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chevy volt performance division

17K views 43 replies 21 participants last post by  chevo 
#1 ·
I think gm needs to add this
On the week end took the car to the 1/4 mile race track
I wasn't expecting stellar times , but I wasn't happy with the time I got either
once again I get to see the coldness of engineers with no regards to the human factor
the engineer will respond " do you have any idea what it took to engineer this car "
and my response ,not being an engineer is .028 of a second
now .028 of a second doesn't sound like much and if you were doing anything other than drag racing ,its a blink of a eye
but in drag racing its the difference between a 16 second car and a 15 second car
so because of some engineer some where decided to give me 120 kw (nice round number) of power instead of 121 kw of power I drive a 16 second car when I could be driving a 15 second car (the human factor)
so now I'm in the need of 1kw of power, and yes I have become a kw junkie
so in my mind the only way for GM engineers to make this right is to add a chevy volt performance division and give me my kilowatt:)
still an awesome car View attachment 109834 View attachment 109842
 
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#2 ·
Next time remove the front passenger seat, rear seats, floor mats, and all the item in the trunk. If you want to run purely on electricity, then drain and remove the engine coolant and radiator, and finally remove engine parts (hoses and filters). You save at least 250 pounds, and can do the same run under 13 seconds. But all this work will probably take you 13 days to do.

If I had a Spark EV or a Bolt EV, I would buy a used battery pack, and remove half of the cells to cut its weight. Then use this smaller pack in the BEV on a strip. I expect the lighter Spark EV to be the fastest BEV of the two.
 
#5 ·
Engineering is a series of compromises. The Volt was made for a purpose. That purpose is not speed.

GM already makes many performance cars. Why a performance eco car?
 
#7 ·
Yeah, a Volt can't win drag races and a Corvette can't haul 4X8 sheets of plywood. Man those Chevy engineers are idiots.
 
#10 ·
Looks like you could have been a "15 second car" if you reaction time had been a bit better. Don't give all the blame to the car. :)
 
#13 ·
Yeah, OP got smoked at the start....either that or he fell asleep at the wheel. :p

Despite giving up a ~.3 second whole shot, OP still pulled the other car through the 60 ft and 330 ft markers. Curious what car he was racing against. Can't tell from the picture.
 
#11 ·
Really, you were disappointed because you were expecting something other than what has been published from the beginning? I just don't get it. Does anyone else?
 
#12 ·
Dang it....

Now I want one of these slips for my Spark EV !!!

How much does this stupid fun cost?

I know my terminal speed already. 90 MPH. I bump that limited top speed every once in a while on my commute !
 
#14 · (Edited)
I've done lot of drag racing, but not much FWD, just RWD and 4x4.

But here are some tips for ET reduction:

Keep a logbook, record information so you have a paper trail. Include the timeslip, track, wind, DA, tire pressures, weight, changes.

You want weight on the tires. So if in a FWD, I'd move the seats up, fold the rear seats, and remove weight from the hatch area.

Traction is tied to footprint, and footprint is controlled by drive tire pressure. I'd start with 25-32psi with front steel radials. Inflate rears to the max.

Turn off traction control.

Staging is critical, especially with street tires. Try to follow a car with slicks, the faster the better. The rubber he coats the start line with will help you launch. DO NOT DRIVE THROUGH THE WATER BOX. Drive around it. Burnouts have virtually no effect on treadwears higher than 200 and our tires are 500+.

Inch up to beams SLOWLY. The INSTANT the second prestage light lights STOP. When the other car stages, power brake it (one foot on gas, one on brake). On the 3rd yellow, right foot to the floor if it's not already, left foot slips off the brake.

The further you go into the beams, the higher your ET gets. It has no effect on MPH, just your ET. It gives you a head start, as the timing does not start until you pass the second beam. It's about 12-18" head start and it does make a difference.
 
#16 ·
Did you try using HOLD mode?

I've noticed in EV mode the Gen 2 Volt has great low end power, but starts to lose torque above 30 mph. However, in HOLD mode, the engine makes up for some of that loss at higher speeds.

I don't have any data to back this up (other than a MotorTrend test that put 0-60 mph at 7.1 seconds in HOLD mode, vs. GM data of 8.4 seconds in EV mode). However, my seat of the pants reaction says HOLD mode is faster for a drag race.
 
#18 ·
ran in normal mode and did not shallow prestage or stage , but I did deep stage helped my reaction but added to my E.T.
they glue the crap out of the surface so no wheel spin and I did not take traction control off
the back seats I left up , didn't think there would be much wind resistance in side the car :)
maybe I should start stripping the interior
 
#19 · (Edited)
Moving the weight forward adds traction and keeps rotation down.
If the tires did not spin at all, you left meat on the table. The G2 Volt will spin the fronts. Too much spin, bad ET, no spin, bad ET. Light spin yields best ET's on cars, even 4x4's.

