huge improvements already. And it's really cool that your brother has my father-in-law's old Dart now.

That is really great on two counts, 1st it's flying for what it is and 2nd, you have the itch again.............

A good Friend of mine recently tried the new 14 inch radial (I think Pro Bracket) instead of 14 inch slicks on his camero that runs 9.50's and picked up .20 in the 1/4 mile. Needless to say he loves them.

I agree. A good prep on the track and they are killer. A so so prep and bias is your friend.

Good to see you back at it and tweeking impressive results from very little. Nice work Don, congrats.

Thanks brother. Thats really nice what you said.
Most of the credit for this thing picking up like it has goes to my local buddy scottb, and Dwayne Porter.
They have made sure i dont have to do things twice. Really cant wait to get going on the visual/ safety and mechanical improvements i want to do over the winter.
Re-doing cage and interior tidying up first.

Hmmmm so maybe next year you will be part of an 11.00 index race

Haha..... no, it will stay 11.50

You've got me beat! But at least I can still out sixty foot you for now, ha ha.

Nice work! It's fun watching your progress on this car.

I did the opposite...I went from years of racing on radials to bias ply. It was a learning curve for sure. But now I can actually hook up better at Milan than at Norwalk with them?

I run MT 325's on my Dart, if the track is good their great, if the track is marginal they suck. Most tracks around here don't spend much time on prep so I put a CRT trans brake that can leave in first or second in my transmission.
I accidentally left in second one time, with the two step at 2500 it sounded like a loaded dump truck taking off, it still went 1.51 60' though.

Very cool!
Some pretty good air later in the night, Went from ~1400' to ~950' by 8-9pm

I am heading to Milan tomorrow for the last runs of the season...we should see some sub 1000' air, hopefully the track will hold...

Very nice Don, congrats! I love seeing the progress you've made w/ this car. You know what it takes to go fast and it's nice seeing the changes you've made to it really show up on the timeslip. Those radials will spoil you on a good track!

We'll be at Milan tomorrow too, testing a 750 Holley vs. a 950.

Didn't it go 12's the first time out?

Just proves what some careful tweaking can be worth.

Milan is a special case...haha
I believe the 60' beams are suspect...Somehow I have better short times at Milan, even though the track prep is normally worse. I am not the only one with similar results, a couple friends run points there and have said the same thing compared to other tracks in the area.





I'll be there in a 66 Plymouth Belv.
Need any jets/bleeds? I have 2 950 HPs on the shelf, always picked up from 750 to 950

12.17 best first time out earlier this year.
Since then, mildly ported the heads, changed cam and springs and fresh valve job. Swapped from single plane Mopar intake to air gap. Milled heads to raise compression up to around 10.4 to 1
Thats the major stuff. Not much really when you add it all up. The rest is just tinkering with timing, jetting, getting front end alignment from way off to pretty close. And finally swapping to radials.

My husband and I were wondering the same about Milan. We still had a better sixty foot there than at Shakedown at Norwalk, where the track prep was set on kill...??




I'll look for you! I'll be in a '65 Dart. We should be good on the jets, we have a complete set in our trailer. Thanks for the offer! Hopefully we'll see you tomorrow.

Learned ny lesson from the guru's on here. Even the 318 motor i had in the white Duster liked a 950 a tenth better than a 750.
Same thing with my current car. 750 slowed it down about .12 over a 950.
If both your carbs are dialed in, the bigger one will be faster

This is also a 318 and we're hoping it likes the 950 too! Will report results tomorrow evening.