Drag Racing School for dummies

[Doogstar]

I need some advice and tips for better drag racing from some of you more experienced drag racing drivers. :

I haven't raced before and I am going to go to Heathcote for the AFF drag day. So get ready for some dumb questions.

First getting the car ready.

1.Can anyone give me a list of your car preparation?
Do you put new brake pads on?
Do you change the oil and coolant? etc..


2. How to get the best launch and time in an auto.
Should I rev it high (how high?) with my left foot on the brake, then plant the right foot as I am releasing the brake?.
Traction control, on or off?
I can hit 140kmh in second gear at about 6000rpm, but should i be revving it that high? or should I change earlier into third?

3. What should I be aware of during scrutineering?
Do I need to anything special to prepare the car to pass okay?

4. How much fuel should I be carrying in tank to race?
I assume you will be able to get fuel at the track.

[qwigybo]

always best to check coolant and water before you leave, i don't replace anything before i go, unless your brake pads are almost due for replacement i wouldn't bother changing them

trac control off probably stalled up with left foot on the brake to about 2000-2500 rpm vary around with rev points during the day till you find one that works best, you don't have to leave the start line the second it goes green during practice time i usually sit there for a few second to let my turbo spool a little bit and get the right revs then take off, most people just push the SSS into performance mode and let the car do the gear changes.

might be a good idea to bring an empty 600ml coke bottle for radiator overflow hose, i haven't been picked for it yet but theres always a first

only fuel available at the track is race fuel and it's quite expensive, if you're driving from melb fill up before you leave and by the time you get to heathcote should be down to about 3/4 tank, i usually run anywhere between full to 3/4 tank.

someone else may have some more info but there's the basics

[XRDRIFT]

Hi mate, I was a 'virgin racer' until last wednesday...

What I did, well 'useless' did for me was drop my rear tyre pressures down...bout 20psi or less is good....

and fuel wise I ran with almost full tank which was a big mistake theres bout 100kgs plus there not needed....1/2 tank is good....yeah, thats pretty much what i did and got a 13.9 from a bog stock xr6t manual T5 equiped with slippiing clutch into 3rd gear :

[Aeron]

When i raced, my prep was...........................well, nothing. I still had 30something PSI in the tyres :

[rodderz]

Most people I've talked to have said they run 38psi or higher in their standard 17's or 18's. I ran my best times with 38psi in mine.

[Jeeepers]

I had 40 psi in my street rears, spare and jack in boot, 3/4 of a tank and still made passes from 13.38 down to 12.60 on debut... qwigybo gave some good pointers which should see you get away well. Once you get a few passes done, it's all refinement from there on. Good luck with it.

[Laminge]

Drop into Heathcote this weekend and I'm sure one of the guys will take you for a spin down the straight, either in their car or yours.

[MoreHPformyXR6]

You are so lucky to have this opportunity to have a place to go for legal off street drags. AIR needs to re-open with proper facalities for all South OZ to enjoy.

[Doogstar]

Qwigybo, thanks for the tips. I will try out all that on the day.

Laminge, I would have loved to gone up this weekend, but had too much on.

MoreHPformyXR6, I can't believe you have nowhere to drag in SA, that sucks. Heathcote isn't THAT far from SA is it, you could come along.

Put some fresh oil & filter in today. I couldn't believe how black the old oil was after 3000 odd Kms, it was the Caltex oil they used for my 30K service.
It seems to be running a lot better now.

There seems to be some debate over the best tyre pressure to use. I think I will start with 40psi and work my way down. Less pressure means more grip doesn't it? I assume that there are air pumps there, if you want to add more air.

[MoreHPformyXR6]

Originally Posted by Doogstar

MoreHPformyXR6, I can't believe you have nowhere to drag in SA, that sucks. Heathcote isn't THAT far from SA is it, you could come along.

Its pethetic that Adelaide hasnt got a drag strip to use. Heathcote is only abit over a hour or so from Melbourne isnt it?

[Jeeepers]

Originally Posted by MoreHPformyXR6

Its pethetic that Adelaide hasnt got a drag strip to use. Heathcote is only abit over a hour or so from Melbourne isnt it?

120 k's from Melbourne to Heathcote Park Raceway. So yeah, about 1 1/2 hours.

[MYLO_XR6]

i dont know why people would rather go heathcote than caulder park.

Sure its good fun at heatchcote, but if your serious about your times, comparing the 2, heathcote has a much higher altitude (meaning less oxygen) and also its in the day which is warmer than night(caulder)

Times would vary alot with the 2 different tracks.

Fingers crossed weathers good this friday, i dont want to miss out again.

[Jeeepers]

Originally Posted by MYLO_XR6

i dont know why people would rather go heathcote than caulder park.

Sure its good fun at heatchcote, but if your serious about your times, comparing the 2, heathcote has a much higher altitude (meaning less oxygen) and also its in the day which is warmer than night(caulder)

Times would vary alot with the 2 different tracks.

