Another Night At The Drags!

[FormulaNERD]

ok, i dont know what's up with my car. i've been racing twice a week for a month and a half now, and i average a 10.59-10.63 (1/8th) and never ran faster than maybe a 10.56.

tonight the weather wasnt really any different than it always is. i run 3 time trials, 10.694, 10.635, 10.576. this is normal, the car usually picks up a little after i run a few times.

so i go into the first round with a bye run, dialed in 10.6 and ran a 10.573, i broke out, but i didnt care, i took it as a time trial since it was a bye, and i wasnt sure what i should dial in anyway.

so round two. decide to put up a 10.58 dial in so i have a little room to play with if i catch a bad light, but then i run a 10.487! never before have i done that. so i'm thinking it's a fluke, i buy back in and line up for the third round.

i bring my dial in down to a 10.50, and break out with a 10.477, luckily the other guy broke out a little more.

on to the semi-finals. i dial in a 10.47 and lose it all by breaking out with a 10.394!!!!!!

how is my car doing this? i havent changed anything, no CAI or anything. no octane boost, trunk and backseat full of junk. what could cause my car to go that much faster without me making any changes, and no changes in the weather?

am i subconciously launching at higher rpms? is there a way to look at all the stats ( r/t, 60 ft, 330, 594, etc.) to figure out why? or is it just my car?

hope someone can help, i prefer to run slower and consistent, but at the same time happy that my car is running faster.

[BLK03GXS]

was there some crap behind your gaspedel? lol :P
Or maybe your car runs better when its fully warmed up... i dunno...
Did you have less tire spin? do more or less of a burnout?
And yes you should cross refrence your R/t's and 60's... see what the differance is

That's the thing about bracket racing. You "depend" on your car to do one thing, then it does it quicker. Then the more you adjust to your car, the quicker it gets. Maybe it just you, Formula. Everytime you bumped your time, you tried to make your body react the same way it did on the last run, but you just did quicker. I know i'm not helping. Just something I've heard guys who bracket race say.

[FormulaNERD]

i agree with you guys, but i do the same thing every week, try to get quicker, etc, but never broke 10.55

it's gotta be the car, i just dont understand why.

[FormulaNERD]

Originally posted by BLK03GXS@Jun 5 2004, 04:17 AM
was there some crap behind your gaspedel? lol :P
Or maybe your car runs better when its fully warmed up... i dunno...
Did you have less tire spin? do more or less of a burnout?
And yes you should cross refrence your R/t's and 60's... see what the differance is

actually i did more of a burnout, but ONLY because the car was putting out more power, i mean it just locked in, and i roasted them, no movement at all until i released the ebrake.

and i hardly ever get any wheel spin off the line... like i said, i've thought of everything...

ok.... i'll post 2 slips. fastest and slowest runs of the night.

slowest. fastest
.506 - r/t .661
2.526 - 60ft 2.429
6.983 - 330 6.789
10.022 - 594 9.740
10.694 - ET 10.394
66.95 - MPH 68.81

[Redog]

I'm not a drag vet but I've been going a lot and getting help from Daytona too.

first off: if you have a AT, hold the brakeand give it some gas. I have the 3.4 and rev it up to about 2200 or to 2700. This will give your car a better launch. Your 60 foot and 1/8 mile will drastic improve. AS soon as you go, stomp on it and don't let up until the end. (Unless you might break out)

2nd: Go on the 3rd amber. It may seem funny at first, but by the time your car trips the first beam (start line) You will get that r/t down to a .350 at worst. When bracket racing, a good r/t is the difference between winning and losing.

3rd: Shifting. Even with a AT you still have to shift. For myself, I do better starting in 2nd and shifting into 3rd around the 330 mark. Some guys will say start in 1st and work up into the gears, but it's all you and what you feel is the best.

The main problem is as the day changes, so does the track, temp, humidty, barameter pressure and the amount of gas in the tank. All these come into play as well.

I feel your pain, you want to dial correctly so you don't break out or run much slower than your dial. Just try to repeat every run, but I know that's easier said than done.

Good luck :thumbsup:

[Daytona]

^Redog's correct, though I prefer to leave me car in 3rd and let it shift on its own (one less thing for me to think about during a race, plus it's more consistent that way).

