Drag racing tips/launching/prepping for events ect.

[evil_eagle]

As the title states, Drag racing tips, launching tips, prepping for events ect ect.

Have at it guys!!!

[THERB4U]

Keep your street tires out of the water box. Doing a burnout on radials just makes worse traction. A compound in the rubber starts to come out that has the consistency of soap when the rubber gets hot enough to smoke. The best idea is to back up ALMOST into the water, do a hard launch to spin the tires about one revolution. Keep the tires in the "groove" layed down by all the cars with slicks. This will grind some of that nice soft rubber on the track into your tread and give you better grip.

I gave this tip to a IMS member once and he dropped his times from 17.3 to 14.6
Before I told him how to launch he was blowing his tires off for about 300 feet.

[carfreak]

First time out don't worry about the reaction time at all. Go when your ready! And as you feel more comfortable with the track and launching then start going for reaction time.

[evil_eagle]

^^to clarify a little more of what carfreak is saying, Reaction time has nothing to do with your ET time. You can sit there for 2 days and still run a 13 sec pass, or whatever your car runs. Your time does not start until you move (trip the beams)

[THERB4U]

lol

"well I ran a 14 but I had a 4 second reaction time so technically my hatch runs tens."

[isboosted]

Thanks for the tips.

[Squarl]

^^to clarify a little more of what carfreak is saying, Reaction time has nothing to do with your ET time. You can sit there for 2 days and still run a 13 sec pass, or whatever your car runs. Your time does not start until you move (trip the beams)

wow really? this was the main thing I was focusing on last time I ran. What a newb I am.

[zex_cool]

wow really? this was the main thing I was focusing on last time I ran. What a newb I am.

lololol,i dkwhy but that sounder funny. n0000000000b0b0b00000bb!!

[THERB4U]

another thing I see alot is noobs dont have any staging etiquet (sp?)

You are supposed to stage as follows

one driver sets his pre-stage bulb, then waits for the other driver to do the same, then the first driver sets his stage bulb and the other does the same. A lot of noobs these days just roll right into both beams and set their lights. This makes it so the other driver has to be ready to launch as soon as he sets his stage beam because the lights may start immediately.

Another thing, for bracket racers, keep an eye on the other car. Dont just run it right out the back door. If you are way ahead of the other guy, theres a good chance you are running way under your dial in. Ive seen lots of guys break out when the other guy missed a shift or something and wasnt even close.

[e2blade]

^^to clarify a little more of what carfreak is saying, Reaction time has nothing to do with your ET time. You can sit there for 2 days and still run a 13 sec pass, or whatever your car runs. Your time does not start until you move (trip the beams)

i did not know that

[MacDrizzle]

If you are running a fwd car go around the water box if you are not doing a burnout you can drive straight in if you are running slicks. Rwd cars need to go around as well then back into the box as not to track water to the dry areas where you need traction.

You can play mind games by setting your prestage light and waiting. Just do it for a few seconds cause you can be disqualified.

Another tip for intermediate racers is to install a line lock on your braking system. This way you don't have to keep your foot on the brake and you can concentrate on the more important pedal (s)!.

But what do I know I'm an idot!

[RunninWild]

Rwd cars need to go around as well then back into the box as not to track water to the dry areas where you need traction.

You can play mind games by setting your prestage light and waiting. Just do it for a few seconds cause you can be disqualified.



If you have a rwd vehicle you can drive right through the box IF you're using it, people do it all the time.

The whole courtesy prestaging is a firebird thing and as far as I know is not a rule so don't even worry about it the first few times you go out cause you will have way more important things to worry about.



The main thing people need to know I think is don't be afraid to ask any questions you have any. I know when I first raced I had a ton of questions and the majority of people were more than willing to help out if you are considerate. Also don't worry about making a mistake like rolling through the beams or stalling at the line. There are always people making simple mistakes like that so you are not the first. I have been foolish enough to stall it at the line on my bike and I have been so close to wheeling over that everyone was congratulating me for saving it.

[MacDrizzle]

Correct me if I'm wrong, If you are using treaded front tires you want to back in the box. If you are running smoothies up front not a worry. I am pretty sure you can be penalized for taking too long to stage. I've been dragracing for awhile now so I do somethings without thinking about them. I could be wrong, I am only human. More insight is need from others I suppose.

Have fun at the drags!

