[BavarianBullet]

I went to Island Dragway in NJ today and got in 10 runs. 50-60'F, humid, overcast and threatened rain but never did. No other BMWs were there

Anyways, the meat: My car is a stock (w/UUC shifter and Yoko All-season tires) 335XI, nothing removed, 93 octane gas, me driving it. I've not drag raced in 10 yrs.

My best run of the day was the 3rd run: 13.406@102.84 w/1.862 60ft. (best mph run was 13.455@103.34)

The mental goal for me was to hit a 13.4 or better without blowing anything up. I really wanted that 13.3 after seeing the 3rd run but second gear was finicky all day and I managed to roast my clutch good twice (seems ok though) from getting a little carried away on launching. So I decided getting greedy wasn't worth it my first time out in 10yrs.

4 of my best timeslips are below:



Overall I'm pretty happy. The car ran pretty well but fighting the transmission second gear gets old fast. 3rd and 4th shift like a dream but 2nd is an angry gear.

I did learn an important thing though- I can't hit 2nd very well normally but if I rev the car a little and yank it into 2nd with the clutch pushed in (car not moving) once or twice before launching, it performs a LOT better. I missed second 3 times until I started doing this. (I pulled the shifter knob off once, which was kinda funny).

I also tried shifting into 4th gear on the big end about 3 times and noticed that while it didn't really affect ET much, it dropped mph by about 1 mph in the 1/4. IOW, don't bother shifting 4th with a stock 335.

The 335XI is pretty fast bone stock but it's heavy and way under-geared for drag duty on stock power. Thus it's hard to launch off idle- you'll have a hard time beating a 2.1 60ft without revving it. I'd call it a 13.4 car in reasonable conditions with a decent driver. Under more ideal conditions (a working second gear...), 13.3 no prob, maybe even a 13.2.

[Nikolas]

Change your 14's - you are running 13's. Nice job.

[BobVader]

Good result for firts time at track

my best bone stock...13.312 at 103.xxx mph.

Now put JB3.

[WhiteSled]

Island is known to be SLOW track too. Take that car down to etown or better yet atco. Good job on the times.

[TwinTurboXI]

Great times, my car stock ran a 13.54 at 101 with a 2.1 60 i believe. I think you are underestimating your driving skills. Good Job man.

[Dan335i]

Thats why i love going to Island.You can get as many runs in as you want to instead of the 3 or 4 if your lucky on a crowded day at E-Town.BTW nice runs.As far as Island being a slow track,i dont think so.All my cars ran the same times at E-Town as they ran at island.

[Sniz]

glad to see you out enjoying your car.

what rpm were you launching at?

[flem]

Originally Posted by Sniz

glad to see you out enjoying your car.

what rpm were you launching at?

looks like he is launching at a little over 4k

[BavarianBullet]

Originally Posted by Dan335i

Thats why i love going to Island.You can get as many runs in as you want to instead of the 3 or 4 if your lucky on a crowded day at E-Town.BTW nice runs.As far as Island being a slow track,i dont think so.All my cars ran the same times at E-Town as they ran at island.

Yeah I don't think Island is slow honestly. Dragtimes has it at 257 feet elevation but google earth and several other sources have it at 515-517ft. E-town is around 100ft so it's probably a tiny amount faster but nothing noticable.

The weather yesterday wasn't the greatest as DA was supposedly 1400ft or so. I'll prob be begging for that though in the summertime!

Etown is so much nicer of a facility but everyone knows that which is why it's packed. You're right- I'd get maybe 3-4 runs at e-town depending on how many junior dragsters and breakages they had.

[WhiteSled]

I don't know guys, every car I have ever drag raced went slower at island.
Maybe the awd guys dont notice it as much, but the prep at island on a friday is horrible. Its prettymuch a cornfield with two paved strips in the middle of it. Its a great pratice track, but not a good track for records. When you can, hit up atco during the same conditions, i think you might have some low low 13s MAYBE even a 12.99 if you cut a 1.7 and trap 104, which is highly possible.

[BavarianBullet]

Originally Posted by Sniz

glad to see you out enjoying your car.

what rpm were you launching at?

Originally Posted by flem

looks like he is launching at a little over 4k

Ha ha. Yeah my shorthand writing on my seat cushion isn't easy to read- kudos to you if you can read it.

I did my better launches at 4k+. It was a little tricky to launch because the car is heavy and under-geared and I hunted for the right technique between riding the clutch out and just dumping it.

Thanks Sniz. The car is fun when 2nd gear cooperates and I think I figured out how to make it do my bidding.

[BavarianBullet]

Originally Posted by TwinTurboXI

Great times, my car stock ran a 13.54 at 101 with a 2.1 60 i believe. I think you are underestimating your driving skills. Good Job man.

Thanks for the kind words. I think I drive ok, not the best, but I'm trying not to abuse the car too much and 2nd needs an attitude adjustment.

Your stock times are about what I'd expect most people to run- my first 60ft was like that just taking it easy launching almost off-idle (or bogging). 60ft is everything for ET.

[TurboSid]

nice runs.

2nd gear is the biggest issue with my car as well. i'm hoping to fix it by installing the modified cdv sometime soon. might want to look into that

[BavarianBullet]

Originally Posted by BobVader

Good result for firts time at track

my best bone stock...13.312 at 103.xxx mph.

Now put JB3.

Thanks Bob. You are my hero with your tuned times!

13.31 is great stock. I know you can drive cuz I've seen the videos!

Tune is in the mail...

[gqmd]

I agree, the xi's are def heavy