Drag Racing Related Corner

[Little Debbie]

Since SF is going to have drag races :woohoo: at the upcoming event for '12, why not have a place to discuss all things drag?

Post up and discuss any informational articles, tips on technique, etc., etc.

Who is planning on participating at the strip?

What preparations are you currently taking or going to make in order to compete?

[Little Debbie]

I'll start with an article re launching technique

http://www.modernracer.com/tips/dragracinglaunchtechniques.html

[Shlbylvr]

:yay: Great topic.

[Little Debbie]

:yay: Great topic.

Thanks. :biggrin: It should (hopefully) make for some interesting content around here.

There is so much that's factored into how one can perform well at the strip...tires, suspension, rwhp and torque, weight, knowing the ideal shift point, etc., etc. :chirp:

It could also be a great place for those who plan to participate next year to taunt each other.

[King Cobra]

I don't think I would race mine because of the below.

One of the problems I see with racing at SF is not having the proper tires. Those of us driving will most likely have street tires which would be about worthless at the power levels must of us are at.

Unless your local, bringing drag radials or slicks would also be a problem for most.

One other issue that would keep me from racing is the possibility of breaking an axle, etc. A 400 mile tow bill would be pretty expensive and/or the possibility of having to wait days for a repair can also get pretty pricey.

[Little Debbie]

valid points, and very sensible. don't know that if I had a car good enough to run, if I'd run it, either...unless I had a trailer and the right set-up.

[Joe G]

I don't think I would race mine because of the below.

One of the problems I see with racing at SF is not having the proper tires. Those of us driving will most likely have street tires which would be about worthless at the power levels must of us are at.

Unless your local, bringing drag radials or slicks would also be a problem for most.

One other issue that would keep me from racing is the possibility of breaking an axle, etc. A 400 mile tow bill would be pretty expensive and/or the possibility of having to wait days for a repair can also get pretty pricey.

:iagree:


Fear of breaking my car is trumped only by the fear of Mrs G breaking ME if I break the car. :rollingpin:

[Joe G]

I'd pay to see Danny race the Fusion at Orfstock. :yes:


:chirp:

[King Cobra]

I'd pay to see Danny race the Fusion at Orfstock. :yes:


:chirp:

:goodpost::iagree:

[Little Debbie]

If I'm not mistaken, Keith dragged his old car once or twice...

what kind of set-up did you have?

[Gr8snkbite]

Oh...be advised....this thread is technical in nature...no pw'ing please. It will get moved......:cop2:

[mustang loco]

Good idea LD,even if I don't drag mine either (for some already mention points...:rollingpin:..)I love "drag topics" and races!!

[Birdman]

Just get a couple of pairs...http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/415zr7WbnVL.jpg :bigguy:

And I thought your car was already busted...? :popcorn:

killin me JT...:rofl3:


Anyone who races his car at any long distance event really should just plan to trailer the car to and from the event period. With the kind of power these cars make anything could happen anytime that power is applied in generous amounts....:shades:

[Little Debbie]

this is not what I had in mind when I said to post up anything and everything drag...

:nonono:

[Gr8snkbite]

moved to technical and cleaned in honor of the OP's desire to learn more....:cop2:

[Iceman]

I wouldn't worry much about the rear end snapping if you run street tires (possible exception may be some of the bigger drag radials but even then tough to hook that hard). I broke my axels on 28" slicks but could drive through the 26" ET Streets all day if I wanted to. I wouldn't look at the drag strip as anything other than a lot of fun. Run mid to high 11's on the street tires and just have a good time. No need to try to impress anyone with a record low IMO. If you do choose to rave and have the ability to trailer I've been stuck at a drag strip broken before and it would be a plus but I think just going out there on regulat driving tires you would have no worries of rear end damage. I know on my 19" rims it's difficult to get traction off the line but it's still fun on the top end.

I'd probably make a pass or 4 just for kicks - heck I did on th straight aways into town anyway :)

[Carnut]

The biggest mistake a novice makes with a manual transmission car is smoking the clutch. This happens when the driver rides the clutch on launch to overcome a loss of traction. That's bad, you can ruin a clutch in a few passes depending upon how bad you ride it. The best luck I have had with a number of Mustangs is to get your rpm up a little, maybe 2500 to 3000 and engage the clutch quickly, let the car roll out and when it starts to hook up, throttle the car up to whatever the track will take. On a stock GT500 and if the track has been prepped, you should be able to floor it.