[turbo2cam]

courtesy staging is not a firebird thing....its an unspoken RULE of drag racing. there is a timer that will automatically start the lights if 1 guy is staged and the other guy is not (autostart) so the NICE thing to do is light 1 light and wait for the other guy to do the same, then and only then, do you light the second bulb.

if you light both lights, the other guy has 10 seconds to stage or the tree starts without him. really a fucked up thing to do to someone.....once you have it done to you, and you get fucked out of a run, you will understand.


as for the waterbox thing....keep the water in the box. if you drive through the box you get water on your tires and it drips off all over the starting line. nobody wants to do a burnout on the starting line so make sure and keep the water in the box.

fwd cars will naturally drag water out of the box. so just drive THROUGH it to just outside of the box, and do your burnout. (never do your burnout IN the water box)

rwd cars, yes if your respectfull to other racers, you will go around it, then back up into it, get your tires wet, maybe spin them once or twice....then pull out of the box a little bit, and then do your john force burnout.

[MacDrizzle]

Great clarification, Turbo. I knew there was some staging thing but I was not sure about it. The last thing you want to do as a new guy at the track is piss off the seasoned racers.

[RunninWild]

Once you race with people that try to play with you by not pre-staging first and taking a really long time to pre-stage you start to see the other side of the "rule" and look at it differently. I fully understand courtesy staging if you are not burning out while the person you are racing is or they have to prep their vehicle in some way but otherwise no one has any excuse for taking more than 10 seconds to find the pre-stage beams.

Dietz if you're trying to say that rwd cars pulling through the waterbox is disrespectful you have got to be joking. Walk down next to the waterbox at the next pro and super pro race and tell me what you see. Anytime a car rolls through the box they burnout through the water that came off of their front tires and in turn leave no water.

[Money]

Didn't know about the courtesy staging... How embarrassing.

[cosmo105]

My humble racing tips:

Fill your drag tires with air the night before with XX amount of air pressure and check them in the morning. That way you will find out if you have a leak and should bring an airpump with you to the track

Always check tire pressures in the staging lane and make adjustments (letting some out not adding) to your higher pressured tire.

I don't do burnouts unless the track temps are lower than 60F since my tires grip and I don't have wheelhop (26 x 10.5's MT ET Streets)

I usually try to hang back a little waiting for the other lane if the guy is doing a burnout. Sometimes you get lined up with a 10 sec car that loves to smoke em and goes past the staging lights. I just kinda follow him out and wait for him to backup and stage first.

Make sure windows are all up.

When I stage I pull into the first stage light and then start pre loading by pulling on ebrake while letting out the clutch to line up with the second stage light (that's just my way of doing it)

If you experience wheel hop at any time get out of the throttle quickly or you might be getting towed.

And above all, be courteous to everyone. We aren't all pros and we all want to have fun. Share whatever you have from shoe polish for numbering to your low air pressure gauge. Hell, I always carry a couple liters of distilled water for anyone that needs it for their radiator.

[UWISHU1]

Great thread so far... looking forward to more info.

[turbo2cam]

Once you race with people that try to play with you by not pre-staging first and taking a really long time to pre-stage you start to see the other side of the "rule" and look at it differently. I fully understand courtesy staging if you are not burning out while the person you are racing is or they have to prep their vehicle in some way but otherwise no one has any excuse for taking more than 10 seconds to find the pre-stage beams.

Dietz if you're trying to say that rwd cars pulling through the waterbox is disrespectful you have got to be joking. Walk down next to the waterbox at the next pro and super pro race and tell me what you see. Anytime a car rolls through the box they burnout through the water that came off of their front tires and in turn leave no water.

wow you come off as quite the prick. idgaf what your doing in the other lane, or what games your playing. i will courtesy stage every single time. im a respectfull racer, we all payed the same money to come out there and race, and im not about to fuck you out of a race cause you couldnt get your car to the line in 10 seconds, for whatever reason. thats a real douchery thing to even consider doing in my opinion.

as for the water box thing....hey smart guy, what kind of front tires do the pro and super pro race cars run? walk down to the water box and tell me what you see. oh yea they run skinnies. skinnies with no tread that pick up no water. crazy weird huh? so f-ing crazy, you would think they actually designed those tires with that in mind!! mind blowing, i know.

im not saying that its against the rules to drive through the waterbox, but please explain to me how your going to get traction off the line when its covered in water from the car in front of you. this is the reason you dont do burnouts in the water box with street tires. im sure you edumacate me on that one as well eh?

