i've gotten the best 1/4 mile time for all the N/A altima coupes but crappy trap speeds. my best time was a 13.912 at 99.xx MPH. another time i ran something like a 14.2 (forgot exactly what i ran) but i was consistently running 102, 103, and 104 MPH trap speeds. what causes this? that 13.912 at 99 MPH could be much better if i can get it to trap 104 MPH..... one of my friends said that if you get a bad launch that you trap higher speeds. is this true? any advice on how to trap a higher speed, without negatively affecting my time of course?

my car and mods are: 2008 Nissan Altima coupe 3.5SE with the CVT transmission. only mod was unbolting the exhaust after the cat.

Hmmm. Interesting question. I've seen similar and have no idea why.

Anyone care to chime in?

wheel spin typicaly results in higher MPH traps. Your 13.9 trap speed it right on.

Another thing to note is staging. During my time driving my fathers 67 Valiant, and now my 240 work in progress, your staging is very critical. I was always taught to turn on the prestage, come up on the converter, and lightly bump the brake to just barely turn on the stage lights. Remember, the time it takes to turn on the timer does not count into your ET.

In my stock 96 Sentra, I always cross the line at 69-70 mph, but my ET can vary anywhere from 19.32 down to 18.96, just depending on how I stage, allowing its brakes are a little weak now to hold it on converter for much time. Now if I try to deep stage, which is to roll into the lights so deep that you turn off the pre stage lights, mine will normally run in the 20 or sec mark due to that little bit of track making a huge difference in a second or two.

In your position, try what i said above, turn on the prestage, when other guy turns on prestage, then bring it up on the converter and bump it in until the stage light lights up. Dont bump it much, just very very lightly, you want to just barely turn on the light, not roll through it. Thats the proper way to stage. At my track, its always respect to the other drive to not turn on the stage lights until the other driver has turn on his prestage. But also note, every car is different, so just take your time and learn what works best, and don't change it Drag racing rituals end with winnings

Dont forget to also check your tire pressure before every run, and also how much gas is in the tank can make a tenth or two difference when running in the speed range your in.