Discussion
Tweetie said:
Hey everyone,
I was told that piston heads was a good forum to join, after joining UK Drag Racing Nostalgia Website forum, Those who go on there will know that I'm fairly new to drag racing and am looking for any useful information on the sport, ( And as Dan found out, I'm Jon bests mrs,
)
Yes I could ask Jon about the sport, but I thought It would be fun to learn about It of my own accord, get involved and see what others had to say too.
If any one has any thing that they think may be useful to me, please let me know.
I was told that piston heads was a good forum to join, after joining UK Drag Racing Nostalgia Website forum, Those who go on there will know that I'm fairly new to drag racing and am looking for any useful information on the sport, ( And as Dan found out, I'm Jon bests mrs,
) Yes I could ask Jon about the sport, but I thought It would be fun to learn about It of my own accord, get involved and see what others had to say too.
If any one has any thing that they think may be useful to me, please let me know.
Edited by tweetie on Friday 27th April 12:48
Welcome to the forum,
LOL no point asking Jon, he doesn't know anything!!!
Edited by dnac on Friday 27th April 13:15
Hello and welcome
I have my fingers crossed its warmer as well, i too was frozen at easter.
As with Shakey...Full National championship round as well as the NFAA et al Eurodragster posted the event entry list the other day...
In fact, lets start with fact number one... Your bible of drag racing: Eurodragster.com
Have fun Kirstie x
I have my fingers crossed its warmer as well, i too was frozen at easter.
As with Shakey...Full National championship round as well as the NFAA et al
Eurodragster posted the event entry list the other day... In fact, lets start with fact number one... Your bible of drag racing: Eurodragster.com
Have fun
Kirstie xYes that's right, the Main Event is at the end of May and is the second largest event (IMO) on the FIA tour. Yup it's at Santa Pod
Spencer will be running the Corrado and Rick will be in the rail. Busy busy as Spencer has double entered and he also works with the Pro Mods that meet...
Spencer will be running the Corrado and Rick will be in the rail. Busy busy as Spencer has double entered and he also works with the Pro Mods that meet...
Tweetie said:
Does sound busy for Spencer then. He's down for the Comp Eliminator and Super Pro ET then?
What Is your role at the track then? sorry for asking lots of questions but I'm not sure of who everyone Is and what everyone does yet.
What Is your role at the track then? sorry for asking lots of questions but I'm not sure of who everyone Is and what everyone does yet.
Edited by Tweetie on Friday 27th April 19:13
Crew chief for Rick Cookes Super pro ET rail
Well someone has to keep him in line... might as well be me I'm on a steep learning curve with that part! I pack the parachute, re-fuel, strap him in, decide the dial in (even if he disagrees!) tow him down to the line, run after him after the burn out and stage him after making sure the engine is fine, the laundry pin is out and his visor is down... then hey ho off i go in my lil car to collect him! I would say tea maker, but thats his minor job which he can proudly expalin all about... Adam, our other crew member, makes sure the tyre pressures are A OK
Adam, our other crew member, makes sure the tyre pressures are A OK Miss Corrado said:
I would say tea maker, but thats his minor job
I can also confirm that even all the way up to Top Fuel, it's the driver's job to make a cuppa for the crew :-)
Tweetie said:
If any one has any thing that they think may be useful to me, please let me know.
One minor bit of advice that I've been reminded of while tinkering with my car this afternoon: exhaust headers are hot when the car is running! I really should know that by now. Still, I'm sure the skin will grow back in a bit...
There's a lot to take in, but basically:
Drag racing is a simple race to the finish line. Mostly. That's true for the so called "heads up" classes. Those classes include:
- Top Fuel
- Fuel Funny Car
- Top Methanol Dragster
- Top Methanol Funny Car
- Pro Mod
- Pro Stock
- Super Modified
- Outlaw Anglia
- Street Eliminator
- NFAA
The difference between the classes comes down to rules on body shape/style, fuel type, engine type, vehicle weight, and so on.
