Going to the drag strip - in a tiptronic!?!?
 

This tuesday I'm going with a bunch of the viper guys to the drag strip we rented the track out for the day. I'm taking my 800 horsepower supercharged viper along with the boxster S. And my girlfriend is gonna also try and take the box down the strip once or twice!!!

The box is a tiptronic!>!!> For the first run or two in the box I'm gonna just have it in manual and just floor it as it shifts by itself when redline hits (this is faster than I can probably actually shift in my viper). But for the best time I'm assuming that you have to do something like put your foot on the gas have the tiptronic in 1st and hold the brake down and when the lights go let go and you would already have the engine at like 3000 rpms or something? How high should I go? Did I mention that not breaking anything is most important ;)

What psi should I lower my tires to? Michelin Pilot Sports.

What kinda times should I expect to run 01 boxster S with tiptronic , desnorkled and k&n air filter, spare tire and kit removed

Thanks!

anybody...

I'm guessing your times would be very close to a stock Tiptronic S. Of course things like temperature, altitude, and humidity may effect your numbers -more so than your tire pressure I'd presume.

Since a Tiptronic is merely an automatic transmission that you can shift manually, I wouldn't expect putting it in manual shift mode would help at all. In fact, I would place my bet on it being slower.

I'm not certain, but I feel pretty comfortable in saying stepping on your brakes while revving to 3k is not good for a Tiptronic. I would advise against it. It sounds like you're thinking of launch control, which is commonplace on other vehicles with proper SMG/DSG styled transmissions.

Times? I've never seen a Boxster on a 1/4 mile strip.

Hey bro, your Tiptronic isn't "merely an automatic transmission". The auto mode has 5 different programs to suit different driving style, something like the "Sport", "Economy" and "Winter" mode in traditional autoboxes. The computer chooses a program according to driving style. For instance, frequent full-throttle operation and brisk release of throttle indicate a sporting driving style, thus "fast" program will be selected. Shifts are done at peak horsepower (6400 rpm) and downshifts are quicker to take advantage of engine braking, like racing into corners. If you drive off nice and easy you'll notice you'll be in 5th gear at 35 mph, economy mode.

If you want my advice, look up the quarter mile times in your owners manual and go with that. You might improve a tenth or so but no more. As for driving the Box on the strip...just tell your girlfriend to hammer the throttle in "Drive" and hang on, the car will downshift into first and will do the rest. I won't trust her to shift in manual at the right time since you said you don't want to break anything.

When I say "merely an automatic," I mean it's nothing like a SMG, DSG, E-Gear, or F1 transmissions found in some BMWs, VWs, Lambos, and Ferraris (and others).

Ok I got the boxster S to run a 14.7 quarter mile, my girlfriend ran a 14.8. This was in the tiptronic launching at idle (700-800 rpms?) I think every time we ran the boxster (only about 4 total) we had 2 people in the car. We would put it in manual mode and downshift into 1st to start and then just floor it until you crossed the finish line. BTW there was a cobra mustang there with alot more horsepower than my porsche that was running 15's. I think a combination of the porsche's perfect shifts vs human error and slower shifts, and no wheel spin and lower weight is what made my car faster.

I did try to rev it up to 2k rpms before in the parking lot and hold the brake and the car did not like it at all, and it was driving right through the brakes and I didnt want to break anything so I just launched at idle. But I'm sure if you could launch at 3k rpms and drop the 2nd person in the car you could run half a second better maybe.

My 800 hp viper was severly limited by traction. My brand new ps2s were not able to keep up with the horsepower I spun my tires in every gear 1st 2nd 3rd and would cross the line in 4th. Sometimes I was going sideways at only 4000 rpms and would have to shift up at only 4k rpms it was disappointing. My buddy who has the same car pretty much (supercharged 06 viper) ran a 11.5 quarter he has sticker tires the pilot sport cups and another friend of ours who has an older supercharged viper with about 50 horsepower less than us but had full drag slicks ran a 10.9. If I had had full drag slicks I think the car could maybe get as low as 10.5.

The funny thing is when driving the viper on the street I can floor it in 1st and 2nd all the way to redline and as long as the tires are not cold I don't get wheelspin like I did at the track. I was only launching the viper at around 1000 rpms because it has so much torque. I think because we rented the track out privately and it was a tuesday the track wasn't prepped very good or even at all.

But the boxster was a breeze to drive just floor it and go, perfect shifts, no wheel spin, totally different than the viper lol

Good to hear your girlfriend had fun and didn't break anything. If you want my advise, the next time you go to the track and want to beat your buddy's in the Boxster, put a chicane half way down the track and see how they handle that!

P.S. What was your speed through the traps in the Box?

Your Viper sounds like a handful... as well it should be with 800 hp and new tires. Must have been fun!

Regarding the automatic in the Boxster, it's perfectly acceptable to brake torque every once in a while. When you're trying to accelerate quickly from a dig, it's what you do.
Brake torquing is when you hold down both the brake and gas, build up the revs to a couple grand (not sure of the stall speed of the Boxster automatics), and then release the brake and go. You don't want to hold it for too long, as this makes the ATF temperature rise quite a bit.

Anyway, it would have been interesting to see how much this impacted the 1/4 mile performance.

on the 14.70 second run the mph was 94.67 mph 60 foot time was 2.21

Also as I stated above I tried brake torquing it and the car wanted to drive right through the braking so I didnt try it at the actual starting line. :)

2002 Boxster S / 6-speed

My best 1/4 mile so far was a 13.9x @104.xx. This was last year, and I am expecting much lower times. I had massive wheelhop, and could only manage 2.1 60 foots. Horrible 60's for a RWD car with an engine in the back!

With such high traps, I could run much faster. I have learned some things looking at the various loggers while running:

Shift no later than 6500 rpm. Above that, forward momentum really decreases. My launches should be better this year with replaced / upgraded rear suspension parts. I also just put an Aluminum Flywheel on, and am waiting to test my new launch control system at the track.

Oh, my mods were pretty basic: UP pulleys, headers, Borla, de-snorkle, & better motor mount at the time.

The car is here:
http://www.cheetahonline.com/vehicles/boxster.html

It has a video of a run vs a 13.1 Vette there also.