xoHollieNicole

Hello all,

I will be taking my car to an 1/8th mile track for the first time this Sunday, mainly to get some seat time in it. I went over the weekend to a smaller track, so I get the basics.

Anyone have any tips for how to dial in and run my car based off of ONE time run and no test and tune? If I run two classes I'll at least get two time runs. Other than that I'm going in with no idea on how my car will run in an 1/8th


Over the weekend, I had my car out for the first time in a track, it was my first time on the track with a tree and bracket racing as well (always on the street with my other car before).

The track I attended is a unique local track, it's a 300-330 foot track. Every pass my car was getting faster (started the night with a 5.05). I ran two classes. Street car and foot brake. In street car I made it to third round and was eliminated for breaking out (I also went out of the class requirements (5.00) with a 4.97) Fastest it went was a 4.91 while running the footbrake class, I think I could have brought it down some if I had a couple more runs. My car Is just getting its good power when it's time to shut down at this track. My reaction times were .0xx by the third time On the tree.

conexion914

iTrader: (5)

Unless you have a logbook full of passes and related weather data it's going to be a crap shoot.

At the very least you could bring your slips from the short track and compare you 330' times from that track and the 1/8 mile track.

Sometimes I will subtract the 330' from the 1/8 to get an approximation, so that if I hit the brakes, or rip the throttle a few times before the stripe I can add that incremental to the current 330' and do a bit of run completion.

For instance 330' = 5.00 and 1/8 = 8.00 on your first run. The incremental is 3.00 seconds (this number changes with weather and as the car makes more/less power going down track, something to note.)

So say you have similar weather to one of your 330' only slips, you could add the incremental to it to get an idea of what you could run.

One of my cardinal rules is you can't go faster, only slower, so dial according to that. If you're used to 330' track the 1/8 will give you plenty of time to judge the stripe and get rid of anything you're holding.

Hope this helps out.

xoHollieNicole

If I run 8.00 flat on my time run, would it be wise to dial in for 7.58 or somewhere in there for the next round? And, instead of manually shifting, would it be wiser to stick it in drive? I left my car in 1st gear at the other track, but still kept getting faster. Not sure if I can judge it well enough yet to put it 8.00 flat and tweak the breaks if I'm going faster than that next round. I do know that each pass my car went faster by an average of .02. I'm not sure if it was because I was getting more use to the car, or the weather, or both.


Just trying to figure out what would be my best method to stay in as long as possible for more seat time. I am thinking of running two classes, that way I can at least get two time trials.

nj02z

iTrader: (6)

Put the car in drive,if the trans is stock put it od. You will never outshift the computer.

conexion914

iTrader: (5)

If you run 8.00 flat out the door and dial 7.58 you're giving your opponent the better part of 4 tenths (.4) advantage on you unless your car is .4 slow on your first pass of the night which is another issue on its own.

If you pick up by .02 each pass and you run 8.00 on your first then you may want to dial 7.98, but not 7.58. Building and keeping a log book will help you keep track of trends like this and allow you to dial with confidence.

When I was first learning I'd dial under what I could run and just keep it to the floor until I started to get a hang of how things work. Most of the time now I dial slower than I can run all out and drive the stripe.

Also, don't manually shift it.

nj02z

iTrader: (6)

The absolute most important part for consistency is staging. You can swing your car .1 by being shallow or deep. That is only a distance of 7 inches.That is .014 for every inch you are off. Example in 4 inches to far you will be about .054 slower. That is a lot when you get serious.

Rick01SS

Always race/go WOT in D, never OD. (per Finish Line Trans. There's something not engaged in OD, can't remember exactly.)

Baseline 8.00, dial for next run should be 7.98. Depending on your car's consistency and weather changes between runs, will determine if you should tighten it up any.

Weather is a big factor and taking into account weather changes in your dial is a must. If there's a 5* drop in temp between runs, that should cause you to dial .01-02 lower. 10* drop = .02-03+ lower, depending on your car.

Consistency in everything is key. Burnout and staging have to be the same every time. I like to barely turn the 2nd stage bulb on and leave the instant the 3rd yellow comes on. If you have a stall, bring rpms up to launch rpm or close and bump in until the 2nd stage light comes on.

I check this site often when racing. It updates every 45 mins free, or pay yearly for real time updates. I use the Density Altitude parameter. https://airdensityonline.com/tracks/
(portable weather stations are better.)

If you want to get serious, keep a log book and record all details for every pass, including weather.

Story of my life right here..

Firebirdmuscle

iTrader: (16)

I agree with nj02z a lot on here, but going to have to say do not race it in OD. Placeit in drive/3 when racing or any heavy throttle if you can. There is extra stuff in the trans that's engaged when in drive vs overdrive. I can't remember everything that engaged extra either off the top of my head but you could find it by searching a little.

Nothing towards you nj02z, you seem to be a very good bracket racer by looking st what you posted before but just wanted to clarify this.

nj02z

iTrader: (6)

The trans will never go into overdrive at wot.On a stock 4l60e I was always told to race in od as it you will have more pressure 2/3 shift(overrun clutches apply in od).We did this on our stock trans not our FLT. You can search(4l60e drag racing od).

xoHollieNicole

Sorry! I totally meant to type 7.98, not sure why I typed 7.58. Classroom full of students will do that to ya haha.


That's what I was doing at the strip the other night for my class. Time trials were a bust because it was my first time on a tree, but after looking at my slips
1st round: dialed in a 5.05 at a guess and hit it
2nd round: I kept the 5.05 and ran a 5.02 and I ended up breaking out, but the other guy did too, but I did so less so I moved on.
3rd Round I dialed in 5.00 and ended up running a 4.97 and that's when I broke out of my class, and my dial in and was eliminated. I ran the whole track in 1st gear in an attempt to not run faster but it happened anyways.


Last two passes I was running 0.05x lights, which I didn't think was bad for my first time on a tree.


In my dads class, he was down to 4.91 but only had one round before eliminated.


I'll keep it in drive for the 1/8th then, so maybe I'll have consistency on my side. Thank you!

xoHollieNicole

I have a 4l80e in mine, and my tuner has tuned my shift points as well. Not sure if what you're saying still applies or not. I'm new to racing automatics. Last weekend was first time on the track for both me and the transam, as well as my first time racing with an automatic lol. My other car is a 5 speed

xoHollieNicole

I have a stock 4l80e that my tuner has tuned shift points on. For example, when under heavy acceleration, my first gear doesn't shift until about 6,800 RPMs, my rev limiter is set at 7 I'm new to racing automatics, my other car I have is a 5speed. Not sure if this still applies.

conexion914

iTrader: (5)

No worries, and glad it was a typo lol.

The only thing you can do if your car picks up from pass to pass is try to find out what causes it and track it. The only way you can do that is spend more time racing the car. Just try to keep all fluid temperatures the same. Do you drive the car to the track, or trailer it?

If you trailer it try spending more time warming it up and then try to keep it warm.

1leg

My Advice for a new bracket racer is develop a routine and stick to it. You must do everything the same every pass.
Engine and trans temp must be the same temp every time you enter the burn out box.
Time your burn outs, and do the same amount of time every pass.
You must stage in the beams the exact same each time, This is way harder to do then most will tell you. But this and weather will affect your ET to most.
You must shift the same every pass.
Log each pass and the weather for each pass.
Stay and run time only after the race and develop that routine.