UK-POLOS.NET - THE VW Polo Forum

I have placed a bet with my mate who has a 1.4 Nova Sr. His car is pretty quick with some mods, which include 4 branch manafold, FSE valve, Induction kit, Stainless exhaust.

I would like to know how i can make my car faster for the 1/4 mile.
It doesnt have to be road legal as its just for a day.

I cant go throwing money at it unfortunatley. Heres my suggestions so far.

Make a 4 branch manafold
Stainless straight through exhaust.
PiperX induction kit.
A chip if you can get me one.
all stripped out and running on high octane fuel.

Cheers.
All suggestions welcome

*spos i could let his tyres down*

Also try letting a couple of psi from your front tyres for better grip and adding a few to the back. Remove spare wheel and tools, back seat and whatever else you fancy. You might be able to add a degree or two ignition advance running high octane fuel.

it all depends on how far you wanna go....

as well as engine mods,try to lose as much weight as possible.

For starters
seats
spare wheel
parcel shelf
door panels
sound deadening
carpet
change glass windows for perspex (apart from front screen which has to be glass)
lightweight bumpers
etc etc

for quarter mile times, the more weight you can remove = free performance increase!

so go on a diet too

Take a s**t, have a p***, rip everything you don't need out the car, try and get some methanol to stick in the tank - about a 25% mix with fuel, less fuel less weight. The mods you suggested would all help too!

Ditching weight is cheap horsepower

The weight one was a defo, Just not sure how far it will go.

Think i'll ditch the back seat, spare wheel, parcle shelf and all tools apart from me cos i need to drive it.

stripping everything out of the car apart from the drivers seat is the best idea. It's free as well!

plus a chip, ask Dan (hardhitter01 on here) about a chip, he sells them for very cheap, they've been known to give good results.

get a couple of cheapo steel wheels & get hold of some part worn cut slicks & put them on the front of the car for a bit of extra traction off the line.

Also dewedge your throttle body its free
you could also strip out
Dash
headlining
carpets
rear bumper (still road legal
washer jet fluid
minimum amount of petrol in the tank
grab handle
badges
grille
not sure about head lights, can you take these out if you are driving in the day
hub caps and valve caps
seatbelts
stereo
Scuttle cover
door handle inserts
ariel

Depends on how serious you want to get, you could get the angle grinder out

I think that is about it along with what everyone else said, good luck you should be able to walk it with all that weight gone

Have you dewedged yours??

If so, did you notice any increase in performance??

I'm tempted to do this myself for the whole reason of 'why not'

badges/door handle inserts/valve caps --- does it come down to whether those last ten grammes each is worth it vs the time and hassle (and possible damage if you do it wrong) vs the half centimetre you might gain on him over a ~16 second run?
might be more worthwhile to exercise best you can in the weeks running up to it and fast a couple days previous, taking just a bottle of lucozade and a couple glasses of water a quarter hour before the run, to stay focussed with.

headlights, grille, rear bumper and wheel trims - at what point does the weight saving start to impact on aerodynamics then? (there's some argument i've seen however where removing the right headlamp can help, if your induction horn / cone filter induction kit is still sitting behind it - especially once you're hitting the top of 2nd and coming into 3rd and the wind starts to properly add force to the induction, like a ramjet mild turbo )

PS scuttle cover - hope it aint raining... wet ECU/battery/fuse box will really knacker up your chances!

but thats just my outsiders opinion from a non pro racing standpoint, sure all these issues have been addressed before

may as well take out the wiring for the lights, door lock pins, window winders and the gearstick gaiter while you're at it, and find some way to remove the seat headrest (or swap out the entire drivers seat for a lightweight recaro style thing, if you're deadly serious). PS dont forget the door cards, mirrors (all of em), plates, side repeaters, rubbing strips and speakers.

Don't forget to shave your head and pick out any bogeys or ear wax before the race too!!

*Do it in the buff as well - clothes just weigh you down!!

yeah forget that helmet nonsense

probably best to emasculate yourself, have all your teeth pulled and remove any unneccessary fingers / toes too

get some liposuction and your nose remodelled to a flat piggy snout

oh and don't forget the liposuction and removing your bottom 3 ribs. and appendix... the list goes on

fill the car with as much helium as you can stand, as well. i reccommend super-deep diver's "tri-mix".

Hahahahaha!!

shut the f**k up, all i am saying is that there is plenty more to be stripped out if you want to be serious about it. Loads of people take the p*** out of stripping a car out saying it does squat but if you seriously strip it you do notice a fair bit of difference. I am only trying to give advice not ruin his post by taking the p*** out of another user.