[UWISHU1]

Lots of discussion on FWD and RWD, what about AWD? Just do a dry, four-wheel burnout?

[carfreak]

Lots of discussion on FWD and RWD, what about AWD? Just do a dry, four-wheel burnout?

I hope to god that's a joke.

[THERB4U]

A) when I first started racing, courtesy staging was outlined in the NHRA rule book and was something you could be disqualified for not following. Maybe that has changed, I dunno. For one scenario, I do a healthy burnout, after strapping into a properly adjusted 5 point harness, there is no room to turn and look out my open door so I have to wait for an official to back me into the water box. As Dietz explained, they always back you into the water, then have you roll back forward until you are barely in any water. While Im doing all this, someone on street tires rolls right up to the lights and stages both beams. This means I have to roll up, light the pre stage lights, get up on the stall converter and ride the brakes hard as I inch my way slowly into the stage beam. Depending on how long I take, the other driver may be sitting there staged, up on his revs and trying to double clutch his ride. Also, if the guy Im racing doesnt pre-stage first, theres no reason for me not to pre-stage first. Thats a game kids play. See how this can get out of hand?

B) I always pull around the bleach box and back into it. The last thing I want is to have a healthy launch and then 6 ft later have my back tires hit the water that ran out of the tread from my front tires. Also, when you do a burnout with street tires, 2 things happen. One is that there is a chemical compound that is very slippery that comes out of radial tires when they get hot enough to smoke. The second is that the tread can hold water, and then when you sit at the lights the water runds down the tread right to the contact patch of the tire, causing super hilarious traction.


C) If you want traction, get slicks or sticky street tires. If you want super nice traction, dont race on days when the majority of the cars are running street tires.

[RunninWild]

im not saying that its against the rules to drive through the waterbox, but please explain to me how your going to get traction off the line when its covered in water from the car in front of you. this is the reason you dont do burnouts in the water box with street tires. im sure you edumacate me on that one as well eh?

Anytime a car rolls through the box they burnout through the water that came off of their front tires and in turn leave no water.


Either you missed that in my post or apparently that makes absolutely no sense to you?



Damn you calling me names and getting worked up over a thread... this isn't your first time is it? I have raced with many people that do nothing but sandbag and try to play mind games with me and those people deserve no respect imo. Those people always take forever to even hit the prestage beams and then even take forever to get into the second beams. I think that is not only rude to their opponent but to the racers waiting behind them in the staging lanes. They don't give a fuck about anyone else so why should I give a fuck if they can't get in the beams?

I am such a prick that when a guy beat me in the finals I helped pull his motorcycle into the winners circle... Oh and the night before that I helped him find pieces for his wheelie bar that had fallen apart in the last race. If you treat others with respect then I gratefully give it in return but when some people do not even know what the word respect means... well that is a different story.

[turbo2cam]

Anytime a car rolls through the box they burnout through the water that came off of their front tires and in turn leave no water.


Either you missed that in my post or apparently that makes absolutely no sense to you?




wat?!!!

no that makes no sense to me, because thats not what happens.

you sit there and do your burnout...and then pull forward to stage...WHEN YOUR STAGING, water is dripping off the tread of your tires, dripping out of your wheel wells (from when you slung it off the tread) and when you are sitting there STAGING, your dripping water all over the starting line.....right in front of your back tires that are trying to get grip.

have you ever watched the guys at teh starting line? the guy with the MOP? the guy that mops up all the water AT THE STARTING LINE after some n00b drips water all over the place? yea, thats because it happens like the way i just said it does.

take my experiences for what they are worth...but ive been drag racing EVERY summer for the last what....(how long have i had my license to drive?) oh the last 16 years...and i spent every summer at the track with my dad sine i went to live with him at age 11. this is one block ive been around too many times to count.

[NoDestiny]

Didn't know about the courtesy staging... How embarrassing.

+1 but it makes sense, ill make sure to do that for now on.

[evil_eagle]

Ok guys, let's keep this civil here. No reason to argue.

As far as doing burnouts with street tires, it's not a good idea. The problem is the tires tend to trap water in the tread of the tires, when you stage the car the water that was trapped in the tread like to drip onto the track.

