Driver's seat position and it's effects on traction, 60ft. ET, etc.
#1
Staging Lane
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Driver's seat position and it's effects on traction, 60ft. ET, etc.
Do you think that changing where you sit in the car will have any effect on the dragstrip performance of your car? If you are sitting with the front seat all the way forward, you are imparting more weight to the front of the car and thereby inhibiting proper inertia transfer to the rear of the car. Now if you shift your seat all the way back you are shifting the weight of the vehicle to the rear which should increase traction slightly and help to affect your dragstrip numbers in a positive way? Just curious to see anyone's opinion on this. By the way I go 275 lbs. Thanks in advance, Paul Moore
#2
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What I do is lean forward and put my chin on the steering wheel after I stage, then right when I stomp the gas I throw my self back in the seat to help plant the tires down.
Just Kidding.... seriously.. I don't see how your seat back position would really help with traction. In fact alot of drag racers will install a fixed up right seat that will not recline. You want to be sitting upright and staring at the tree not all comfy and laid back for RT's, plus sitting upright like that helps for you to stomp and stand on the gas easier.
If you are having traction issues, there are probably a dozen parts you could upgrade on your car to fix that.
BTW.. this past weekend I cut a personal best 60' of 1.374 with basically a Heads/Cam only 346 ci LS1, my car dyno'd 404 RWHP all motor, but my suspension is dialed in perfectly. I usually average 1.40 60's.
Tell us what your suspension setup is and what kind of 60's / ET's are running right now?
Lee
Just Kidding.... seriously.. I don't see how your seat back position would really help with traction. In fact alot of drag racers will install a fixed up right seat that will not recline. You want to be sitting upright and staring at the tree not all comfy and laid back for RT's, plus sitting upright like that helps for you to stomp and stand on the gas easier.
If you are having traction issues, there are probably a dozen parts you could upgrade on your car to fix that.
BTW.. this past weekend I cut a personal best 60' of 1.374 with basically a Heads/Cam only 346 ci LS1, my car dyno'd 404 RWHP all motor, but my suspension is dialed in perfectly. I usually average 1.40 60's.
Tell us what your suspension setup is and what kind of 60's / ET's are running right now?
Lee
#3
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damn lee! 1.37 is awesome!
BWAHAHAHA - you had me rolling for a second about putting your chin near the wheel and throwning yourself in the seat on teh launch!
as for seat position, you would have to sit in the trunk/hatch area to have any effect on weight distribution. like Fear said, tons of traction upgrades and tire selection out there.
BWAHAHAHA - you had me rolling for a second about putting your chin near the wheel and throwning yourself in the seat on teh launch!
as for seat position, you would have to sit in the trunk/hatch area to have any effect on weight distribution. like Fear said, tons of traction upgrades and tire selection out there.
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Speaking from personal experience, seat position *can* affect how well you bang the gears in a 6-speed though. When I went from the factory seats to Corbeau fixed uprights, it took me a while (a bunch of missed gears) to figure out exactly where to put the seat and how to pull the shifter.
Seat position, and shift ****, are 2 things that surprised me about impacting the ability to shift consistently.
Seat position, and shift ****, are 2 things that surprised me about impacting the ability to shift consistently.
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Originally Posted by Colonel
I sit in the back seat when I race. MUCH better weight transfer! Extending the controls back three feet wasn't easy though.