Drag Racing your street car Part 4

Staging at the Drag Strip

Hello again….in part one of our discussion, we touched base on what you needed to do in the days preceding your track day, everything from monitoring the weather conditions, to managing your fuel levels. Part two of our discussion revolved around the prep needed the day of the event, and what to bring to the track. This discussion will revolve around the event itself. Part three revolved around going to the track, and getting ready for the run. In this article, we will discuss the run itself. There is a lot going on at the starting line (as our discussion last time alluded to.)

Ok, you are staged, and you are waiting for the tree to light up. How you launch is (for the next .4 of a second) the most important thing in the universe. How do you launch your car, really there are so many variables to consider, it would take many pages to go into all of them. You need to know your car, and how it takes off the line. Does your car take off strong, or does it “peter out” My car for example (2004 Chrysler 300M Special) has many modifications, one of which is a High Stall Torque Converter. It allows you to launch the car in the heart of the power band. The down side of that is that if you launch in the power band, you will not have the traction needed to “hook up” (or launch hard with no tire spin.) So, it is a balancing act, using the maximum power while obtaining maximum traction. The reason for this revolves around what is called the “60’ time” This is the first timed 60’ of the track. This can make or break the run. Basically, the better the 60’ time is, the better the run will be. In most cases, every .10 of a second you save in the 60’ equates to roughly .15 a second at the “top end” of the track.

So, you have launched well, and you are racing down the track, it is important to remind you that you need to be observant of the other car on the track. If something breaks on the other car there is a good chance it can come across the track and into your lane. Also, be observant of your car, and what it is doing. If something doesn’t feel right, let off the gas and roll down the track. Track officials don’t hate anything more than having to clean up a mess that a car left on the track. If you know something is breaking, get off the track as soon as possible. There are usually turn off roads at given intervals down the track. Use one; get the car off the track. Live to race another day.

So everything is going well, you are giving it hell. If you own a manual transmission equipped car, you are watching the tachometer, shifting to keep the car up in the power band. If you own an automatic, you are “just driving Miss. Daisy” You get to the “top end” of the track, or the “line” Don’t make the mistake of letting off right there. Keep your foot in the gas for a good second or two after you cross the line. It is all about follow through. If you let off too soon, it will adversely affect your timed run. Most tracks have at least the length of the track in run-out room. This means if you have a quarter mile track they will usually have a quarter mile run off space to slow down your car safely. In fact most facilities will have at least double the size of the track in run-off. Let your car slow down naturally, gradually engage the brakes. Don’t jam on the brakes, just relax and be gentle. Drive to the end of the track, make the turn back to get your time slip. Pick it up, go back to the pits, and look it over. It has much information about your run. Specifically, look at the “Reaction Time” or RT as it maybe indicated on the slip. This is how quickly you react to the lights on the tree. The faster you make the car move, the better your reaction time will be. Most tracks have switched to NHRA style timing, and go with a .000 light for a perfect light. Anything negative means you left too soon. It doesn’t matter for a Test N’ Tune night, but it is good practice to get into. Cutting good lights is a skill, if you do decide to go Bracket Racing, this will be something you must be good at in order to win.

The next item to look at is the 60’ time. This is the amount of time needed for the car to travel the first 60’ of the track. This will be an indication of how good of a launch you had. It will also give you clues on how to adjust the launch technique to improve the time. Remember, every .10 of a second at the start is worth .15 of a second at the end. Also, look at the trap speed, and the Elapsed Time, or “ET”. The ET is the official time of the run, and the trap speed is measured at the finish line, or the “trap”. This is what will ultimately make your day.

The last article in this series will revolve around the “debrief” and the wrap up at the track.

The W12 Lupo

Take an average size mini car, add some good ole displacement and you get a monster. The same recipe works and has been proven to achieve great numbers.

What we have here is a pretty stock looking (minus hood ornament) VW Lupo with a gross weight of 1830lbs without a driver. That’s pretty slim even compared to a base model no options EG Civic. So add two 24valve VR6 engines at 204hp, one front, one back and you got something that will tear some rubber. Of course we know of the twin VR6 Golf that did not perform, the dual engine Talon that did not perform, but this little car burnt off an 11.9 with no traction whatsoever and stockish motors. We’ll have to keep an eye on this little bugger to see what kind of times it can do next.

full set of pic

Japanese Origami Super GT style

Take some cardboard, double sided tape, a pizza cutter, glue, an Epson printer and build your own!

This Epson Nakajima Racing Honda Super GT class car was made for the Tokyo Auto Show entirely out of cardboard. This beats the previous clay models that I have seen to date. I bet it was made from recycled cardboard too.

They made the model to 1/24^th scale first, to make sure it was proportionate based on photos. Then the artists enlarged the prints to make the car full scale and ready for a life size product. It took more then 2 weeks to complete and many flat sheets of cardboard.

Pretty neat nonetheless…

more pictures – click here

CanadianCarAudio.com and SelectiveSound Giveaway

This time the boys over at CanadianCarAudio.com have coordinated with Davis from Selective Sound for another amazing giveaway. Selective Sound has donated a Viper 5902, 2-Way HD Security System with Remote Start and all you have to do to win it is sign up on Canadian Car Audio and follow the rules in this thread.  That is it! No string attached, 100% free !

MSRP on this unit, $799 !!!!!!!!!

Selective Sound is one of the most recognized Audio and Security shops in the GTA, and have been one of the leaders of the Canadian 12 Volt industry for the last 15 years.  With over 30 years of experience within our ranks, we are your ultimate source for everything car audio, video, security, and custom installations.

To find out more about the Viper 5902, go here.

Scottsdale Antique car disaster

Scottsdale Arizona is home of the most prominent automotive auctions of the world. Based in a dry climate, Arizona offers car collectors a little piece of heaven on earth, where their most precious possessions will not come under rain, snow or salt. Unfortunately kind weather was not the case this past week as the Russo and Steele Collector Automobile Auctions were taking place in sunny Scottsdale.

Due to high winds the main concourse of the event has blown over and has fallen on top of the vehicles. Knowing from previous experience, auctions such as RM Auctions, Barrett-Jackson and Kruse, tend to have solid roof buildings in which they house their main concourse vehicles, which are the ones that are expected to bring in the most amount of traffic as well as bids. This has not been the case with the Russo and Steele auction.  The main concourse was blown to bits as the main tent fell on millions of dollars of high end irreplaceable automobiles.  Some 4 Plymouth Superbirds, LS5 and LS6 Chevelles and a number of exotic Ferraris and Lamborghinis have fallen prey to the high winds.

Amongst the offerings Russo and Steele have brought in a number of 427 Corvettes, Hemi Cudas, Shelby Cobras, a Super Duty Trans Am and many other noteworthy older fine examples along with a number of Pro Touring rides.

In general terms, the auction must be responsible for venue insurance, however the vehicles are not included in the coverage. I sincerely hope every one of the consignees had sufficient insurance and a recent appraisal of the vehicles, as it is not easy to collect insurance on an older vehicle with no insurance. I suspect there are many people whom did not have insurance on their vehicles consigned in the auction, whom are going to be out of pocket for the repairs, but more importantly for the loss of value of their vehicle.

Hagerty insurance was one of the first insurance companies to respond to this crisis by allocating a number of adjustors and appraisers to the scene in order to survey the damage. While many are hoping, that this is a once in a lifetime occurrence that never repeats itself.