In drag racing, the first sixty feet is everything. Typical street/strip cars spend between 1.50 and 2.50 seconds getting to the sixty-foot lights. While this seems like a narrow window, experienced racers know that every tenth, even hundredth, of a second shaved here will result in big reductions in the final ET. In other words, its not a linear relationship. A car which spins the tires massively, on its way to a horrendous 2.50 sixty foot, may run a 14.5 ET for example. Simply changing to sticky tires, and getting the sixty-foot time down to 2.0 could yield a 13.5 ET, a reduction of one full second.

Getting a car to 'hook up' consistently is very challenging. Slicks or drag radials are definitely necessary, but are not the only factor in a good launch. Aspects such as weight transfer, gearing, and launch rpm must also be considered. We had never really spent much time analyzing the launch characteristics of our project car. The '67 coupe has yielded sixty-foot times in the 1.70's pretty consistently, and until now, that was good enough for us. The only traction modifications we had made, besides the 26x10.5" Mickey Thompson ET streets, was a set of Shelby underride traction bars. The rear leaf springs are stock replacements (four leaf) and the front coils are 620 lb. rate "handling" springs. The shocks are five year old Monroe cheapos. Of course we have the indirect help such as relocating the battery to the trunk and removed front sway bar.

However with our new goal of breaking into the 11's, we've come to the realization that we may have considerable gains hiding out in our suspension. By optimizing the weight transfer of the '67, we should be able to get the sixty-foot times in the mid to low 1.6's, and shave anywhere from a half to a full tenth off the ET.

The easiest way to change the weight transfer of the car upon launch, is by altering the springs and/or shocks. We knew our stock rear springs were pretty soft -which is good, since they allow the car to 'squat' and transfer force to the rear tires. However our 620 lb. rate front springs were pretty hard and unforgiving. They were actually designed for handling and cornering, rather than drag racing. Ideally we ought to swap them out for less stiffer ones, but since we drive the car to and from the track, we'll leave them in for now and try to soften the front end by changing the shocks. Stock replacement shocks are basically designed to perform double duty; provide comfort, yet offer control during cornering and turning. In other words, they are fairly stiff. Competition Engineering has designed shocks and struts specifically for the drag racer. They allow adjustability so that you can tailor their resistance to extension and compression. The front shocks can be set to extend quickly, while the rears can be set for quick compression.

The fronts can be set to one of three positions, 90/10, 80/20 and 60/40. These numbers reflect the percentage of force required to extend and compress the shock absorber, with the first number refering to compression and the second extension.

The rears are adjustable to 30/70, 40/60, and 50/50. The smaller the first number, the faster the shock will compress.

We set our front shocks to 90/10, to allow for the fastest possible extension. This will cause the nose of the car to pitch upwards, transferring maximum weight to the rear suspension. The rear shocks were set to 40/60, allowing for some compression, but not excessively stiff or soft. The 50/50 setting for the rears is a bit stiffer, meaning the force of the launch hits the tires harder, rather than being dampened by the shock. The setting you choose will depend on your car as well as how well your track hooks up.

Are the front wheels off the ground? It's hard to tell with the staging box in the way, but no, they are barely hanging on. The Competition Engineering drag shocks dramatically improved weight transfer. The front suspension is full extended, allowing the slicks to hook hard. Overall improvement was nearly a tenth off the 60 ft as compared to standard shocks.

Results
Project 11.99 had a previous best sixty-foot time of 1.73 seconds with the current 302 engine. This came on Mickey Thompson ET streets (26 x 10.5" set at 15psi) and dumping the clutch at 5000 rpm. With the new drag shocks, set at 90/10 front and 40/60 rear, the car responded positively, hitting a days best of 1.64 seconds, knocking nearly a full tenth off the sixty foot. This number was backed up with five more passes ranging in the 1.65-1.68 range.

From the drivers seat, it was very apparent that the weight transfer had improved significantly. The nose of the car would come up much faster than before, in fact the front tires are not very far from being lifted off the ground. A set of light weight skinnys in place of the heavy steel Cragars, would do it!