Unless you are on "drag radials" there is no reason to even come near the water box. Doing a burnout in the water box with plain jane street tires is a stupid thing to do, if anything it will make traction worse on street tires, it makes them slick rather then hot and sticky.
With plain jane street tires just do a dry hop to clean the sand off of them. With drag radials a quick burnout in the water box will be plenty. Full on slicks, a decent amount of burnout is required to get the tire up to temp.

Of course during the summer you would want less heat in the tires as track temps are going to be well over 100 degrees.

[evil_eagle]

Oh and yes, courtesy staging is a MUST!! I can't stand it when people double bulb me. Once one car is full staged IE: both lights lit up, the other car has 7 seconds to get in before it red lights them, that is how compulink works with autostart. If someone double bulbs me before I'm even in the pre-stage, I won't stage, rather get the starter's attention to make it clear to him that I won't stage till the other car backs out of the stage beam.

Some people tried to do this to me last year during my pro tour with BOTI. On a pro-tree double bulbing someone is a big no no. It would piss me off and I would say something to them about it after the race. When there is money on the line and points, yes I get pissed about it, especially on a pro-tree when you don't have much time to get in.

[turbo2cam]

firebird uses 10 seconds on the autostart.

[NoDestiny]

I always found not so much a burnout, but spinning your tires just before staging with street tires helped (NO water, duh). Cleaning off any garbage and grabbing some of that nice sticky shit is always nice :D Did some 2.1 60's on the cheapest tires I could find that way.

[evil_eagle]

firebird uses 10 seconds on the autostart.


Pro-tree autostart it's 7 seconds, 5 tenths light it's 10 seconds. Sorry, just used to a pro-tree as that's all I have been running for the past 3 years.

[UWISHU1]

I hope to god that's a joke.
No it wasn't. Should I be embarrassed? I can spin four tires, but are you suggesting that's to be avoided b/c it could break something? I've just never dragged, so I'm looking for some good information. I'm guessing from your reaction that AWD should just not worry about burnouts and go straight to the tree.

[turbo2cam]

No it wasn't. Should I be embarrassed? I can spin four tires, but are you suggesting that's to be avoided b/c it could break something? I've just never dragged, so I'm looking for some good information. I'm guessing from your reaction that AWD should just not worry about burnouts and go straight to the tree.

you wont be able to spin all 4 tires at the track...remember there is super sticky rubber laid down and also VHT traction compound. you will break something or smoke your clutch long before you spin all 4 tires...unless you in the 700+hp range, no burnout is needed, period.

[evil_eagle]

Doing AWD burnouts don't help much, trust me I know lol. You can't get enough heat out of the tires with an AWD since you can't just sit in one spot to burn them. With my talon I never did a burnout unless I was forced to at some tracks, some tracks you could not avoid the water box and had to drive through it. The east coast tracks were like that and I had to dry them up some how so I would do a quick burnout.
But majority of the time I never had to do any, still cut 1.34 60ft.s on DOT hoosier QTP slicks.
Sometimes doing a quick dry hop with AWD will help some to clean all the sand off the tires. I know I should have this past weekend with the evo as my last 2 passes the car litterly went up in tire smoke on the launch.

[UWISHU1]

^^^ Thanks Diets and Jake. Those were the responses I was looking for. I think I just won't bother.

[ScottyStyles]

Got a question on post-finish courtesy... it's not cool to jump into the other person's lane while you're ahead of the other person by about one car length, and then jump on your brakes, right?

[THERB4U]

thats pretty much a no brainer. Most racers in the right lane will actually wait for the left lane car to catch up and turn first. Its just safer. Unless you are a good half track ahead of them and they arent still accelerating. There is never any reason for the left lane racer to move into the right lane.

[ScottyStyles]

thats pretty much a no brainer. Most racers in the right lane will actually wait for the left lane car to catch up and turn first. Its just safer. Unless you are a good half track ahead of them and they arent still accelerating. There is never any reason for the left lane racer to move into the right lane.

I was just pissed when I typed that... heck, I'm still pissed about it. After finishing my last pass last week, the guy I was racing against had about a car length or so ahead of me, he was in the right lane, I was in the left, and he moves to the left lane no more than two hundred feet after the finish line, then jumps on his brakes (not hard, but at 80mph or so, it's still dangerous). I left an otherwise good day of racing pissed off because somebody would do something stupid like that.