First time at the track

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Aug 3, 2005 | 09:57 PM

Riley

Thread Starter

Instructor

Joined: Mar 2003

Posts: 135

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From: Fort McMurray Albetrta

First time at the track

Well i finaly got to take my car out on the track. It was part of the show and shine weekend so it was just for fun, Just picked a car and race it. This coming weekend I was going to go to a local race and was looking for some help as i have never bracket raced before. I need to pick a Dial time without going over so i am told. Here are my times

1. 13.766 104.41mph reaction time .580 tree set at .500
2. 13.762 103.45mph .773
3. 13.603 103.69mph .689

I have a 383stroker, Ex262 cam, Eded Alum heads,RPM intake,Hooker header, 2004r trans with 3.08 rear gears. I am hoping to change the ratio this winter as this ratio is to low, but man i can fly on the highway...lol. Any tips and dial in time would help as this will be a first but hey its allot of fun.I had a few more runs but they where 14.6 and 14.7, I had a stumble down the track thinks it a bad fuel filter.

Last edited by Riley; Aug 3, 2005 at 10:02 PM.

Aug 3, 2005 | 10:45 PM

Glensgages

Race Director

Joined: Jan 2003

Posts: 15,172

Likes: 86

From: State of Confusion

I can offer advice/tips, but it is very late here (10:45 PM ), and I have an early start (5:00 AM ) in the morning.....

Be-glad to explain bracket-racing/dial-ins to you, but it'll have-to be tomorrow afternoon/evening:
can you post your entire ET-slip, complete with incrementals (60' times, 1/8-mile ET & MPH, etc.) here, for others to comment?

Glensgages@aol.com

Aug 3, 2005 | 11:10 PM

Riley

Thread Starter

Instructor

Joined: Mar 2003

Posts: 135

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From: Fort McMurray Albetrta

tree speed 500
reaction--- .689 --- .580---.534 --- .670
60 ------- 2.041 --- 2.053 --- 2.128 --- 2.117
330 -------5.673 --- 5.720 --- 5.839 --- 5.820
mph -------80.36 --- 79.09 --- 77.72 --- 77.59
660 ------- 0.707 --- 8.799 --- 8.967 --- 8.939
990 ------- 11.287 --- 11.422 --- 11.620 --- 11.613
mph ------- 103.69 --- 104.41 --- 101.81 --- 101.35
1320 ------13.603 --- 13.766 --- 13.990 --- 13.999

Last edited by Riley; Aug 3, 2005 at 11:16 PM.

Aug 4, 2005 | 05:30 AM

Glensgages

Race Director

Joined: Jan 2003

Posts: 15,172

Likes: 86

From: State of Confusion

Quote:

Originally Posted by Riley

..... just checking-in before I leave for the day, and wanted to give you something to wrap your cranium around today.....

If you notice, you'll see that your BEST Elapsed Time of 13.609 came with your WORST Reaction Time (.689 ), and that your 2nd-worst ET came after your best RT, a .534-initiated 13.990:
this should explain that ET and RT are-NOT inter-related (per se ), so whenever you hear somebody say "..... if I could ONLY cut a better-light, I just KNOW this car could go quicker/faster....." , he doesn't understand this fact, and is either a newcomer to the sport, or running for village-idiot.

Reaction Time is in-relation to the rear-edge of the front tire clearing the beam ( a 'positive' number if after, a negative { - } number if before ):
Elapsesd Time begins WHEN the rear-edge of the front tire clears the beam.....

in this photo of a heads-up, Pro-Tree start from St. Louis in late June:

if BOTH cars are set-up dead-nuts identically (i.e: run the exact same ET ), the car in the Left lane (our Right ) will hit the finish-line ahead of his opponent by virtue of his better Reaction Time.

If nobody-else replies, I'll get back to you later today.....

Glen.

Aug 4, 2005 | 05:47 PM

Glensgages

Race Director

Joined: Jan 2003

Posts: 15,172

Likes: 86

From: State of Confusion

Quote:

Originally Posted by Riley

Any tips and dial in time would help as this will be a first but, hey, it's a-lot of fun.

The first thing you will need to ask yourself is "what is my goal..... to be COMPETITIVE at bracket-racing, or to set my all-time low-ET/top MPH" at the strip.

Winning bracket racers strive for consistency above all-else, NOT setting the quickest ET or highest MPH they can, therefore, if you want to be a COMPETITIVE bracket-racer, concern yourself with setting-up the car to be as consistent as possible, with no wheel-spin.

Consistency extends to how well you cool the car between rounds, how you prepare before each run (i.e.- do a burnout or drive-past the water-box, etc. ), how you stage, how you shift, and especially, how you 'HIT' (react) to the tree each run.