Then there's bracket racing. In order to prevent racing from simply becoming a contest to see who has the biggest wallet (i.e., who can afford the best parts), bracket racing focuses on consistency rather than outright speed. The idea is that you have to run as close as possible to a target time, without going any quicker than that time ("breaking out" -- which loses you the race). Bracket racing is split into two -- the super classes and the ET classes. In the super classes, the target time is predetermined by the class rules. For Super Comp it's 8.90s, for Super Gas it's 9.9s, and Super Street is 10.90s. In the ET classes, the driver gets to choose their target time (their "dialin", within a permitted range on each run. In Super Pro ET, it's between 6.30s and 8.99s. In Pro ET it's 9.00s to 11.99s, and in Sportsman ET, it's anything above 12.00s[1]. The dialin can be varied depending on a number of factors, such as the weather conditions, the state of the track, the way they car's running, etc. In the super classes, the use of a throttle stop is common. That's a device that partially closes the throttle for a predetermined length of time during the run in order to slow the car down to hit the class index time. In the ET classes, electronics (like throttle stops and delay boxes) are banned.
I started out in Pro ET, then added Super Gas, and this year have moved up to Super Pro ET and Super Comp.
[1] I vaguely recall there being an upper limit of I think 29.99s. Didn't Spencer try and run that a few years ago?
Drag racing is a simple race to the finish line. Mostly. That's true for the so called "heads up" classes. Those classes include:
- Top Fuel
- Fuel Funny Car
- Top Methanol Dragster
- Top Methanol Funny Car
- Pro Mod
- Pro Stock
- Super Modified
- Outlaw Anglia
- Street Eliminator
- NFAA
The difference between the classes comes down to rules on body shape/style, fuel type, engine type, vehicle weight, and so on.
Then there's bracket racing. In order to prevent racing from simply becoming a contest to see who has the biggest wallet (i.e., who can afford the best parts), bracket racing focuses on consistency rather than outright speed. The idea is that you have to run as close as possible to a target time, without going any quicker than that time ("breaking out" -- which loses you the race). Bracket racing is split into two -- the super classes and the ET classes. In the super classes, the target time is predetermined by the class rules. For Super Comp it's 8.90s, for Super Gas it's 9.9s, and Super Street is 10.90s. In the ET classes, the driver gets to choose their target time (their "dialin"
, within a permitted range on each run. In Super Pro ET, it's between 6.30s and 8.99s. In Pro ET it's 9.00s to 11.99s, and in Sportsman ET, it's anything above 12.00s[1]. The dialin can be varied depending on a number of factors, such as the weather conditions, the state of the track, the way they car's running, etc. In the super classes, the use of a throttle stop is common. That's a device that partially closes the throttle for a predetermined length of time during the run in order to slow the car down to hit the class index time. In the ET classes, electronics (like throttle stops and delay boxes) are banned. I started out in Pro ET, then added Super Gas, and this year have moved up to Super Pro ET and Super Comp.
[1] I vaguely recall there being an upper limit of I think 29.99s. Didn't Spencer try and run that a few years ago?
Hi tweety & guests !
There is another class that does not run "heads-up", called Competition Eliminator.
In this class, it is a mix of cars with body & doors (Doorslammers),
cars with flip-up one-piece body (Funny Cars),
and the altereds & dragsters without much bodywork.
In this class, every car has its own "Index", the time it is supposed to run,
wich is based upon long-term experience in various countries.
This "Index" is figured out calculating the size of engine,
what type of fuel or booster the engine is fed with,
and the weight of the car.
You could have a 2 litre engine running on gasoline and turbo,
or a 8 litre big block using methanol and blower.
Of course, the time predicted for the smaller engine would be slower.
In qualifying, these cars are allowed to run UNDER their predicted index time,
the more they run under that "Index Time", the better the qualifying place.
In racing, the difference between the "Index Time" is visible on the lights.
For example, the 2 litre car would get an advantage (earlier start) on the 8 litre car.
When the light for the bigger engined car gets green,
the driver tries to chase down the smaller engine, which is difficult, but not impossible.
This seems to be complicated, but is a way of keeping a great variety of cars
and engines in a fair competition, and allowing them to run as fast as they can.
This is a class that is not run by many racers in the UK.