The white truck (Casper, GMC Sierra 2500HD 4x4 Diesel, 6420lbs) actually spun all four tires and that pass was 1.56 60 foot time. My R/T sucked, that's why the slower truck beat me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6sm0lFKmXU
 
#20 ·
wonder if GM could email or something the car with a upgrade for a little more power
souldn't be to far fetched in this day and age with 4g
if they can monitor the car over the internet ,figure they can change settings over the internet
hang on they can ,they can change door lock state from my phone
so they are already talking to the car
sorry , thinking out loud
try this again friday
 
#21 ·
wonder if GM could email or something the car with a upgrade for a little more power...
How much more power would make you happy? You can overdrive electronics right up to 'letting the smoke out'.

"Most just go up to 10. This one over here goes up to 11." , Spinal Tap.

Would going up to 15 be OK?
 
#24 · (Edited)
You seem to be unaware of the Volt's initial history...attacked for fires, etcetera...the last thing GM will be doing for the foreseeable future is to allow modifications to the software of the Volt for the purpose of performance enhancement
 
#26 ·
You seem to de unaware of the Volt's initial history...attacked for fires, etcetera...the last thing GM will be doing for the foreseeable future is to allow modifications to the software of the Volt for the purpose of performance enhancement
that's the first thing gm did was fiddle with the software and stick it in a ELR
The Cadillac ELR is a luxury plug-in hybrid compact coupé developed and manufactured by Cadillac.[6] The ELR powertrain is a re-tuned version of the hybrid vehicle drivetrain used in the Chevrolet Volt. Wikipedia
 
#25 ·
Nice to read a gearhead thread. Thanks, guys. I get my adrenaline rush on a sportbike. Max acceleration from a stop I avoid because I am too old to get flipped on my backside (wheelie) but 1st or 2nd gear roll-ons are fun without going crazy fast. Hit the powerband (above 7 grand) and it's like lighting the afterburner. 600's in expert hands will do 11 flat quarters, liter bikes 10 ish.

If G2 will 0-60 in 7 flat that's faster than my 1985 Camaro Z-28 was. Technology advances.
 
#30 ·
but I am seeing that any Tom, Dick or Harry is modifying the car, IE modifying out side temp probe to change when the ICE starts up in cooler weather.
like every thing, all it will take is a geek that's into cars to come up with modified software to unlock the smoke, my way is more of a flintstone way and I will modify the current sensor to read low and unleash the smoke that way or GM can jump on the band wagon and provide it to who wants it for a price
my range in winter is 60 km, summer it has jumped to 105 km , I was happy at 60km , if I maintained 60 km in summer and had more power in sport mode ,I would be ok with that
there is a pecking order out there for acceleration and people are not going to jump ship until they get at least what they have now
GM thought that they would give more power to a higher priced car, didn't work out for them , people that buy higher priced cars don't seem to really care about fuel costs and its more about time management. so until GM can give them a car that plugs in as often as a gas engine fuel tank is filled , I think its a wash in that market and I could be wrong
I also think tesla is on the right track for the simple reason they are trying to give the hotrod to the masses
whether or not they have the infrastructure to carry that out is yet to be determined
ON the other hand GM has the infrastructure to carry that out but are doing it on there own timeline
what I do know, is that the next 5 years are going to be interesting in the auto industry
and whats GM business model is today,I think will be something different down the road
just like oil
and power generation
 
#33 ·
.... I will modify the current sensor to read low and unleash the smoke that way or GM can jump on the band wagon and provide it to who wants it for a price
...
ofcourse they will why wouldn't chevy want to overdrive the electronics
letus know about how it goes say byebye to any warranty

its just human nature to want more as my daddy used to say dammitjoe why can't you leave well enough alone
 
#31 ·
so tomorrow weather permitting
I will inflate tires to max front and rear
remove spare and compressor
flip back seats down and move pass seat forward
take off traction control
shallow stage
sport mode first
and then hold mode
as suggested by everyone and see if I can break into the 15, that failing throw it out the back of a plane
I really want to throw it into ludicrous mode, but seem to be missing that button
 
#32 ·
If you want to get serious, you can even pull the passenger front and rear seats out (fairly) easily for significant weight reduction. Then swap in some lightweight wheels with drag slicks :rolleyes:
 
#43 ·
Funny you guys bring up the hood latch.. This thought had already been going through my mind after I made the video with me taking my 2017 on the dragstrip... I suspect the initial loss of take-off power in HOLD mode is due to the fact the engine is not running and there is no way to force it to stay running. So it has to start the engine, giving you only a single motor for take-off speed. BUUUUTTTT... If the engine were already running, would things be different? I had already wondered about putting some sort of switch on the hood sensor so that the engine would be forced on. I might have to play around with that this weekend.
 
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