Clint's C3

I started bracket racing with minor mods and was very consistant, even won the championship in the Texas Muscle Car Challenge series, TMCCC.org ,in the "Street Muscle" (15 sec) class. I ditiched the CFI and made quite a few mods, cam, heads etc. I'm afraid I went too mild with my choices as I now run, a not very impressive, low 14s on motor. I like to run faster so I spray about a 150 shot and run mid 12s but have run as low as 11.869 with a "go for broke" jet change.

The 12 second class "King Muscle" is much more competitive but my major problem is ET consistancey. After the time trials, as the day wears on and the temp heats up, bottle pressure increases lowering my ET. I have tried a ZEX regulator but it did not work worth crap. I use a bottle heater to raise the temp/ pressure to 900 psi, but have not found a good way to keep the bottle cool. I record all my runs and it tracks that for every 50 psi increase, my et lowers by ~.1 sec but this is not precise enough to put my competition on the trailer. Does anyone have any suggestions for cooling the bottle or otherwise improving consisitancy? A wet towel does not work very well and I don't have time beteween rounds to take the bottle in and out.

I could really use some help!

Fuzzy Dice

I wish you luck but it is almost impossible to be super consistent on the juice...you can win a few rounds but that's about it...I do know of a very few bracket racers who use a 50 shot to spray and dump but they are the exception...sorry I have nothing for ya but spray and brackets just don't mix well at all....

jpee

We have one racer at E Town who is one of the BEST BY FAR... he has a 50 shot on his 350 small block... the car on motor will run high 12s (about) and when he makes his time trials he runs on motor ONLY..

He then has the button for the 50 shot "IF" he needs it... First N20 wont help you cut a good light so thats out of the picture, "YOU have to cut the light... now what he does is if he has "what he thinks" is a good light he just races.. however lets say he is dialed at 12.20 ans spins just a little... well he then KNOWS he has to hit the N20 button just a "little" to make up for the spin...

Or lets say he "Thinks he was late" on the tree but hooks good... then he runs it to the 1000' and will see if he is catching the other car (if its slower) if he is NOT catching it.. he can hit the button for a quick shot to catch the other car,, & if the other guy was sandbagging he will break out trying to stay ahead.

So bottom line he does not use the N20 every run to get a good ET.. he only uses it as an "aid" to help him if needed because of spin or a bad light...

As said in the above post its almost impossible to bracket race with N20 and be consistant...

A few yrs ago for laughs I had a 1989 Honda Civic Automatic with 104,000 miles on it.. I brought it to E Town and even used a track Helmut so I looked like a "Dork" in a Tan 4 door Honda with body rust .. etc.. ( PS I'm over 60yrs old) I was racing in the Import class, and the Boyz from the Hood with their lowered Civics's etc..w/Nitrous were running 15's my car was running 18,8s so to SLOW It Down I would start in 2nd gear, and it would run 19.85.. and be very consistent..

so the Boyz would try to "Duck Hunt" me and I was dialed 19.87 they were 15.40... so when the tree came down I got my green and they had to wait over 4 full seconds... most of the time I'd see my win light come on because they went RED Or they hit the N20 too soon and would spin so bad with the Front Wheel Drive they never caught me... I won over $1000 in 2 Import races that way..

Bottom line N20 is Good if used in the right way....

Clint's C3

Oh man! I was hoping for a way to keep my low ETs and be consistant but it looks as if my best bet is to swallow my pride and run what the car will do on motor. I may just have to put a more radical cam on my wish list.

GrandSportC3

adding variables (and nitrous is one) never adds consistency.. I'm planning on racing the Wally races at the local track in about a week and I will not run the nitrous for the race..

kazman

I have to agree with everyone here, spray will not help consistancy. Like JP stated some have an "emergency" 50 hp in case they need it. Spin a little off the line or stage a bit too deep.... spush your back on the dial-in. If your bracket racing you need to get away from the faster thing. Its like a drug and you feel the need to go quicker. Most here on the net are all about the quickest times. Quickest stock, bolt on, cam only, red with green strips, etc. I get a lot of static about my slow 12.0 LT1 stroker firebird. "Something's wrong if your only going 12.0 at 118mph". Hey it's a bracket car and tuned to run like that. Bracket racers really don't talk about the first 2 numbers. I went 15 with a 3 on a 16 dial. Car may be a 16.153 or a 9.153. Doesn't matter to a bracket racer. This season I parked the firebird and decided to run a 14 second street car. Getting the win light is just a exciting in a "slow" car. There are advantages of running a slower car in brackets. Nix the bottle, dial accordingly and have fun.