I have had better times shifting the gears quickly but lifting on the throttle between shifts because you shouldn't blow the tires off (1-2) upshift. If your car is really spinning the tires, it's better to lift (on the throttle) than to allow your car to get sideways and out of control. Driving out of these situations is pretty hard if you haven't the experience. Take it easy, learn how your car behaves.

BTW, you don't wait for the light to turn green. I found launching between the second and third yellow to work pretty good for me unless you are on a "pro-tree" where the yellows all come on at once.

Remember to yeild to the guy in the next lane past the finish line to avoid any fender benders at the track turn off. Know where the turn offs are and don't cross over in front of your opponent. And yes I have a few close calls because someone crossed over on me.
I'll reserve my other pw comments for a later time.

[Little Debbie]

The biggest mistake a novice makes with a manual transmission car is smoking the clutch. This happens when the driver rides the clutch on launch to overcome a loss of traction. That's bad, you can ruin a clutch in a few passes depending upon how bad you ride it. The best luck I have had with a number of Mustangs is to get your rpm up a little, maybe 2500 to 3000 and engage the clutch quickly, let the car roll out and when it starts to hook up, throttle the car up to whatever the track will take. On a stock GT500 and if the track has been prepped, you should be able to floor it.

I have had better times shifting the gears quickly but lifting on the throttle between shifts because you shouldn't blow the tires off (1-2) upshift. If your car is really spinning the tires, it's better to lift (on the throttle) than to allow your car to get sideways and out of control. Driving out of these situations is pretty hard if you haven't the experience. Take it easy, learn how your car behaves.

BTW, you don't wait for the light to turn green. I found launching between the second and third yellow to work pretty good for me unless you are on a "pro-tree" where the yellows all come on at once.

Remember to yeild to the guy in the next lane past the finish line to avoid any fender benders at the track turn off. Know where the turn offs are and don't cross over in front of your opponent. And yes I have a few close calls because someone crossed over on me.
I'll reserve my other pw comments for a later time.

Just curious, how do they prep the track, if and when they do?

Nice tip on avoiding slippage of the tires while shifting. I'm curious about the "ideal shift point", which also factors in on doing well. How does one determine this?

[Carnut]

Just curious, how do they prep the track, if and when they do?

Nice tip on avoiding slippage of the tires while shifting. I'm curious about the "ideal shift point", which also factors in on doing well. How does one determine this?

Prepping the track usually involves a number of steps.

Check and remove debris, put absorbant on oil spots, sweep track.

Torch and scrape excess rubber on the launching area. This is rubber ground into the track from previous runs. They are trying to create a smooth, firm, rubber coated launching launching without loose rubber chunks.

Spray the launch lanes with a sticky chemical that improves tire adhesion. In the old days, they used corn syrup and other similar products.

They do all of this for the best possible traction and costs money. A lot of tracks will short cut this for slower cars.

The ideal shift point depends up where the engine reaches its peak power. That is more or less the point but say your car has way to much power in first gear, one might short shift first, or even second if all you are doing is spinning the tires. Short shifting is shifting at a lower rpm. To find the real ideal point, involves trying different shift points in different gears to see what results in the quickest time.

For new racers, start out at a few hundred rpm less than redline. If its too squirreling in a particular gear, trying lowering the shift rpm a little in that gear. (Hint: Its usually just first.)

Someone who drag races professionally surely will have better answers, my comments really related to the novice.

[Iceman]

I've found that despite what many feel comfortable doing these cars like the RPMs. The higher I get the guts to shift at the fast i seem to get there. I tend to lift as carnut suggested on the 1-2 shift and 2-3 most of the time. I rarely lift on the 3-4 shift as I'm well over where I'll break the tires loose at that point.....then again I am usually on slicks if I'm out for time. On my street tires chances are I'd granny shift everything (Lift off the gas to shift). I have run on my street tires and it presents a whole new challenge at the launch. Traction is hard to come by IMO on a prepped track or not nut with a stock GT500 it's lot easier than some with a ton of power. If you have an all day pass it's fun to play around with traction control. My car has the power now to drive through it but it does provide some stability from th sideways issues that can arise...and I'm not a good lifter on those - I seem to think I can drive through most of them.