Cheers,
Benni
P.S.:
What about John Tebenham (the 2 litre example),
is he still rebuilding after the crash at Hockenheim ?
There is another class that does not run "heads-up", called Competition Eliminator.
In this class, it is a mix of cars with body & doors (Doorslammers),
cars with flip-up one-piece body (Funny Cars),
and the altereds & dragsters without much bodywork.
In this class, every car has its own "Index", the time it is supposed to run,
wich is based upon long-term experience in various countries.
This "Index" is figured out calculating the size of engine,
what type of fuel or booster the engine is fed with,
and the weight of the car.
You could have a 2 litre engine running on gasoline and turbo,
or a 8 litre big block using methanol and blower.
Of course, the time predicted for the smaller engine would be slower.
In qualifying, these cars are allowed to run UNDER their predicted index time,
the more they run under that "Index Time", the better the qualifying place.
In racing, the difference between the "Index Time" is visible on the lights.
For example, the 2 litre car would get an advantage (earlier start) on the 8 litre car.
When the light for the bigger engined car gets green,
the driver tries to chase down the smaller engine, which is difficult, but not impossible.
This seems to be complicated, but is a way of keeping a great variety of cars
and engines in a fair competition, and allowing them to run as fast as they can.
This is a class that is not run by many racers in the UK.
Cheers,
Benni
P.S.:
What about John Tebenham (the 2 litre example),
is he still rebuilding after the crash at Hockenheim ?
Benni said:
In qualifying, these cars are allowed to run UNDER their predicted index time,
the more they run under that "Index Time", the better the qualifying place.
In racing, the difference between the "Index Time" is visible on the lights.
And in eliminations if you run under the index (unlike other index based classes) you do not get eliminated. However, if you go more than 0.5seconds under Competition Index Control (C.I.C.) comes in, and for the next round your index is adjusted by the amount you exceed 0.5 seconds by. If you are more than 0.61 seconds quicker than your index, the entire subclass (such as B/NA) is adjusted permanently.
However, this is hugely complicated and only really worth understanding if you race the class competitively or officiate over it. If you are just spectating, then enjoy the fast, varied and professional racing. Comp Eliminator is a fantastic class to watch and I am glad to see it picking up slowly over here. If you ever get a chance to go to Mantorp Park in Sweden you will see a huge field of unique cars for this class.
The class we run in is Super Modified, which is a heads-up, no break out class specifically for doorslammers. It was designed to bridge the gap between the Sportsman classes and the Pro ranks.
We run on a weight-per-cubic inch rule, which (in theory) equalises the power-to-weight ratios of all the cars to keep it equal. For example, we run a Big Block Chevrolet that's 509ci, and because we use nitrous-oxide we have to weigh 5.3lbs for every cubic inch. So the minimum weight we can run at is 509 x 5.3 = 2697lbs. Then we have to add 100lbs because we run a Lenco, which gives 2797lbs. It's a pretty simple formula and a very effective way of gaining parity within the class. For Small Block Chevy's there is a different formula to allow them to run lighter, and they are also allowed slightly more liberal rules regarding nitrous.
The only other major rules are based around the usage of nitrous oxide. Any Big Block Chevrolet engine with nitrous can only utilise a 5lb bottle, a single stage (Small Blocks can run multiple stages), "Cheater" solenoids (no bigger than a .090" orrifice) and a camshaft with no greater than .600" intake valve lift (pretty tame!). This not only keeps the class just on the right side of requiring an 25.1D/E chassis but also keeps it affordable. No matter how much money you have, the rules make it very restrictive, so greater emphasis is placed on brain power and car tuning, rather than how fat your cheque book is!
Super Mod gets a lot of negative press from those outside of the class, which basically stems from ignorance and those who don't understand it. It does make me chuckle when I hear people talk of "Rob Loaring has to strip your engine down after every meeting" and "it costs 40k for a motor". You have to have your engine teched at the start of the year by Mark Norton or Geoff Martin (they travel to your engine builder), after which the heads are sealed with a Nascar tag. If the seal gets broken, you get teched again....simple. As for cost, no form of racing is cheap or ever will be, but it costs no more to put a Super Mod legal engine together than it does to build a generic Super Class 555ci lump. Look at Paul Mander for example, he's using a small block Mopar, a nice set of aluminium heads, single dominator and a good squirt of laughing gas and he's just ran a 7.97 @ 175mph. And that's with a 'glide.
