guy new to drag racing and has ????s

[Die Ford V8]

My first time at the track I ran:

1st 15.7
2nd N/A
3rd 18.9 with 1/8 mile peel out
4th 16.0 with a friend in the car.

the light turns green and you go and thats obvious but could you guys give me some pointers on racing besides the fact i need to practice. i will practice what you guys say. gimme help. its an auto and i pulled my spare and back interior panels(and floor mats). with the mods i have how can i get into 14's . can i do it without taking the belt off or ?

[hawgs]

Did you pull out the front floor mats? That could be your problem.

[Die Ford V8]

I pulled them all out. everything that can be taken out quickly was taken out. I even cleaned the car and washed all the dirt from under it.

[Die Ford V8]

I pulled them all out. everything that can be taken out quickly was taken out. I even cleaned the car and washed all the dirt from under it.
what about the front floor mats is it good or bad to remove them.

[njspder]

hehe..... the basics of drag racing.
since you are new to racing it is good to start the right habits immediately os you don't run into silly probs if you decide to compete later.
1. burnouts and tire prep: DO NOT DO BIG BURN OUTS ON STREET TIRES!!!!!!! if all you have is regular radial tires you want to avoid the water box if possible and jsut do a quick hole shot to scrape any crap that may be stuck to teh tires off.
air pressure is another place to make nice gains. front tires can be aired up to 45-50 psi. this sounds liek a lot, but since drag racing is short duration it does not put any heat into the front tires and will not put your tires or you at any risk.
with regular street radials you do not want to completely drop teh pressure in your hunt for traction. most street radials will actually lose grip once below 25-27 psi because the belt in the face of the tire is designed to work against some pressure and will get into a more rested, "supped" , position. this will make the tire ride more on teh edges than the whole tread face, that means you are losing contact area. best way to figure out what pressure your tires want to be at is to go do some burn outs. adjust teh pressure so that the tire is as soft as possible but still leaving nice stripes that are even all teh way across.
2. staging: there are two ways to stage, shallow and deep. shallow staging is the best way to cut a good et since basically gives the car a "head start" before the timing equipment is triggered.
teh idea of shallow staging is to pull up to the lights slowly. once you turn on teh first pair of small bulbs at the top of the tree(pre stage beam) stop immediately. then you want to creep forward as slowly as you can until the second set of stage lights comes on(full stage beam) and stop again. this puts the car jsut far enough forward to turn on the bulbs which results in 6ish inches that the car rolls forward before teh tire is out of the full stage beam and the timing equipment is starts. that does not sound liek a lot fo space, but compared to deep staging it si worth about 2 tenths off your ET by the time you get to the other end.
deep staging is more to help you reaction time. the idea is the same for getting into the prestage bulbs. but once you are there you will actually creep teh car forward until the second set of bulbs comes on and the first set goes out. it is a tool that bracket racers use a lot to get a better reaction time, it will slow your ET if you are jsut there for time shots.
some people stage deep, some shallow. it is really a matter of personal comfort and what you feel you can be consistant doing.
3. reaction times: the way to get the best reaction time is not to look for teh green. actually once you are all staged up you want to stare directly at the 3rd yellow bulb. if you go as soon as you see teh slightest hint of light in that bulb, you will already have teh car starting to move when the green comes on. as long as teh car is not all teh way out of the lights before the green lights up, you are good. teh best description i ever heard was from a really good local driver, " if you ever see the green one yer late". the best reaction times you get are when you go past the tree and can't believe the red death ray isn't staring at you. [img]graemlins/omg.gif[/img]
4. courtesy: there are a few little things that will make life better for you at the track. first is to never lane jump on people. if there are cars moving in a lane, do not try to get into that lane suddenly, you will piss a lot of people off and most tracks will throw you out if you get caught a few times. there is also the risk of hitting another car since the lanes are a fairly tight and very high traffic space normally.
do not do burn outs and hole shots in the pits. there are always people walking around the pits, and if you have ever driven through a mall parking lot you already know that they will walk right out in front of you at any moment.
keep a log book of soem sort. when i first started i used to write notes on the back of my time slips. little things like tire pressures, how good i felt i was staged, if i spun the tires on launch....things like that.
find a good driver to watch. beign from jersey i have a ton of guys i get to see on a regular basis that are nationally known in the bracket racing world. find a good driver adn watch how he goes about things. there may be a little habit that you see that will help you with your racing. hell, i learned to stage watching pete biondo doing testing at atco one day(he bumped the car 12times between the prestage and stage beams all day, it was sick [img]smile.gif[/img] ) even going up to these guys and asking a few questions is a good idea. unless a racer is having serious probs or terribly involved in something, most of them are more than happy to show a noob the ropes.
5. the biggest thing ever....HAVE FUN!!!!!
[img]graemlins/fluffy.gif[/img] remember, you are doing this to enjoy yourself. it is going to take time and prolly more than just the handful of little tips you get online to get good at this.

i hope all this helps
good luck on your next trip.

later
tim

[AZv6camaro]

great post njspder, that was the most imformative post iv read in a long time

[Die Ford V8]

thanks man. yeah i was and still am such a rookie that it wasn't until my third run when some lady told me how to stage. i just got lucky the first time and disqualified th second because i went past the 1st stage light. when she told me she was running constant 12.5s in a cougar i knew she knew what she was talking about. my third run came and she told me to try and hold the brake and gas at the same time. i hesitated for a sec and hit th gas before i let off the brake. 1/8 mile burnout on 245/50/r16Zs. although it was like 18 sec everyone was impressed with the lil v6's big burnout but then came th pros and they talked some smack.

