I’m sort of with R code on his advice. The mechanical aids are terrific and will certainly help, but a technique that works with your combo is what will definitely pay off in spades. Completely different subject, but I think it still applies:When my guitar students ask me how any player got as good as they are I always give the same answer. Practice, practice, and more practice. That’s what also separates a good band from a great one.
That same attitude applies to drag racing. The more calm you are the better you will launch, and that calmness comes from knowing yourself and your car which like rcode said, comes from experience. My best times really felt like I was in a vacuum and nothing else around me but the car, the tree, and myself. Also the same goes for the best solos I’ve ever cut in the studio. It was almost like I was on auto pilot in both scenarios.
I would probably say that some of that extra weight is the convertible parts. If I’m mistaken, correct me, but it seems to me that most convertibles weigh more due to the parts that operate the top, the extra structure required to keep the body from folding in on itself, etc.
Wheels, tires (much larger/heavier than OEM type), subframe connectors, Cal-Trac’s, extensive butyl (heavy!) sound deadener in passenger compartment (including doors and quarters) and throughout trunk. More gas than a minimum amount to run at the track, spare tire, jack, lug wrench(es), Dewalt Impact wrench and batteries, fire extinguisher, toolbox, detailing stuff, camping chairs, market umbrella and marble! base (no place to stash any of this while racing). I think that about covers it.
Incorrect! She already requires a rollbar (with very specific, stock interior unfriendly characteristics), anytime the track is enforcing NHRA rules. The rule is 13.49 or faster for a convertible. The event was the Old Time Drags at Englishtown and (much to my delight as this was the first time down the quarter with the new 408C), they were not enforcing the rules, or so I assumed. My slowest pass that day was 13.492…
Oh, and I forgot! Cooler with a bunch of ice, Mount Gay Rum, Pepsi, lime, a couple of beers, some snacks, paper cups, etc. Baking hot day in July. 7/23 is the date this summer, I will have to go try some runs with less stuff in the trunk, less fuel and drag radials…
Four passes to be exact. I went to another event last fall, All Ford Show and Go. Unlike at the OTD event, at that event they specifically asked me if I would be running 13.49 or slower, I initially told them yes. But then I thought about wasting the $30 racing fee on a single pass. I went back to tech and told them I could not run at or slower than 13.49. They suggested I could “pedal” the car. I told them no thanks, I only know how to drive the car one way, as fast as I can and that I have no interest in learning how to drive it slower (or slower with consistency). Got my racing fee back and enjoyed the show although perhaps a little melancholy as I watched and heard the cars tearing down the quarter. I now await the next OTD (at which I will be listening closely to what tech says when I go through).
I don’t get the whole pedal your car thing. A lot of my buds who bracket race do it. They say it allows them to run in a slower class and win more. Here’s my take on it and it always pisses them off: So your car and your driving isn’t up to the task of racing in this class so you run in a slower class where you are killing people off the line or “toying with them” the length of the track. I have a better idea, be competitive! To me it’s like the scene from Monty Python’s Flying Circus where the full grown man is boxing the little girl and every time she gets within arms reach he just knocks her down.
So yeah, I’m with you, all out screaming by then end of the quarter or your not really racing.
I guess there is always 2 sides to the coin. The guys I hang with that bracket race run full out to see how fast and how quick they can go. The only reason to pedal or lift is if you think your gonna break out on your dial in.
To me, bracket racing is the most competitive racing there is. You could take your mom’s station wagon (I’ve done this) and win it all (not this). We pedaled our cars because we had to drive them home from the track, and to work on Monday, etc. etc. Walking it off the line, shifting at 5k, etc. is just way more repeatable than a bonsai, best run of the night-type approach.
Once apron a time, way back in the 90s, The Cascade Cougar Club was participating in the Car Club Drags. I remember one run I was up ageist a 67 Chrysler 300 4 door. That boat ran consent 18 second times. He also won consistently as most every one red lighted or broke out. I red lighted. In Bracket receing just being the fastest doesn’t get you the win. Being consistent and knowing your car will.