Fingers crossed weathers good this friday, i dont want to miss out again.

Heathcote has a few bonuses. You can race 2 up. You can usually get more runs in due to smaller queues. It's good slow track for a learner. And it's a fantastic day out if you like good weather and a drive.

[FORDEBV8]

umm dose drag raceing use heeps of petrol like in a V8 cos if i go with half i rekon i would use it all

[jd dad]

At the level of performance for most street cars the altitude shouldnt make a heap of difference and in any case these are usually dial in racing so its consistency you`re chasing. Shouldnt use that much fuel as you really wont cover that much in actual distance unless you have 15+ passes, 1/2 a tank should be heaps

[nugget378]

Originally Posted by FORDEBV8

umm dose drag raceing use heeps of petrol like in a V8 cos if i go with half i rekon i would use it all

Youll be right,I did 35 passes in one meet last year,used just on half a tank,no way your car will use anywhere near as much..

[Abacus]

These questions will sound really dumb, so please don't laugh. I've never been to a drag strip.

First, do you always do a burnout to warm up your tyres?

Second, how do you do a burnout in an auto? Do you just leave your left foot on the brake and give it a bootfull. Does this stuff your rear brakes?

[rodderz]

Dont be afraid to ask questions on the day and watch, everyone will be only to happy to help out

I'm a manual person myself and never raced an auto but you dont hold the brake flat to the boards, just enough to hold the rear wheels in the water box, build up some momentum then let the pressure off the brakes and let it creep foreward to get rid of the water and build up more heat on the dry stuff. If the revs build up and you have enough power, change into the next gear to get more wheelspeed and get warmth quicker into your rubber. The quicker you get warmth into your tyres the less heat will get into your engine bay too

I found on street tyres it pays to do a bit of warming up...not too little or too much as they can still be slippery either side of that, maybe a few seconds worth of smoke. If you have slicks or racing tyres, they will need more heat again to soften the rubber and get maximum grip

Originally Posted by XRDRIFT

Hi mate, I was a 'virgin racer' until last wednesday...

What I did, well 'useless' did for me was drop my rear tyre pressures down...bout 20psi or less is good....

and fuel wise I ran with almost full tank which was a big mistake theres bout 100kgs plus there not needed....1/2 tank is good....yeah, thats pretty much what i did and got a 13.9 from a bog stock xr6t manual T5 equiped with slippiing clutch into 3rd gear :

Likewise a virgin. Having only 4 silly'ndaz, I tried to lose as much weight on the car as possible.

I worked out how many ks I needed to do, from the night before and worked out how much fuel I needed for that day. Then fuelled the car and added an extra $10. Took out the 40kg sub box the night before as well.

When I got to the track I had about 10 litres left of Optimax Extreme 100 octane.

On the day I forgot to take out the spare tyre, as well as the floormats, which impeded accelerator pedal travel.

When I got to the track, being in a FWD car, tried to move as much weight forward as possible. Moved the front seat forward, folded down the rear seats, tool bag tied down in passenger foot well.

If you really are serious think about removing
Spare tyre
Seats (front and rear)
Speakers etc.

Originally Posted by Abacus

These questions will sound really dumb, so please don't laugh. I've never been to a drag strip.

First, do you always do a burnout to warm up your tyres?

Second, how do you do a burnout in an auto? Do you just leave your left foot on the brake and give it a bootfull. Does this stuff your rear brakes?

Learn how to put on your helmet properly.

Then play something like http://www.nitto1320.com/

This will show you how to line the car up on the start line, to go on the last yellow light, reation time etc. Remember timing only starts when you start moving, not when it goes green.

You'll have to do a burnout of some sort, you'll be driving through a stream of water. Put the auto into 2, Line the rear wheels up on the water, left foot brake fairly hard, bring the revs to about 2500, ease the brake as your putting the accel on more and more, and it should start to lose traction. You should get to a place where the accel pedal is flat to the floor and the brakes are being held only lightly. Be careful with the car going sideways during the burnout, you may fishtail into the wall.

Also I wouldn't worry about the rear brakes.

[Doogstar]

Originally Posted by BlackLS

Likewise a virgin. Having only 4 silly'ndaz, I tried to lose as much weight on the car as possible.

I worked out how many ks I needed to do, from the night before and worked out how much fuel I needed for that day. Then fuelled the car and added an extra $10. Took out the 40kg sub box the night before as well.

When I got to the track I had about 10 litres left of Optimax Extreme 100 octane.

On the day I forgot to take out the spare tyre, as well as the floormats, which impeded accelerator pedal travel.

When I got to the track, being in a FWD car, tried to move as much weight forward as possible. Moved the front seat forward, folded down the rear seats, tool bag tied down in passenger foot well.

If you really are serious think about removing
Spare tyre
Seats (front and rear)
Speakers etc.

Man, you are REAL serious, did your preparation also include going on a diet? LOL
I won't have anything heavy in the car (except for me) , I will take the spare out when I am there. I don't think I will de-construct the car at this stage.