"You don't need a helmet for a car as slow as yours", or "look at your fender, its caked with burnt rubber...dork" that was when i decided to make friends there. thought i would get respect and knowledge if i helped people out and asked ?s.

WHat should i do to get a better takeoff. its an auto so it takes off slow. how do i take off to maximum launch. what the chick said but practice more or are there different methods.

[mjparme]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr> WHat should i do to get a better takeoff. its an auto so it takes off slow <hr></blockquote>

I am uncertain why you think an Auto will take off slow. That is a misconception on your part. Auto's are probably easier to get a better and more consistent launch in.

I believe my best 60' is 2.3xx with an open diff and 3.08 gears and I have an auto. I would have to look at my log to be sure which is at home and I am at work.

The woman that told you to hold the brake with your left and gas with your right is absolutely correct. Press FIRMLY on the brake with your left foot and stall the car to a certain RPM and when you are ready to go let go of the brake and mash the gas.

You will have to experiment to find the "certain RPM" to stall at. This will depend on the track conditions, tires, and whether you have an open or Limited slip diff. I can only stall up to about 1500 RPM with my open diff and Goodyear HP's, anything more than that and I get a lot of spin at the line. (although I just bought 3.42's and a LSD so I should be able to stall higher and get better launches this coming season).

You will also need to experiment on whether to mash the gas immediately or sort of roll your foot down in a smooth motion. Personally I just mash the gas. I have experimented with stalling at a higher RPM and not mashing the gas immediately but instead press the gas down in a fast but smooth motion. That didn't help my times any, actually they got worse, so I went back to mashing the gas. You will have to find which one works best for you.

njspdr's excellent post above mentioned to go when the third light comes on. That is good advice, personally I go when the second light goes OUT. Again, this will depend on how deep/shallow you stage and what kind of tree you are on (probably a .500 tree).

Hope this helps!

[Die Ford V8]

thanks guys. what about a transbrake, how do they work and how much would they cost. what about a highers stall converter how much would that cost

[MustangEater8251]

Focus on practice not moeny, throwing money doesn't make your car faster, just gives it more power, and grip bettern and handle better...

It takes a driver to make a car go fast.

practice.

[Jerriko]

Well said, MustangEater8251. I knew how to drive my car before I put in the big motor. Now, I will have to relearn how to launch it since I have a lot more power. Everytime you add some power here, reduce some weight there, you have a little bit of learning to do. Best thing you can do is first learn how to drive your car and then when you feel comfortable with it, add something and enjoy the difference. This will give you a better feel for your car and some respect for it also.

[Camarorulz]

The purpose of a stall launch is to take off at a certain RPM while still maintaining traction: your torque converter will "flash" to a certain rpm if you mash the gas when you take off, and if you maintain traction the car will launch harder. If you lose traction when you mash the gas (my car in stock 3.08 open diffy form did NOT) then stalling is the way to go. However, if you can mash the gas on the launch and not lose any traction, then that's the best way to launch.

[I H8T3 R1C3]

you aren't getting 14s with 3.08s with those mods

[njspder]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Die Ford V8:
thanks guys. what about a transbrake, how do they work and how much would they cost. what about a highers stall converter how much would that cost<hr></blockquote>

i think you are focusing more on parts in general than parts that will help you. one of the first things you need to look at is grip and gearing.
with teh stock 3.08 peg legger you can only handle so much power before wheel spin becomes an issue.
the best money you can spend on your car is to give it soem gear, 3.73's are a great street/strip compromise gear. they will allow your car to use it's power band more efficiantly through all gears, yet still leave your highway cruising rpm well within reasonable range with out any negative effects on mileage or engine life.
a posi/limited slip diff will get both tires pushing together. basically, you are doubling the amount of rubber that is trying to work for you at launch.

don't worry about all that high end stuff like tbrakes until you deciude to build an all out race car. the basica pattern i always folowed was to wrok on grip and gearing and then add power until i need to work on grip again. it allows the car to get progressively faster while you learn and you will never have to go back and buy the same part twice if you plan this way.

later
tim

[Die Ford V8]

i had an idea and tried it once. my car is an auto. i put it in second gear start and hit about 2100 rpms then pulled the shifter into first then the tire squeeled. i only did this for a second in the parking lot of school and was wondering it this could help with a launch.