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HybridZ

I suck at drag racing....


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I finally took the Z to the track Saturday afternoon. Street tires, d/a over 6400'. Couldn't get out of the box Best 60' was 2.092 on my first run in which I completely forgot to look at the tach. Hit the rev limiter in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. My times got a little faster each run but my 60' times got worse and worse. Best run was my 4th and last.

 

60'-2.286

330-5.758

1/8-8.567

MPH-89.06

1000'-10.958

1/4-12.961

MPH-113.09

 

I was pretty happy with the car, pretty dissapointed with the driver.

Mike

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step one, adjust the tire pressure to maximize the contact between tire tread and pavement.

step two learn to be consistant and watch the tach, at some rpm,level, between about 1200rpm-3500rpm, your car will launch without bogging if you bring the rpm up to that rpm and then hold it and launch...by depressing the throttle over a second or so rather than slaming it to the floor with your foot,PRACTICE, its a LEARNED SKILL

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Dig back about a year ago...

 

I posted the same thing...

 

11.24 @ 127MPH pulling the front wheels and having a horrid reaction... Depends on what you want to be good at... Drag racing takes lots of skill. I just prefer something that holds my attention a little longer...

 

You're easily in a 12 second car...:2thumbs:

 

Mike

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Dig back about a year ago...

 

I posted the same thing...

 

11.24 @ 127MPH pulling the front wheels and having a horrid reaction... Depends on what you want to be good at... Drag racing takes lots of skill. I just prefer something that holds my attention a little longer...

 

You're easily in a 12 second car...:2thumbs:

 

Mike

 

You bet I'd rather be on a road track, but the nearest one is 8 hours away.

Mike

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if you pegged the limiter 3 times that car will drop 4-5tenths like that *snaps fingers*

Practice makes perminant. :)

some sticky tires and you'll be even faster!

 

Yep, it sounds like a shift light would be a good investment.

 

I know for myself, it not only helped me shift at the right time, to help lower my ETs (with a little adjusting of the shift point), but also much more consistant. This was with my high 15 second Skyhawk, not blisteringly, hell not even singingly fast, but the consistancy was there.

 

I then had my 13 second turbo V6 truck, that I didn't have a shift light in (had planned on it), and was even close to consistant.

 

Earlier this year I had a shift light in the Datsun, but wasn't installed in a way that was easy to see (placement was poor), and wasn't very consistant there, now I have a large Auto Meter shift light mounted on top of the dash, right in my face, so I won't even need to glance down to see the shift light.

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Guest Gr8White
PRACTICE, its a LEARNED SKILL

 

Yup, nobody goes out there the first time and ET's what the car is capable of. you are going to have to experiment with shift points, launch rpm and tire pressure. Don't get down on yourself, it takes hundreds of passes to get proficient at drag racing. If you are really serious about getting better get yourself a drag racing notebook and make notations of your passes, what went right, what went wrong, etc...Doing your homework can be a "power adder" in itself.

 

The best investment I ever made for learning how to drag race my cars was a Tach with a memory/playback. This will tell you how to drive the car! Use this info. with your notebook and practice, practice, practice....Studying the playback with your timeslips will tell you the proper shift RPM. I cut a full tenth off of my 1/8 mile times using this method and gained consistency.

 

Hint for your reaction times- Don't wait on the green light- Let the first two lights drop and wait for the third light to go, as soon as you see it light up, hammer it. Don't anticipate and go on the third bulb, you'll redlight- wait for it to light up and as soon as it does, go immediately. You should be able to cut a sub .600 (on a .500 tree) through practice.

 

Get that 60' down....It's killing you. Sticky tires, find the right launch RPM..

 

Good luck!

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"Hint for your reaction times- Don't wait on the green light- Let the first two lights drop and wait for the third light to go, as soon as you see it light up, hammer it. Don't anticipate and go on the third bulb, you'll redlight- wait for it to light up and as soon as it does, go immediately. You should be able to cut a sub .600 (on a .500 tree) through practice."

 

 

good point!

everyones reaction speeds and dexterity is a bit differant, I used to wait for the last yellow on the tree to start too light then ID start letting out the clutch and depressing the throttle, from a constant 1900rpm the engine was held at,that worked very consistantly with practice ---(FOR ME!)

but you need decent traction tires,and the abillity to destroy the tires if you get into depressing the engines/throttle a bit too aggressively, if thats going to launch the car consistantly

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Guest QuarterHorse

Not sure if it was mentioned, but your R/T has zero to do with E/T.

 

R/T is the amount of time it takes from the light going green until you break the timing beam.

 

E/T is the time it takes once you break the timing beam at the start till you break it at the end of the track.

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Guest Gr8White
Not sure if it was mentioned, but your R/T has zero to do with E/T.

 

R/T is the amount of time it takes from the light going green until you break the timing beam.

 

E/T is the time it takes once you break the timing beam at the start till you break it at the end of the track.

 

LOL, I never said that reaction time had anything to do with ET and didn't even suggest that, I was simply trying to help with winning the race. A bit off topic, yes- but ET aside most people prefer to win the race too. I can see how you would think I was equating ET with reaction time in reading this again. To me, nothing is worse than getting beat on a holeshot. You gotta love a holeshot when you are the shooter and not the shootee...That's driving. It may not help your ET, but it will go a long way in helping your competence (and confidence) with drag racing, and that is the point here.

 

Getting back to the point, I think the 60' is the obvious problem with the ET. Granted, banging off the rev limiter isn't helping but the 60' times for the mph posted should be in the 1.6-1.7 range..getting the 60' even into the 1.9's with some DR's would be an easy 12.50.....

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Guest QuarterHorse
LOL, I never said that reaction time had anything to do with ET and didn't even suggest that, I was simply trying to help with winning the race. A bit off topic, yes- but ET aside most people prefer to win the race too. I can see how you would think I was equating ET with reaction time in reading this again. To me, nothing is worse than getting beat on a holeshot. You gotta love a holeshot when you are the shooter and not the shootee...That's driving. It may not help your ET, but it will go a long way in helping your competence (and confidence) with drag racing, and that is the point here.

 

Getting back to the point, I think the 60' is the obvious problem with the ET. Granted, banging off the rev limiter isn't helping but the 60' times for the mph posted should be in the 1.6-1.7 range..getting the 60' even into the 1.9's with some DR's would be an easy 12.50.....

 

Gotcha. I too have won and lost at the light.

 

With a better short time the mph will come down a bit. Usually when your spinning like that you get a "sling shot effect" per say and the mph is higher than it normally would be. I'm sure your aware of this though.

 

Congrats on the times, look forward to seeing you improve and those ET's drop.

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