Try to stage 'as-shallow' (the instant the Stage bulb glows) as possible for your first time runs (if you 'creep'-in a few inches, the rear of your front tire is that-much closer to the stage beam, which will result in a better Reaction Time, but you'll have less 'roll-out' { a drag-racing term for a 'rolling-start' }, resulting in slightly-slower ET's..... ), and since we want to be 'consistent', try stopping the car as the Stage bulb is 'flickering'.....

The INSTANT you actually 'SEE' the 3rd Amber (Yellow) bulb glow, release the brake-pedal, and mat the skinny-pedal:
if you are running 'true' (non soft-compound tires, like BFG Drag Radials, or M/T ET Streets) street tires, try leaving from an idle.

If your first few Reaction Times are poor (.600+ on a .500 Tree), don't say to your self " Well..... I know I wasn't THAT late....." because you probably were, but if they are consistent with each-other, at least YOU are consistent:
the RT may be so-slow because the car just isn't strong-enough to 'move' those first few inches quick-enough.....

Suppose your first two RT's are in the .620-.640 range, and the ET's are fairly consistent (i.e.- within .03-.06 of each-other).....
DON'T WORRY, we can 'work' with that.....

If you get a 3rd time run this day, simply get some shoe-polish, and write the word "DEEP" on all the windows that your car-number is written on, and you can 'DEEP STAGE' for your 3rd time run:
to 'DEEP STAGE', simply Pre-Stage, Stage, and then creep-in slowly about 7"-11", until the Pre-Stage bulb goes out (basically, you are 'staging DEEP' on this run..... writing "DEEP" on the windows lets the Chief Starter know of your intentions to Deep Stage, and he will not trigger the tree until you do-so, but don't 'hang' your opponent out-to-dry, either).

If 'YOU' physically react the exact same to the 3rd Amber bulb, with the rear of the front tires being that-much closer to the Stage beam, they'll clear the beam that-much SOONER, resulting in a quicker RT on your ET-slip, but be fore-warned:
your ET will be much-slower, possibly as-much-as 2-tenths of a second.
This is because your car, with the rear-edge of the front tires closer to the Stage beam, had less of a rolling-start when it finally cleared that beam, but this is nothing to worry about, either:
as-long as your car was consistent when staging 'regular', it should be just as consistent (although slower) when you Deep Stage, too.

If you like the RT that results from deep-staging, try it again if you get a 4th time-run, and you'll have 2 ETs while deep-staged to compare:
if you don't get a 4th time-shot, but like the RT while 'going-deep', simply dial from your single deep-stage run, and continue deep-staging in the First Round of eliminations.

You can base your dial-in on several factors, namely weather-conditions.....
if you notice a tail-wind picking up, this will help 'push' you car down-track, and you may choose to 'dial-down' a hundredth (.01) or 2 based on this.....
if the weather gets much hotter before 1st Round, you may choose to dial-up to compensate.....
cloud-cover can cool the track's surface, and not bring as-much of the asphalt's 'oils' to the surface, so that, too, may effect your ET/dial-in scenario.

As you approach the finish-line during eliminations, try to 'judge' if you will hit the finish-line first or if your opponent will.....
If you badly 'tree' your opponent (have a much-better RT than him) by several hundredths, or even a full tenth of a second, you may find you'll have lots of 'room' on him as you near the finish-line, so you may want to 'dump' on him (lift off the gas and coast, if you have THAT much room), which may help you from 'breaking-out' (also known as 'running-under' ) of your dial-in:
if you go quicker than your dial-in, you may be disqualified, unless your opponent 'breaks-out' by a greater margin of time (in a double break-out race, whoever runs closer to his dial-in is declared the winner, and advances into the next round.....
If you BOTH run-under by the exact same amount, the better RT gets the win and advances).

If HE is ahead of you, and you feel you have no-chance of catching him, run as hard as you can to the stripe, then gently tap the brakes, hoping that you haven't run-under, but that he has, because you 'pushed' him so-far (this is called 'cutting-him-loose' at the stripe).

You may find this very complicated at-first. but this form of racing allows everybody an equal chance to win, placing emphasis on driver's smarts and abilities, rather than on how-much money he has spent at SUMMIT or JEG'S, and once you 'understand' it, you may find it very challenging:
I'll be happy to answer any other questions (I'm not "the-authority", but I have been in-and-around bracket-racing since the early 1980's) by Forum-members off-line, as this might-not be the place to get so in-depth regarding this subject.

Glensgaes@aol.com

Aug 4, 2005 | 08:00 PM

Riley

Thread Starter

Instructor

Joined: Mar 2003

Posts: 135

Likes: 0

From: Fort McMurray Albetrta

Glen thanks for taking the time, you have given me a good start in understanding how it all works. This is what makes the forum such a great place.

Aug 4, 2005 | 08:24 PM

EDDIEJ82

Drifting

Joined: Sep 2003

Posts: 1,325

Likes: 6

From: FRANKLIN GA

Here's a good page that will answer almost any questions you might have.

http://www.asmartin.com/b_dial.htm

Watch it though...this sport is very addictive!!!

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