Also, brack racing is more than whomever gets there first wins. As you approach the finish line you need to take stock in where your opponent is and whether or not he's gonna pass you before the finish (or if you'll pass him). To minimize your chance at breaking out you should take your brakes before the finish IF you see that you'll still finish ahead of the other car. At RP we run a ful 1/4-mile and the last 100 feet is marked with diagonal yellow lines. When I'm about to hit that area I judge my opponent and tap if I can. I want to just barely finish before the other guy to minimize my chance at breaking out. And if I see he's crossing the finish before me I also tap the brakes just in case we're both on an exceptionally fast run due to tail winds, cloud cover, etc.

[FormulaNERD]

yea, i know how to launch, all that stuff, i know about when to start and reaction times...

that's not what's causing it. and the weather was hot and humid in comparison to some other nights, which would cause for slower times.

formula i was checking out your slips, the rt on your slowest time was .15 faster but then you came back on your 60ft time .1 faster........you must have had some wheel spin on your slowest time compared to your fastest.....

[Daytona]

Factors affecting launch/final ET's:

1. wheelspin off line
2. launch rpm
3. shift points
4. head wind vs. tail wind
5. launching "in the groove" vs. launching "out of the groove" (This means aligning your front tires directly in line with strips of rubber laid down by cars with slicks running before you)
6. changes in air quality: density (i.e. relative altitude), humidity (the bane of fuel injected cars), & temperature.
7. Changes in engine and trans temps
8. fuel quality (poor quality gas can cause inconsistent detonation in older engines and when the air quality isn't good, affecting consecutive runs greatly)

[Sundayalero]

Would a full tank of gas vs. 1/4 tank make a big difference?

[Redog]

/\/\/\ less gas=less weight

Dump out your spare and jack too

[Daytona]

Okay, that's #9.

With fwd vehicles you DO want less gas in the tank. The less weight in the back, the more the center of gravity moves towards the front tires, allowing for better traction (all else remaining equal).

With rwd vehicles, you want more gas for the same reasons (but reversed).

With my '93 Daytona, I race with about 1/8th tank of gas. With the '77 Camaro it launched best with between 1/2 and 3/4 full. Any more than that and the extra weight started to become counter-productive.

[FormulaNERD]

Originally posted by bigd6983@Jun 7 2004, 05:31 PM
formula i was checking out your slips, the rt on your slowest time was .15 faster but then you came back on your 60ft time .1 faster........you must have had some wheel spin on your slowest time compared to your fastest.....

i was thinking that too....

but then again, when i burn out, i could tell the ones when my car was running faster, that i had alot more power during a burnout, it didnt struggle to spin the tires, they just went, and they screamed. and like i said, it was warm, and more humid than when i usually race.

and i know weather isnt THAT much of a factor, because i race twice a week and my times are ALWAYS the same. various weather. cool and dry, hot and dry, hot and humid, hot and almost raining

i dont know, i was actually thinking dirty fuel filter, maybe something was near the inlet or something, and got pushed out of the way.

[Daytona]

^Actually, if you compare your times from the summer to those of the early Spring/late Fall you will see a big difference. From race to race across consecutive weeks you might not notice anything, especially if you haven't been able to get the car too consistent (shouldn't vary by more than .2 in any single day). The more consistent the car is within the same day, the more of a difference you'll notice significant changes in the weather to be against your ET's.

[FormulaNERD]

like i said, my car is fairly consistent.

i start out with the same times, and they get a little faster as the night goes... pretty much the same routine until last friday when i was cutting a tenth off almost every run and running alot faster. and with the way the weather was, technically i should have been running slower, that's what i didnt understand.

but i guess there's no answer for this, moderators, you can lock this if you like

thanks everyone for your help.

YOu could be getting faster as the day goes on because your computer in your car is adjusting to your driving making the car insert more fuel into the cylinders. It will also affect the way the tranny shifts too. I know my friend goes drag racing every year and one year he took his truck there and drag raced and by the end three races later he was about .4 seconds quicker.

[jturkey69]

^^im gonna agree with that and add to it...i dont remember where..prehaps high performance pontiac magazine(testing projectsc/t) but the editor said that the car ran quickest when the motor was hot and tranny normal...they would leave the motor run with the hood up before goin to staging, and they did this on the dyno as well.......take that with a grain of salt, but i do remember reading that somewhere