DragRacing 101 For Newbies
 

Ok.I have decided to give the basic Good info for Newbies Racing.I am 35 years old and been Dragracing since the week I got my license at 16.5.
I have had over 10 Street Strip Cars.A couple Turbo Ones.All Nitrous ones.Have tried everything and broke everything.Kinda Know what to do.

Before you go, remove unecessary stuff from the car.Jack, Spare and ETC.
If you are looking to realy launch good.Remove the front sway bar.Best first Tip.It will allow the car to rise up and plant rear tires.
1 You are going to need a Helmet Snell 95 or newer.
2 When you get to track,Open hood and let her cool down from trip.
3 You will now have to register and bring car to Tech.Inspection.
4 STOCK TIRES=50psi in front.Allows less rolling resistance.25 in rear.
DRAGRADIALs=12-15.I like 13 but this can vary.
5 Enter Staging lanes
6 RELAX.Be comfortable.
7 As you are rolling up to the water box,Go around it.Not thru it.Unless you have skinnies on the front,you will bring water up to the start dripping off the front tires.Back into the water,Drag Radials or slicks only.No water for street tires.Small spin.Pull Forward and wait for operator to instruct your burn out.You dont have to go nuts here.Small burn for street tires basically just to clean.Drag radials or slicks.You must do a decent burn.If you dont, DO IT AGAIN .You Just waited along time in the staging lanes and you dont want to waste your run.I would burn till I see smoke then,maybe 5 seconds longer in Second gear.This will be difficult without line lock.You will have to use first gear if your using the brakes.
Also,If your tires are Brand new.I would drive arround on them for a day.You need to scuff them in.You will not get your best 60ft,s the first time out with them unless they are scuffed in.A heavy Burnout will be nescesary.
8 Pull up and watch the yellow lights.Pull up to the first yellow and stop.Now slowly move forward till second yellow comes on and stop.You are now staged and ready.
9 VERY IMPORTANT! You new Guys get this wrong all the time.Reaction time means nothing if you are just trying to get your best ET.The timer
Does not start till you move and brake the first lazer beam.You could wait for an HOUR and you would still get the corect ET.Reaction time is for racing your oponent or in a class.You do want to try and go right on the green.You will red light if before, but this does not efect your ET.I usually wait to the fourth yellow comes on then I go.
10 Street tires should let you launch between 2000and 2500.
ET Drag Radials will let you between 4500 to 5000.This will vary from car to car and track conditions.
11 If you are realy looking for best times try and go on a day that the track is treated.You will do your best on this day.
12 60 FT Numbers are your most critical Tunning info.Every tenth in the 60ft will yield 2 tenths in the Quarter.Try and get your 60ft,s down.Most are around 2.0 with stock tires.1.5,s is what we are trying to get into or past.
13. Find your max RPM HP table on a Dyno and that is were you want to shift at.Try to get your shifts down smooth.
HOPE THIS HELPS.

Nice thread! I will be studying this before I head to the track next.

Thanks :nice:

Thanks, I am hoping to head to the strip for the first time this year. In your opinion, which would be the most fun ( not necessarily the fastest ), 95 Cobra Coupe or 05 GT vert ( both stock ).

Thanks MikeM, good write up, just what i needed.

Great info, I had my first track day last week. Any additional tips for automatic launches? Usually I would rev to about 1500 rpm while holding the break and then slam it on green. I was told by one observer that my launches could have been much better....

Since this is a newbie thread, I suppose anything goes and no laughing...I've always had a question about what launching at a certain RPM exactly means. I'm talking specifically a manual with street tires.

If you recommend launching at 2500 RPM, I assume that means rev the engine to 2500 in staging and hold it steady, and then when the light turns green...

1) Dump the clutch as you put the petal to the metal

or

2) Slip the clutch a little (not a lot), and "briskly" accelerate

or

3) something in between? I guess the whole thing is about balancing maximum power with maximum traction...

When street driving I "launch" at about 1-1,500 RPM with a little slip of the clutch. With a little more gas, I can get the tires to break a little traction, but to date, I have not ever made them spin, even at higher RPM's (probably taking it in the clutch - oops. What's that smell? :lol:) . Some folks say here that they can get their tires to spin as early as 2,000 RPM. Am I missing something?

mike,

much appreciated.. this one becomes a sticky

Great info. Thanks for the write up.:nice:

You will want to feather the clutch. The 4.6L motor will bog if you don't feather the clutch coming out of the hole at that low of an RPM.

If you spin, you're giving the car too much gas too fast. If you bog, you've let the clutch out too fast or are not giving the car enough gas (usually the former though)

Friggin excellent post, just what the doctor ordered. Glad this is a sticky.

Great post. I wish that I would have seen a post like this before I started drag racing.

John better read up on this one so he can keep up with Mike this year

I am going to modify Mike's #7 regarding steet tires(stock Pirellis): Avoid the water box (ie: Drive Around)and DO NOT back into the water. Street tires do not need a burnout. Simply do a "practice" launch to get all the rocks and dirt of the tread surface. Your tires will spin a few feet. Then you are ready to stage.

Your Right.I meant to word it that way also.i will change it.

One question: You say "decent" burnout of drag radials. How many seconds are we talking about?

Also, you might want to mention something about powershifting since that is really part of a good drag. Nice write up.

I don't think powershifting is that great of an idea. Speed shifting has treated me (and my car) just fine....

Great post! Finally an FYI for us drag racing noobs.

Just wanted to add my 2 cents for the auto trans guys...

I suggest you launch using a powerbrake technique. First, I recommend that you shallow stage (just barely roll into the second beam). Once fully staged (both beams), hold the brake pedal down hard and depress the gas pedal until you feel the car "load up". That will occur just before the tires want to break loose and overcome the brake pressure. When I do it, I don't even look at the tach... it's all done by feel. You need to do it by feel, because taking your eyes off the tree to look at the tach while the lights are coming down isn't a good thing. Once you try it a few times, you'll develop a good touch for it. When you see the 3rd amber light on the tree, simultaneously hammer the throttle and release the brake pedal.

Here is a video of one of my launches. If you watch close, you can see the car actually move before the green light comes on, but because I'm shallow staged, I don't go red on it.

http://don.2005stang.com/02-03-06_Qualcomm_Video07.wmv

what's the difference?

powershifting you dont let off the gas.