I half expect you guys to not believe me, to accuse me of getting someone else's timeslip and writing the same number on my truck. I sure didn't expect it-I figured on high 14's. The only test of the r/t is one motor trend did, and they only got a 14.4 out of it, but they're not exactly known to be particularly good drivers on the dragstrip. They might also have tested at high altitude or on a very hot day, or at a poorly prepped track. Our track was sticking pretty well last night.

 

good to hear! Thats what I am talking about!

 

Congrats man. That's a great time.

How'd you launch?

 

By NOT loading it heavily against the converter. I tried that at first, and it would blow the tires away. I found out that what works is to bring it barely above idle and when you want to leave, smoothly and quickly floor the accelerator while snapping your foot off the brake. The difference is that this seems to get some weight transfer before you hit the tires with a lot of torque, while running it hard up against the converter before releasing the brake does not.

Running sticky tires might change things enough that another launch technique might work best, I dunno.

The other "secret" I found to getting the best times is to shift it manually. Surprisingly, this is NOT because you can get a higher rpm at shifts than letting it shift itself-you can't. The reason is that you actually get a different ratio with at least some of the gears if you manually select them. Before you call me crazy, go find a place where you can drive at 50 mph or faster. Take your truck and use the ERS function, starting in first. You don't have to floor it, just accelerate from a stop and shift it manually. You'll notice something peculiar-2nd and 3rd gear are VERY close together. Like only a couple hundred rpm apart. When you get to 5th, you'll notice something else-your cruise rpm is a bit higher than what it usually is at the speed you're travelling at in 5th gear. Now, bump it up into automatic mode while still traveling at that speed. After a second or two it'll shift into "regular" 5th and the engine speed will drop just a few hundred more rpm, down to what it normally is at that speed.

Our transmissions are actually mechanically capable of 6 forward speeds. This has always been the case with the 545rfe. In previous years, one of the gears was used as an "extra" 2nd gear accessible only by downshifting at heavy throttle. For '09, the engineers have chosen to give us manual access to this gear. This is why, only when shifting manually, an '09 truck suddenly has 2 gears very close together that it does not have in normal automatic mode.

These trucks "want" more rear end gear, meaning that they would accelerate faster with more gear than 3.92's. Shifting manually actually gives them more gear, at least in 2nd and 5th. If I'm right about all this, shifting manually is sort of the equivalent of putting a bit more gear in the rearend because it gives you access to lower transmission gearing in at least 2 of the gears.

(I have my suspicions about what's going on inside these transmissions when they're shifted manually, but I'm gonna ask an expert I know before I say what I think might be happening. Suffice to say for now that you'll probably be able to accelerate faster if you shift an '09 hemi truck manually.)

 

Did you launch with ESP on, partially on, or off?

Also, what about your tow/haul mode? I know the tow/haul mode forces the transmission into manual, but not sure if it effects ESP?

 

I launched with it partially off. I did not use tow/haul mode.

 

nice time man, what is the elevation of the track you ran at?

 

According to their website, they're 170 feet above sea level.

 

i believe you man, you got a charger/challenger motor, in a light(ish) truck. Plus that track is pretty close to sea level. I dont always buy the mag. times. Lots of guys if not most are hitting faster times in their tundras than the magazines say, so I would assume the same in the rams being that our numbers are so close.

Id kill to run at a track like that. The track closest to me is at 1120 ft and has a 19ft incline. Not exactly the best track to brag about times.

 

19 ft incline? How the hell...I wouldn't have thought anyone would build a track like that.