The key to success in Super Modified isn't how much money you've got in your equipment, it's how you exercise the grey matter upstairs that counts. We've ran a 7.630 @ 180.60 with our 2820lb stock bodied Camaro, not because we're loaded, but because we've put the time and effort in to developing a combination and refined it to suit, and we'll keep on refining it as the year progresses with no doubt in our minds that we'll be into the 7.50's soon. It's a thinking person's class and a perfect place for a real tuner to shine.
We run on a weight-per-cubic inch rule, which (in theory) equalises the power-to-weight ratios of all the cars to keep it equal. For example, we run a Big Block Chevrolet that's 509ci, and because we use nitrous-oxide we have to weigh 5.3lbs for every cubic inch. So the minimum weight we can run at is 509 x 5.3 = 2697lbs. Then we have to add 100lbs because we run a Lenco, which gives 2797lbs. It's a pretty simple formula and a very effective way of gaining parity within the class. For Small Block Chevy's there is a different formula to allow them to run lighter, and they are also allowed slightly more liberal rules regarding nitrous.
The only other major rules are based around the usage of nitrous oxide. Any Big Block Chevrolet engine with nitrous can only utilise a 5lb bottle, a single stage (Small Blocks can run multiple stages), "Cheater" solenoids (no bigger than a .090" orrifice) and a camshaft with no greater than .600" intake valve lift (pretty tame!). This not only keeps the class just on the right side of requiring an 25.1D/E chassis but also keeps it affordable. No matter how much money you have, the rules make it very restrictive, so greater emphasis is placed on brain power and car tuning, rather than how fat your cheque book is!
Super Mod gets a lot of negative press from those outside of the class, which basically stems from ignorance and those who don't understand it. It does make me chuckle when I hear people talk of "Rob Loaring has to strip your engine down after every meeting" and "it costs 40k for a motor". You have to have your engine teched at the start of the year by Mark Norton or Geoff Martin (they travel to your engine builder), after which the heads are sealed with a Nascar tag. If the seal gets broken, you get teched again....simple. As for cost, no form of racing is cheap or ever will be, but it costs no more to put a Super Mod legal engine together than it does to build a generic Super Class 555ci lump. Look at Paul Mander for example, he's using a small block Mopar, a nice set of aluminium heads, single dominator and a good squirt of laughing gas and he's just ran a 7.97 @ 175mph. And that's with a 'glide.
The key to success in Super Modified isn't how much money you've got in your equipment, it's how you exercise the grey matter upstairs that counts. We've ran a 7.630 @ 180.60 with our 2820lb stock bodied Camaro, not because we're loaded, but because we've put the time and effort in to developing a combination and refined it to suit, and we'll keep on refining it as the year progresses with no doubt in our minds that we'll be into the 7.50's soon. It's a thinking person's class and a perfect place for a real tuner to shine.
Edited by Rat_Fink_67 on Wednesday 2nd May 07:02
Tweetie said:
I have a 4 year old Son (Making me feel old), What age do you think children should be allowed at a drag race event? What with all the noise etc...
If you have ear protection from them and don't think they'll be panicked by the noise and business of the place you should be OK. If you lose them they'll be at the VIP suite having the time of their lives with security :-)
Tweetie said:
Time Machine said:
If you have ear protection from them and don't think they'll be panicked by the noise and business of the place you should be OK. If you lose them they'll be at the VIP suite having the time of their lives with security :-)
Thanks for the advice, I'm not sure when we will be introducing him to a drag strip, sometimes he is ok with noise, where as other times he doesn't like the washing machine!....
I took my now 6, then 5 year old to the fireworks at SPR last November. He got on fine with the noise, but the problem was attention span. He was getting a bit cold and bored after five hours (Lazy Town and the Tweenies are 20 mins long for a reason). Certainly if I was to take him to a full day at an FIA event, I think he would be very miserable by lunchtime. My plan is to introduce him full time around 11 years old. That was when I first got hooked.
