ottopsycle

I’m new to the forum so...Hi everyone, Looks like a lot of great people here and a great place for good help with setting up a Drag car!!!

I’ve been putting together a 99 Camaro for some Bracket/ Index racing and have some questions that maybe you guys can help me with.

I am confused about time slip and scorebard numbers and how much they really reflect what is actually happening with the race. Heres my confusion . I’ve been filming races at the local tracks for the last two seasons and I have noticed that sometimes the car with what appears to have the best numbers on the score board looses the race! I have one film from a year or so ago that I have watched over and over that shows this happening . It’s at Denton Dragway and the cars are a 99 TA and a 1’st Gen Camaro that run almost identical times in the mid 6 sec range in the 1/8th with the Camaro being a tad quicker on the tree but lost three races in a row to the TA with the exact same MPH. The Camaro always had the best reaction, only by a thousandth or so, but the TA looks like it leaves first in all three races. Both cars had 60’ times in 1.3x range. Now, in the film it looks like the TA’s slicks turn about a half of a round before the car moves and then the TA starts to lift the tires about 2 ft. past the beams, the tires look to only come up about 8 inches for 20 ft or so then set back down. The Camaro seems to pull the tires right at the tree in a 2ft. wheely that it carries to nearly the 60’ mark. Could this have something to do with why the TA won all three races even though it’s numbers were not quite as good? Is the Camaro triggering the beams by coming straight up out of the beams without moving forward and starting the timers even though it hasn't moved forward?

Oh, and bty, I think both cars were owned by a husband/ wife team. Magie was her name she drove the 99 TA and I think his name was Terry, or something like that . I hope you guys are on this board? I haven’t seen you at the tacks in a while and I would really like to talk to you guys about your set-ups.

Thanks everyone in advance for the help,

Michael

Villain281H

iTrader: (5)

If the cars were running heads-up (not bracket racing with dial-ins where one car leaves first) and the car that ran the quicker elapsed time lost, then he got 'treed (the T/A had a better reaction time). It's simple math.

Look at this way:

If you have 2 cars (say a Camaro and a Trans Am) that both run 7.00 in the 1/8-mile, and they are leaving heads-up, and the Camaro cuts a .050 reaction time while the Trans Am cuts a .020 light, the Trans Am reacted to the green light on the christmas tree .030 quicker than the Camaro. And if they run the same elapsed time, then the Trans Am will arrive at the finish line first by 3 hundredths.
Now say the reaction times are the same, but the Camaro runs a 6.99 elapsed time and the Trans Am runs a 7.01 e.t. Provided the Trans Am still got the .020 to .050 reaction time advantage, he'll arrive first by 1 hundredth of a second (3 hundredths advantage at the start, minus 2 hundredths for the slower time = 1 hundredth margin of Victory or sometimes printed on the slip as MOV). This is why they say "there are 2 ends to a race track" or "You snooze you lose." The reaction time is just as important as the elapsed time in competition.

Hope this helps!

Derek

ottopsycle

Thanks Derek, That does help, but this is what I don't understand is that the Camaro always showed to have the best reaction time(at least as far as what showed up on the scoreboard at the track), but it does look like the TA did "tree" the Camaro in the film... The film is 8mm movie so i can l look at it one frame at a time...hmm, Maybe there was something wrong with the reaction timers?

Maggie

Hey Michael,
I remember you...you were the guy with the camera that walked up a shook my hand and said "Hi I'm Michael, can I crawl under your car?
Yes, those were mine and Terry's cars. We were having a little family fun-n-grudge that night. I'm not shure exactly what you are asking in your post but I think that Derek had a good answer for you. Or it could be the camera angle? Now, If I remember corectly, His car (Camaro) was leaving off the transbrake and I ( the TA) was footbreaking. His car had a very small front and he was leaving hard with little or no roll out and I was staging fairly shallow with a tall front tire with a LOT of roll out...maybe the roll out is what you were picking up on? Anyway I kicked his but that night. Ohhh, I would love to have a copy of that Video.

Maggie

Hrod382

I'm a little confused on the situation that happened but Derek's response explains it all. My dad has been racing for years and I've been dialing his car in since I was 13 so I'm big on the numbers game and I just started racing myself so if you are still confused about what's going on here I'd love to help, you seem to be really interested.

You talked about the launch of the two cars, all you care about is the reaction time and elapsed time. It doesn't matter what happens in between.

ottopsycle

Hrod382, Thanks man. I think I am in need of a bunch of help. I reread my post and you guys are right, it is very confusing.

Maggie, Thanks for the reply. That TA of yours is awesome! Is it a real 30th anniversary model? That thing does the prettiest wheelies I've ever seen!! It don't yank the wheels off the ground like most of the other cars, It takes off and then the wheels seem to just float up off the track and then come down real easy like with no bounce at all...way cool!!

Now this is what I'm trying to understand. It seemed that when you were racing that Camaro of your husbands it looked like you were gaining the advantage because your car's front end stayed down lower on the take off. While his car was doing those giant wheelies it didn't seem to shoot forward like your car. It also looked like his slicks stuck solid without any spin at all while your slicks would spin about 1/2 a round and thin stick...maybe I'm being confusing again. I guess what I'm asking is, did any of this have any effect on the outcome of the race and why? Is it always better to spin the rear tires a little? This I don't understand because I always hear drag racers talk about 'dead hooking' or is that something different?

PS please excuse me if my questions are vague or inappropriate. I don't have a real good grasp of the drag racing vernacular yet, but I am learning...mostly from reading this board

Michael