One other tidbit that is important for people that don't do this often....Make sure to turn traction contol OFF for the burn out regardless of if you run the race with or without it :) It only takes 1 time of making that mistake to learn :) ALso I would say don't go into the wather for a burn out with street tires. Just clean them off with a dry burn out The water in the treads won't get dry and you shoud not need the water or to really heat up the street tires like a slick......But if i go I'm doing a burn out with lots of smoke and headers open just because I can :)

[Dad's72Mach]

But if i go I'm doing a burn out with lots of smoke and headers open just because I can :)

We wouldn't expect or even allow anything less!

The comments on the street tires are right on. I dropped nearly a full second when switching to drag radials. I only had a chance to make 3 runs on the DR's (I finally got them on at the end of the season and then they shut down our local track) but I went from hig 12's to 12.2 with that simple change. With a little more seat time I'm sure I could have broken into 11's easy. Of course they were already looking for reasons to ban me (I don't think most tracks like verts). I already had a helmet and fire jacket and they made darn sure I was wearing them, then they thought they had me by requiring a drive shaft loop but I already had one installed. After the 12.2 run the grumblings about a roll bar started.

I wouldn't have minded too much but one of the guys who was being a jerk about it was the same one who at the beginning of the season, on my very first run EVER (a high 13 or low 14 which I spun half the track and granny shifted the rest of the way) came up to me and said "You know that car should be running a lot faster don't you?" :doh2:
Thanks for the insight Mr track Monkey.




:pimp:

[onecrazydog]

Our local track, Castrol Raceway...

http://www.castrolraceway.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/facility.gif

The ¼ mile IHRA sanctioned dragstrip
The 3/8 mile Clay Oval Track
10-Acer Full Pro Motocross Track
A Mini- Sprint Cart track
A $75,000.00 Playground (developed by the Leduc/Nisku Rotary Club)
A fully functioning 12 window main concession
Oval Pit concession
A 2-Window Drag Pit Concession
On-Site operators and accounting office
Beverage service building with walk-in cooler
Full concourse washroom facilities
13 portable restrooms
Full Control tower restroom facilities
A 4-Window spectator entrance get w/ Will Call
Separate Oval and Drag competitor entrance gates
Permanent grandstands (8500 Drag / 3500 Oval)
5 portable grandstands (each holds 500 seats)
Eighteen- (18) Private Drag Sky Suites
Twenty- (20) Private Oval Skyboxes
Two- (2) Drag Tower Hospitality Suites
New Drag Tower Press Room / Media Center
Drag Pit shower units
Permanent Gift Shop
Semi-Private Hospitality area
Thunder Alley; Private VIP Hospitality Center

Every Friday they have street drags, and once or twice a month they set up a drifting course... I am going to go do some drifting this summer and get some good burnout vids legally!!

[Carnut]

We wouldn't expect or even allow anything less!

The comments on the street tires are right on. I dropped nearly a full second when switching to drag radials. I only had a chance to make 3 runs on the DR's (I finally got them on at the end of the season and then they shut down our local track) but I went from hig 12's to 12.2 with that simple change. With a little more seat time I'm sure I could have broken into 11's easy. Of course they were already looking for reasons to ban me (I don't think most tracks like verts). I already had a helmet and fire jacket and they made darn sure I was wearing them, then they thought they had me by requiring a drive shaft loop but I already had one installed. After the 12.2 run the grumblings about a roll bar started.

I wouldn't have minded too much but one of the guys who was being a jerk about it was the same one who at the beginning of the season, on my very first run EVER (a high 13 or low 14 which I spun half the track and granny shifted the rest of the way) came up to me and said "You know that car should be running a lot faster don't you?" :doh2:
Thanks for the insight Mr track Monkey.




:pimp:

What drag radial did you use? That's a nice improvement.

[Dad's72Mach]

What drag radial did you use? That's a nice improvement.


I got these:

http://www.americanmuscle.com/nitto-nt555r-285-40-18.html


Little pricey but great traction. I'm bummed cuz I found a screw in one after getting back from ShelbyFest.:doh2:

I haven't driven the car since as I'm afraid to just pull it out and just haven't had time to take it off and cart it up to the tire shop. If it ends up getting plugged I imagine it's useless for the track.

[Carnut]

I got these:

http://www.americanmuscle.com/nitto-nt555r-285-40-18.html


Little pricey but great traction. I'm bummed cuz I found a screw in one after getting back from ShelbyFest.:doh2:

I haven't driven the car since as I'm afraid to just pull it out and just haven't had time to take it off and cart it up to the tire shop. If it ends up getting plugged I imagine it's useless for the track.

They can put an inside patch on, which should be okay for the track. Be assertive at the tire shop.