[SpoolMan]

Relax and have some fun, work on the rest as you go along.....

[Jeeepers]

Originally Posted by Abacus

These questions will sound really dumb, so please don't laugh. I've never been to a drag strip.

First, do you always do a burnout to warm up your tyres?

Second, how do you do a burnout in an auto? Do you just leave your left foot on the brake and give it a bootfull. Does this stuff your rear brakes?

Only hurts the rears if you hold it down hard.. You just need enough pressure to get the rear spinning rather than launching. Then back it and allow the car to howl along the line you want to take. Just back over your line as best you can, stage and off you go.

[Abacus]

How is reaction time measured?

[northey]

Originally Posted by Abacus

How is reaction time measured?

From the moment the green light comes on to the moment your front wheel moves out of the staging beam.
Before you go for your first run go and watch some cars stage. Notice how they move into the first beam (pre-stage beam). You'll see the beam light up on their front wheel.

The pre-stage beam is just an indicator that you are getting close to the stage beam.
Then 6" after that is the stage beam. I move the car in very slowly there and make sure that the front of the front wheel is just into the beam about 1". You'll see what I mean when you do it.

When both stage beams are lit in both lanes the starter will start the tree count down.
When you see the tree count down leave as soon as you see the last amber (probably 3 amber tree) light up.

Don't worry if you red light or if your reaction times are slow. It takes time to be good at it. I wouldn't change anything on the car at the first meet unless it's playing up.

If you got more questions just ask. I can reply better when I got more time; there's plenty of help here as well.

The tyre pressure thing I'll answer tonight. Need more time to reply.

[protd]

if your racing on your everyday tyres dont bother with a burnout go around the water and just stage the car street tyres dont work like slicks if you do a burnout on street tyres they actually grip less, if you cant go around the water just roll trough it and stab the throttle spin the tyres with no brake through the water thats all yo need.. tyre pressure on your tyres i'd say just leave them alone.. this is for real street tyres only not slicks or m/t street or simaler..

[82XD393.3v]

Originally Posted by protd

if your racing on your everyday tyres dont bother with a burnout go around the water and just stage the car street tyres dont work like slicks if you do a burnout on street tyres they actually grip less, if you cant go around the water just roll trough it and stab the throttle spin the tyres with no brake through the water thats all yo need.. tyre pressure on your tyres i'd say just leave them alone.. this is for real street tyres only not slicks or m/t street or simaler..

What pressure would you recomend for MT et radials

[nugget378]

Originally Posted by 82XD351.3v

What pressure would you recomend for MT et radials

When I used them,they worked best at 12-15 psi,
others have had good results with more though..

[82XD393.3v]

Originally Posted by nugget378

When I used them,they worked best at 12-15 psi,
others have had good results with more though..

thanks dude im guessing i could go higher as im only expecting a low 13 or hopefully a high 12 : my horsepower level isn't near yours _2:

[northey]

If you're running street type radials (not MT ET's or similar) I'd leave the pressures at around the maximum for those tyres; especially the fronts.

It may make a difference to do a small burnout just to clean the tyres or it may not. I definitely would not do a slow burnout (holding/slowing it with brakes). It's too hard on the transmission and the torque convertor. Remember it's your street car; you got to get it home after racing.
At most tracks you can drive around the water and go to the start line with dry tyres.

It takes a bit to learn to drive well at drag racing, like anything. As I said before leave the car alone for the 1st meet and get your driving right. If you do a few runs and the times are consistent right away then adjust your driving a bit.
At first I would try leaving the line without stalling the convertor up. Stage the car with left foot braking. Just hold the brake on enough when you light the stage beam and when you the 3rd amber lights floor it and release the brake simultaneously. Some cars respond better to "squeezing" the throttle, not mashing it. Try both; it will probably feel different.
If your car's a turbo, then spooling it up is something you'll need to look at.
Talk to other racers on the day about it. Most are very helpful even if they've never seen you before.

The tyre pressure thing is a multiple choice question. Keep the front tyres hard/ish to keep friction to minimum (soft tyre being harder to push). If you let the rear tyres down e.g. from 40 to 20 psi two things can happen. It's extreme and mostly for race tyres but just to show you.
The tyre may have a larger contact patch on the ground. The patch tends to increase in length more than width almost regardless of the tyre type. It may make the car grip better if it was wheelspinning before. But it may heat the tyre up too much and make it lose grip. It may be so soft that the rim forces the outer two edges of the tyre onto the ground but not the centre. One tyre leaves two skinny black marks not one wide one.

Letting air out may make the tyre grip due to the bigger patch on the ground.

don't stress over what I wrote above. It's only an example; not designed to cause panic. It's a technical sport. Have fun.
When the car has some runs change your shift points. If it makes a lot of noise at say 5800 rpm, but doesn't accelerate shorten the shift up to 5400.
Try a real short one at e.g. 5000. You might be surprised by what it tells you.