I wrote this to post on another forum I frequent,
The drag racing post!
Hmmm, how do I start this, you already probably know the facts that regularly get posted about Top Fuel cars, the 120 Gallon a minute fuel pumps, the 5 G’s on launch, the 0-100 in 0.9 seconds etc etc, but what about the world of drag racing in the lower ranks?
In European drag racing there are quite a few classes (for both car and bike), these are split into two main types, Bracket Racing (in which racers predict how fast they are going to run the ¼ mile and must run as close to this as they can, without going faster) or Heads Up racing (a balls out dash for the finish line). Within Bracket Racing there are free index classes and fixed index classes (free where you select your own “Dial In” and Fixed where all racers aim for the same ET (elapsed time))
- Sportsman ET : Entry level Car Bracket Racing with a free index (no quicker than 12.00 seconds) Most street cars can race in this bracket with little or no modifications, typically rear-wheel drive cars with automatic gearboxes are the favourite, but it has been known for the championships to be won with FWD and Manual (in fact this was done by our driver!)
- Pro ET : Car Bracket Racing with a free index (11.99 – 9.00), here we move into some more serious drag racing machinery, typically none of these cars are street legal, almost all (if not all) are RWD (This is the class we race in, and it’s a bloody hard class! At one event this year none of the 32 qualifiers were more than 0.03 away from their dial in”
- Super Pro ET : Car Bracket Racing with a free index (8.99 and quicker) again, very few of these cars are street legal, typically these are supercharged, exotic fuel burning monsters.
- Super Street : Car Bracket Racing with a fixed index (10.99) All cars racing to the same index. In this class, unlike the free index classes, throttle stops and delay boxes are allowed. These are devices that are pre-programmed and alter the cars performance during the run, the delay box will delay the cars reaction on the start line (allowing the driver to race off the “Top Bulb”, a throttle stop controls the amount of throttle opening available to the driver, again, this is something that is pre-determined on a timer system, the timer engaging once the car leaves the line.
- Super Gas : Car Bracket Racing with a fixed index (9.90) The same as Super Street, only quicker!
- Super Comp : as with Super Gas, but with an 8.90 Index
Other than Competition Eliminator ( a fiendishly complicated bracket class) that’s about it for bracket racers, other than Junior Dragster of course. Now we move onto the “Heads-Up” Classes.
- Street Eliminator : A very interesting class, heads up drag racing with street legal cars. All cars must carry a valid tax disk, MOT and insurance, at each drag racing event, they are required to go on a 20-30 mile cruise, take on pump fuel and carry out several hot starts to prove their street legality. The current fastest car in the UK is Red Victor 2 (owned by Andy Frost) which recently featured on 5th Gear. This street legal Vauxhall Victor has run a 7.8 second ¼ mile!
- Pro Stock : Petrol-burning doorslammers with very tight sets of rules governing appearance and specifications. Cars closely resemble production models, but are capable of hitting 6-second passes on the track! Incredible engineering and amazing racing.
- Pro Modified - 200mph petrol (or methanol)- burning 'fastest cars with doors!" showing the first signs of similarity to a street car using bodies from a Ford Probe or a Vauxhall Calibra for example. The rules also allow pick-up bodies.
And then you’re into the bigger, quicker, more expensive stuff like Top Methanol Dragster/Funnycar and Top Fuel Dragster/Funnycar…
So … what happens on the drag strip? I’m sure you’ve all seen a drag race at one time or another, but have you had a chance to have a proper look at the Christmas tree whilst you were trying to concentrate on the 7000Hp monsters sat either side of it? Did the jerk towards the start line make sense? Here we go….
With the engine fired up and checked over the first thing to do is make sure that the tyres are clean and up to temperature, so you do a burnout.. Easy to do in some cars, not so easy in others.
For bodied cars, it’s quite an easy job, they run front brakes and are able to use line lock to lock the front brakes on enabling them to burnout on the spot (and look pretty impressive too!).. Dragster style cars take a little bit more practice, without front brakes they can’t be held on the spot so it’s a case of foot on the brake to hold the car, bring the revs up then roll off the brakes and on with the throttle, get the rears spinning and dial in any corrective lock.
