Hey all.

Tomorrow I'm going for an unlimited drag day at the local track. Will be sure to bring back some slips.

Got any tips for me?

I was kind of wondering how exactly to launch, is it better to use the brake, and just get it up to stall speed and release, or is it better simply to lightly hold the brakes... and then just floor it immediately?

I mean, I've tried both, and there doesn't feel like there's a huge difference... allthough it's almost as if just immediately flooring it does have a bit more pull at the beginning...

I dunno... I guess I have as many times as needed to try it out... and it's only 30$.. trying to talk a friend into taking his 93 DSM Eclipse.. (awd, turbo) Stock on that beast is 210, so I should have a fair advantage, even only have FWD 30 horse is 30 horse.

 

i think its a matter of traction, and then some trial and error.

everything i've had at a drag strip has been an auto trans and i two foot all of em. i think how you hold your brake is more a matter of how you try to time your perfect reaction time, i think you would be able to get the same et weather you just can keep it from rolling, or if youre tring to put it through the floor, as long as you work it out so that you start rolling at just the right time.

what i like to do is keep a pen handy so that i can write down changes to the car, anything i did different on the run, if i noticed anything out of the ordinary on that pass, what number pass it was of the day, if the car might of been cooler than other runs from being parked for an extended time, whatever i feel might be important. i write these on the time slip so after a few runs i can look to see what works and what doesnt, or if there was something that happened durring a run i would know why the et is slow on that time slip.

my old camaro, with rwd and lots of torque i would hold at about 1500rpm, dump the brake when the light was green, and then roll onto full throttle over the course of about 1sec.

with my 3400 monte i held it at 2000rpm, and when the light changed i dumped the brake and went wide open as fast as possible.

in my buddys old 98 5.9 fulltime 4wd grand cherokee i would crush the brake pedal to the floor, hold it a bit over idle, as soon as the lights start coming down hold it wide open, and then just drop the brake on launch.

 

[align=center][/align][align=center]
Hi `Mike, & members, [/align][align=center]
I just got off my night job and checked the MCF
when I returned home : ) WoW, I hope you
take pic's/vid of your race : )
I don't know `if the below will help, but it was a
refresher course for me. Wish you a lot of fun : )
Be Safe/GoFast/Win.
Will be looking forward to your results/post.
The Best of Luck to you. EnJoy the Power.
Oh, I just lightly apply brake & Stomp on it, &
keep it Stomped 2 the end : ) [/align][align=center]`Space

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i find the best thing to do is to hold the break and just put your foot up against the gas. when the last yellow light comes on, come out of the brake and hit the gas, by the time it rolls off hte line it will be green. and don't just "floor it", figure out how hard you can get into it without flooring it because you'll break the tires free if you do.

 

Though I semi agree with flooring enough to not breaking traction, the goal is to do a decent enough burnout, or at least a tire warmup, so that when you DO floor it full throttle, the tires do NOT break traction, and you pick up and go right away. If you honestly want a more accurate timeslip, go buy two slicks for your drive tires, and then let her rip. That will give you a MUCH better idea of how your car is performing.

-Keegan

 

FlynhghR,

From a few years of experience (8 years) ever car is different. If you want to win races you need to be fast on the tree. (start) Almost all races that are at the racetrack are won or lost on the tree. On a .000 perfect tree or a .500 perfect tree (they are the same) you need to be quick. With a full size car you need to be leaving as soon as the last yellow light comes on. With my little Jr. I leave at the end of that last bulb. With .000 being perfect you sould be able to be .050's if you leave early. You need to realize if you leave when the green bulb is on YOUR LATE!

Just my .02 cents.

 

Ok, well for the resuls. I'm a bit disappointed... Mostly in myself though. The car took everything well, and overall the car was fairly consistent. My reaction times were consistent, but horrid, from .76-.95 But, I am glad to get base marks to know what I do, and how much it helps the car. My best run, ironically with the best reaction time was 15.606 at 91.21 MPH. The car is completely stock aside from the K&N Drop-in airfilter. I think my first modwill most definitely be spinning the engine mounts. I tried at the track by borrowing a 15mm ratchet and wrench... butdidn't have the leverage to break the mount free. I was able to get the "dogbone" thing off, and start working on the actual rubber block, but couldn't get it free of it's housing.

Ok, for the best run:
R/T .764
60' : 2.355
330: 6.641
1/8 : 10.147
MPH: 70.30
1000: 13.129
1/4 : 15.606
MPH: 91.21

The 60 Feet times were consistent at 2.355 to 2.374 being the slowest. So I think I'm launching it about as well as possible, with the tires I have. (stock Goodyears) Some new tires should help heavily. I'm thinking maybe get some cheap 15" stock steels, and getsome low profile drag tiresonem to gain an advantage on the gearing side of things. It'll look goofy...and I think it's kinda cheating, because I'll never run those on the street, but at least it will be a slight advantage on the clock. There were mostly sub 12 second cars there, but that didn't bother me. I didn't go there to race anyone, just to get some base times.

So anyways, first I think I'll do the engine mount spin.. and then the exhaust. I didn't have time to pull the dead weight out... but I think that's a better representation of what I'd do on the street anyways. It's not like I'm going to be doing this a lot... just to get an idea of how a certain mod helps. I noticed that the car forces shifts as well, but it does seem togo faster overall when I let it force the shifts versus just leaving it in drive. Running 27 lbs (tire pressure) versus my usual 35/34 lbs up front did seem to improve my 60 foot time from 2.374 to 2.355. Not much of an improvement. I'm going to play around with launching... because all the cars were too loud at the track to hear how much they were squealing, but I could tell it wasn't much. First step is replacing these goodyears with something a bit more performance oriented.

 

sounds like a good time, and you got your baseline so you can see how much any future mods are helping your car. as far as launching and hooking up, i'd say drop the hammer and see if you can even spin em on purpose, the tracks alot stickier than the street. i dont know if my 3400 would break traction ona dragstrip unless i left the ebrake on.

btw, i see youre from iowa, what track you runnin at?

 

It's just going to be a matter of droping the reaction. If it is your first time it's nothing to be ashamed of. It takes time to get that number down and perfect it. A few more trips and you'll have that down into .200's... maybe less. It's always better than the Red Light.

 

i usually get in .4's somewhere for a reaction time, after a few runs to get back into practice. like i said, you need to be going at the last yellow light. by the time your eye recieves the signal the last light is on and tells the foot to go, AND the engine decides its ready to go and then actually rolls off the line, the light is green.