Fuzzy Dice

Yup...I didn't want to say it but you need to shut off the juice and run on the motor...win lights are win lights...I cannot tell you how many fast cars I have put on the trailer...first with a mid 13's vette and now with my tow vehicle...my race car is in the shop so I have been racing my Yukon...it runs 16.70's but I could care less..it puts them 10 second cars on the trailer as good as anything else...best of luck to ya...

69 N.O.X. RATT

There should be some kind of a racer karma penalty for running a tow rig on a race track

When my bottles need cooled down I drape a towel over them that has been soaked in cold water.

I disagree that nitrous can not be run consistently, but to do so you have to keep everything the same. I flow my fuel pressure before every pass, same bottle temp, etc, etc. If everything is the same a nitrous car can be very consistent. It is just extra air and fuel......

Clint's C3

That's what I like to hear . Cold towels to bring the temp down, bottle heater to warm it up. Do you kep a pressure guage on at all times? Mine is only reads when I open the bottle and pressurze the system. Is it a good idea to keep pressure all day long on the solenoids? What temp range are you holding?

I have collected reams of data. I log every run with my LM-1, record bottle pressure, times etc. and am making progress. I agree with eveyone that nitrous adds one more variable but I much prefer to run 12s than 14's.

16Again

I have not used my new system yet. If I notice a high temperature issue I will use this to cool the bottle. The white bags are gel bags. There are 2 bags and that should be more than enough to cool the bottle. At one time these were made in New Jersey I believe.

They were made to cool the intake manifold.

jpee

I have those cooler bags. Got them from Wendy...Racing Cooler is one of my sponsors...Wendy is good people.... I use them on the intake Not the Nitrous... I don't run N20..

Clint's C3

Awesome!

I found the cooling blanket on racingcoolers.com.

Count on guys with names like NOX Rat and Nitrous Bob to know their stuff. Thanks for the excellent advice!

16Again

Hey man even a blind squirrel can find a nut every once in a while.
As John said above, Wendy is still out there making these things. They have Velcro straps (to mount on your intake manifold) but, should work perfect for the nitrous bottle.

98Red

Hi, I bracket race using Nitrous. I use a Zip-lock freezer bag full of ice to keep the bottle cool. It works for me here in Las Vegas. I just fill 3 or 4 bags and keep them in my cooler.

My car is real consistent. Usaully only moves 2 or 3 hundreds all night long. If your worried about inconsistency you may want to keep a little bit of time in the bank (sandbag). Once you have them coverred you can dump. Just something to think about.

I personally like being the faster car. There's some advantages to it. So I say use it and have fun.

Doug.

K RIPPER

I bought my first n2o system in the late 70's & since it came W/a full bottle & I didn't know what hassles I would get refilling I ordered a 20lb bottle, it turns out the big bottle the pressure stay much more consistant & the key is CONSISTANCY.I always see racer purge nitrious what about fuel? While troubleshooting a nitrious system many years ago I had removed carb to physically view operation of solenoid I noticed when fuel was activated the first hit the fuel always sputtered, just for a split sec. then flowed (I was checking W/n2o off) & I had just come back from road test & had just used n2o if I activate fuel & within a couple of min. use the system fuel sprays uninterrupted.So if racing W/n2o after my burnout I arm the system & hit it & pull right to the line, the little n20hop does two things fuel is right up to solenoid & nitrious is purged.Times are much more consistant. That said,a all motor car is always more consistant, but nitrious is so much fun.

GrandSportC3

What I do before my runs to assure consistent fuel flow to the fuel solenoid, I loosen up the fitting of the fuel line to the fuel solenoid so that air can bleed out. I use a rag to absorb the fuel that leaks out during that process..

Fuzzy Dice

I did not mean to give a wrong impression...there are folks who try to run nitrous in the brackets...I have just never seen anyone using it with any success at all..other than a sneaky pete 50 shot for catch up purposes...btw, I have a 250 shot on my camaro but never, ever use it...

My best advice is if you want to run dead nuts, shut off the juice...if you want to have some fun, spray baby, spray...lol...

Glensgages

I believe Tracy Lewis had a small-kit on his Black C5 last year, along with his shop's killer 'Bracket-Tune', and as I recall, the spray ended-up costing him as-much-as it helped him:
at it's core, bracket-racing is about eliminating the variables and being consistent, and I think nitrous aides neither.

Clint's C3

I gave Wendy at Racing Coolers a call. She asked me to measure the bottle dimensions and she will fix me upwith the right size blanket.




Interesting, I always get a lean spike when I hit the juice. Maybe a small hit during the burnout would be a good idea.

Oh yea, a car on nitrous is much more fun, !



BTW, mine is the quicker ET and not as good RT.

mail man

Had to do it....Hows everything Bob

Fuzzy - do you run the bracket series at osw. thinkg about coming up on the 14th. How is the car count?