After doing that, the team will check over the car to make sure all is OK, then prime the chute (one of my jobs), this simply involves pulling out a pin (good practice at this point is to show it to the driver so that he/she knows they are good to go)..
And on to the start line we go..
Pre-Stage, if you’ve watched the US drag racing on five US you’ll have heard this phrase, pre-stage is a line about 6-8 inches away from the start line, photoelectric cells sense when the car has moved into this and illuminate the top of the two sets of stage bulbs.
Roll forwards a little and into stage, when both cars are here the chief starter will click the button to run the tree. Which class you race in affects how the tree reacts.
Sportsman classes run with a sportsman tree, this sequentially lights three amber lights then a green light at 0.4 second intervals. Bracket racers with free index will have a staggered start based on the difference in time between the two dial ins, for example an 11 second racer will leave the line 1 second before a 10 second racer, if they both got it right and pulled the same reaction times they will arrive at the finish line at the same time!
Pro classes run with the Pro Tree, all ambers light together the green illuminates 0.4 seconds later, again, if you see the green, you’ve gone too late!
Bang, you’ve nailed the throttle and off you go, shift light blinks and you change gear (this happens either once, or a number of times dependant on the configuration of the car. We run with a two speed box, so this only happens once), check the gauges to make sure everything is where it should be and if you’re chasing down your opponent, keep an eye on him!
Through the top end, hit the chutes or squeeze on the brakes, dependent on how fast you went through, and look for the win light!
Drive/Tow back to the pits and have a look at the timing ticket, then prepare to do it all over again!
I realise now that this is quite a lengthy read, but hopefully it’s given you an insight into what drag racing is all about, what variety there is (just in the car based classes), and has maybe got your interest up a little (maybe even enough to come to the track next year)..
Some videos for you…
Slow Mo Drag Racing
1000 fps NHRA footage, it’s impressive..
On Board footage from our dragster at Shakespear County Raceway
Andy Frost’s Red Victor running a 7.8
Awesome compilation video, crashes, pedal fests you name it
Right.. I’m going to stop typing now…
The drag racing post!
Hmmm, how do I start this, you already probably know the facts that regularly get posted about Top Fuel cars, the 120 Gallon a minute fuel pumps, the 5 G’s on launch, the 0-100 in 0.9 seconds etc etc, but what about the world of drag racing in the lower ranks?
In European drag racing there are quite a few classes (for both car and bike), these are split into two main types, Bracket Racing (in which racers predict how fast they are going to run the ¼ mile and must run as close to this as they can, without going faster) or Heads Up racing (a balls out dash for the finish line). Within Bracket Racing there are free index classes and fixed index classes (free where you select your own “Dial In” and Fixed where all racers aim for the same ET (elapsed time))
- Sportsman ET : Entry level Car Bracket Racing with a free index (no quicker than 12.00 seconds) Most street cars can race in this bracket with little or no modifications, typically rear-wheel drive cars with automatic gearboxes are the favourite, but it has been known for the championships to be won with FWD and Manual (in fact this was done by our driver!)
- Pro ET : Car Bracket Racing with a free index (11.99 – 9.00), here we move into some more serious drag racing machinery, typically none of these cars are street legal, almost all (if not all) are RWD (This is the class we race in, and it’s a bloody hard class! At one event this year none of the 32 qualifiers were more than 0.03 away from their dial in”
- Super Pro ET : Car Bracket Racing with a free index (8.99 and quicker) again, very few of these cars are street legal, typically these are supercharged, exotic fuel burning monsters.
- Super Street : Car Bracket Racing with a fixed index (10.99) All cars racing to the same index. In this class, unlike the free index classes, throttle stops and delay boxes are allowed. These are devices that are pre-programmed and alter the cars performance during the run, the delay box will delay the cars reaction on the start line (allowing the driver to race off the “Top Bulb”
, a throttle stop controls the amount of throttle opening available to the driver, again, this is something that is pre-determined on a timer system, the timer engaging once the car leaves the line. - Super Gas : Car Bracket Racing with a fixed index (9.90) The same as Super Street, only quicker!
