i;m new to actually dragracing against the tree. what is some good advice for a greenhorn like me for staging and so forth.
RELAX!!! Go SLOW its smoother don't stage wham bam unless you want just stay comfortable......never leave on green leave on the last amber and just figure out how fast the car reacts and tune oyour style from there! NOW WITH THAT IS THIS A FOOT BRAKE OR TRANS BRAKE OR STICK CAR???
Every car is different.You just need to practice,practice,practice. In my old Buick I used to pre stage,then wait for the other guy to get staged.Then bring up the rpm till it started to creep forward till I was staged.I usually left when the last yellow was fully on. The dragster on the other hand....I still haven't got that one down. Shane
yeah then youl'll just have to play with it, like dragsterboy said run her up in rpm and let it push into the stage beam ease off a bit and let the light come down and PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE!!
Courtesy staging- named so for a reason. Light the prestage then wait for the other to do the same. Then feel free to stage. Watch, watch, watch others and their staging mannerisms. Get a feel for how your track's starter likes to run his lanes. Dont burn out past the starting line. Practice, practice, practice. dont be a squirrel in the pits, leave the throttle for the strip. Have fun. -rick
I also left the car in drive.(th400,no electronics,foot brake) I just kept playing with the governor till I got it to shift where I wanted it to.I tried shifting manually,but it was never as consistant as letting it shift on it's own. Plus it's one less thing to think about. Shane
FOCUS! depending on the tree, you need to absolutely focus on the bulb you will leave on. PRACTICE! get your routine figured out and stick with it. Don't let the other guy, or the track staff distract you. Stick with the program. FOCUS! have you mind in gear and know what to do when you light the second bulb. You only have a few seconds to take the next step. Watch your bulb and then get after it. It takes lots of practice and a calm, cool head to be consistant. enjoy yourself
bobwop is right, "It takes lots of practice and a calm, cool head to be consistant." Other than that, just have fun!!! Jim
Totally depends on the car and how it hooks. Like many have said it is all about practice and learning what your car is going to do. Here is an example. @ MOKAN in the Pusher to cut a good light I had to leave on the first yellow. The first yellow I would say OK and stand on it. Same engine in the Ravens roadster if he didn't wait until he saw green he would red light. Different tires, different wheel base, different tranny and torque converter, and different weight. You just have to practice and see what your car is going to do for you.
First off if you are rolling on street tires, front and rear, you should go around the water box. The water box is reserved for racers running slicks and drag radials. Now if you are running slick and have skinnies up front, you know you roll thru the water, pull to the front edge do your burnout. When I run drag radials in back, I roll around the water, I dip the tires a bit and do a burnout.. easier on posi's. Line up in the groove. If you don't know what I mean, hang out by the starting line where ever they allow, and watch where the fast cars line up. Courtesy stage covered. you bulb, he bulbs, and then you light the 2nd bulb after the first set are tripped. If a sportsman tree, the yellows go 1, 2 and 3... and then green. Try to leave sometime during the 3rd green. Cutting a good light isn't hard but consistency is.
You know what they say about a Army Ranger Sniper, he can fire a round in between his heart beats. Have that mentality when the last yellow comes on. Your leaving in between when the last yellow goes out and just before the green comes on. In between the heartbeats. As far as the car, know your converter and how the car reacts during the launch. You need that sweet spot to load the suspension and yet not allow the car to creep through the lights. Hold your footbrake and watch the tach very carefully, find that spot that it wont creep through the lights, but have enough RPM's to get up under the torque curve. Torque is what accelerates the vehicle from the dead stop, not Horsepower. Too much torque and you haze the tires, so its again that sweet spot your looking for. TR
Stay calm, set rpm in the pre-stage light, slowly creep into second stage light, and leave on the third yellow. If you red light, leave a little later, if you are still slow, leave on the second yellow. Red light a few times to see where you need to leave at. Rolling into the lights deeper is just like leaving sooner, you can fine tune a reaction time this way. You have about a foot or so of roll out, thats from when you turn on the second stage light to where you turn it back off, more if you have really tall front tires, less with short tires. Staying back (just turning it on) will give quicker ET's, going deep slower ET's. Shallow staging is like a rolling start, even though its very short, it makes a big difference in ET's. The clock doesn't start till you break the light beam of the second stage light, reaction time is the amount of time that passes from the moment the green light comes on and your tires break out of the light beam. You should be rolling before the green light comes on, thats why you leave on yellow. Its your job to figure out how long it takes your car to get moving before the green light comes on and the only way to that is make run after run. Remember to always set the rpm before going in, stop at the same spot each time, and react the same each time. Vary any one of these and your reaction time changes. I used to set in the car, doors shut, and think about what I had to do, I needed quiet time, a little caffeine didn't hurt either! Joe
Think most bases were covered. Got to find what's best for you & car..which takes practice..try to do everything the same..by all means bring your lauch rpm up before staging...one less thing to watch for..focus on tree !! With my heavy boat I try to "deep stage" evey time without putting out top bulb...try to be close to same spot each stage. Leave off bottom bulb ..before Green !!!!! I find it helpful with ME to just watch bottom bulb. I find if I watch/follow the bulbs as they come down the tree I anticipate and leave early...RED LIT..
Not sure if it is the right thing to do or good for the 400 Turbo but when I was a kid in my BBC Beaumont, I'd leave the shifter in first gear and the trans would shift automatically into second with a bang. Then you can calmly shift into 3rd when you're ready.
Just remember. If you never raced, you think your car is faster than it acually is. I can't tell you how many 12 second cars there are at the cruise ins but when they go to the track, they are 14s. You hear every excuse why peoples cars are slower than what they actually are.!! LOL!!
The main reason you don't see a lot of these "hot" street cars at the strip, they are way slower than they appear. What you have in most of the previous posts in the thread is real good advice and little or no bs. Every car reacts a bit different and every driver reacts a bit different. make as many passes as you can in time trials and keep cutting the light until you redlight so you will know just how close you can cut it. As the others said, if you wait for the green you lost the race.
To help my driver cut better lights I told him I was going to stand behind you with a baseball bat, I'm swinging on green--you better be gone!
Try to form a routine and stick to it . Get your self consistant even if you are going red or late . It is much easier to adjust the car to you than for you to adjust to the car . Weather you are top bulb or bottom bulb racing focus on the bulb you are going to leave on . more important than anything relax and have fun .
All sage advice in the earlier posts. Curious as to where you plan to race. I'm in Sumter and have raced at Darlington, pretty long hike for you. By all means be safe and have fun!
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