- Super Comp : as with Super Gas, but with an 8.90 Index
Other than Competition Eliminator ( a fiendishly complicated bracket class) that’s about it for bracket racers, other than Junior Dragster of course. Now we move onto the “Heads-Up” Classes.
- Street Eliminator : A very interesting class, heads up drag racing with street legal cars. All cars must carry a valid tax disk, MOT and insurance, at each drag racing event, they are required to go on a 20-30 mile cruise, take on pump fuel and carry out several hot starts to prove their street legality. The current fastest car in the UK is Red Victor 2 (owned by Andy Frost) which recently featured on 5th Gear. This street legal Vauxhall Victor has run a 7.8 second ¼ mile!
- Pro Stock : Petrol-burning doorslammers with very tight sets of rules governing appearance and specifications. Cars closely resemble production models, but are capable of hitting 6-second passes on the track! Incredible engineering and amazing racing.
- Pro Modified - 200mph petrol (or methanol)- burning 'fastest cars with doors!" showing the first signs of similarity to a street car using bodies from a Ford Probe or a Vauxhall Calibra for example. The rules also allow pick-up bodies.
And then you’re into the bigger, quicker, more expensive stuff like Top Methanol Dragster/Funnycar and Top Fuel Dragster/Funnycar…
So … what happens on the drag strip? I’m sure you’ve all seen a drag race at one time or another, but have you had a chance to have a proper look at the Christmas tree whilst you were trying to concentrate on the 7000Hp monsters sat either side of it? Did the jerk towards the start line make sense? Here we go….
With the engine fired up and checked over the first thing to do is make sure that the tyres are clean and up to temperature, so you do a burnout.. Easy to do in some cars, not so easy in others.
For bodied cars, it’s quite an easy job, they run front brakes and are able to use line lock to lock the front brakes on enabling them to burnout on the spot (and look pretty impressive too!).. Dragster style cars take a little bit more practice, without front brakes they can’t be held on the spot so it’s a case of foot on the brake to hold the car, bring the revs up then roll off the brakes and on with the throttle, get the rears spinning and dial in any corrective lock.
After doing that, the team will check over the car to make sure all is OK, then prime the chute (one of my jobs), this simply involves pulling out a pin (good practice at this point is to show it to the driver so that he/she knows they are good to go)..
And on to the start line we go..
Pre-Stage, if you’ve watched the US drag racing on five US you’ll have heard this phrase, pre-stage is a line about 6-8 inches away from the start line, photoelectric cells sense when the car has moved into this and illuminate the top of the two sets of stage bulbs.
Roll forwards a little and into stage, when both cars are here the chief starter will click the button to run the tree. Which class you race in affects how the tree reacts.
Sportsman classes run with a sportsman tree, this sequentially lights three amber lights then a green light at 0.4 second intervals. Bracket racers with free index will have a staggered start based on the difference in time between the two dial ins, for example an 11 second racer will leave the line 1 second before a 10 second racer, if they both got it right and pulled the same reaction times they will arrive at the finish line at the same time!
Pro classes run with the Pro Tree, all ambers light together the green illuminates 0.4 seconds later, again, if you see the green, you’ve gone too late!
Bang, you’ve nailed the throttle and off you go, shift light blinks and you change gear (this happens either once, or a number of times dependant on the configuration of the car. We run with a two speed box, so this only happens once), check the gauges to make sure everything is where it should be and if you’re chasing down your opponent, keep an eye on him!
Through the top end, hit the chutes or squeeze on the brakes, dependent on how fast you went through, and look for the win light!
Drive/Tow back to the pits and have a look at the timing ticket, then prepare to do it all over again!
I realise now that this is quite a lengthy read, but hopefully it’s given you an insight into what drag racing is all about, what variety there is (just in the car based classes), and has maybe got your interest up a little (maybe even enough to come to the track next year)..
Some videos for you…
Slow Mo Drag Racing
1000 fps NHRA footage, it’s impressive..
On Board footage from our dragster at Shakespear County Raceway
Andy Frost’s Red Victor running a 7.8
Awesome compilation video, crashes, pedal fests you name it
Right.. I’m going to stop typing now…
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