Rubbing Tyres - why!

[cerbagriff]

Sorry if this is a repost -but what's going on with the TF crew guys rubbing the tyres at the start line after a burnout and pre the run? Are they simply removing rubbber particles and bits or are they applying a 'solution' of some description to enhance the tyres.

[Furyous]

Just trying to remove all the marbles and crud that got picked up on the reverse back basically.


In the good old days, you would see the crew pour grip juice in front of the tyres and the car would then chirp though it.

Edited by Furyous on Saturday 18th August 23:12

[kestral]

Is grip juice not allowed now then?

[Furyous]

kestral said:

Is grip juice not allowed now then?

I think its more a case of better tyres and better track conditions .

Shame really, watching two fuel coupes chirping up to the line was always a buzz.

[anonymous-user]

As mentioned above, it's to get rid of rubber crumbs etc that will stick to the tyres, following the burnout. However, with the B&J car we did tend to find fag butts stuck to the tyres when reversing back as well on occasion!

[Eurodragster.com]

kestral said:

Is grip juice not allowed now then?

The grip juice goes on the track now, not on the tyres, as part of track preparation.

[kestral]

I remember the grip juice era, almost everyone was using it bikes and cars.I still don't know to this day if it made any differance.

[v8 jago]

Eurodragster.com said:

kestral said:

Is grip juice not allowed now then?

The grip juice goes on the track now, not on the tyres, as part of track preparation.

What does the pod use diffrent to york raceway to get the grip down south compaired to up north ?? They do put glue down from a pump action squirter like what you use to put stain on your garden fence.

[redvictor]

v8 jago said:

Eurodragster.com said:

kestral said:

Is grip juice not allowed now then?

The grip juice goes on the track now, not on the tyres, as part of track preparation.

What does the pod use diffrent to york raceway to get the grip down south compaired to up north ?? They do put glue down from a pump action squirter like what you use to put stain on your garden fence.

everything is different.The track,the prep,the team that work there...Santa Pod is a pro track that runs pro meetings.York is not a very good track surface run on a tiny budget.No offence to York raceway intended,it's just how it is...

[v8 jago]

redvictor said:

v8 jago said:

Eurodragster.com said:

kestral said:

Is grip juice not allowed now then?

The grip juice goes on the track now, not on the tyres, as part of track preparation.

What does the pod use diffrent to york raceway to get the grip down south compaired to up north ?? They do put glue down from a pump action squirter like what you use to put stain on your garden fence.

everything is different.The track,the prep,the team that work there...Santa Pod is a pro track that runs pro meetings.York is not a very good track surface run on a tiny budget.No offence to York raceway intended,it's just how it is...

Will it be to do with the amount of powerful cars at hte pod putting much more rubber down on the track and for futher whilst doing rolling burnouts !!

[Miss Corrado]

R.E Grip juice

Does anyone remember how long it took for the cars to complete their startline procedure? I was watching a Drag racing Video with Tog and we had three cups of tea and two rounds of biscuits by the time they were in pre stage.

Plus... didn't it get absolutely everywhere - for instance on people's clothes/skin/hair etc? My memory stinks.

[MotorPsycho]

also dry hops/chirps put un-necessary strain on pretty much everything through the motor and drivetrain, short sharp bursts whack the crank, put alot of heat in the clutch etc

[CRR]

Miss Corrado said:

R.E Grip juice


Plus... didn't it get absolutely everywhere - for instance on people's clothes/skin/hair etc?

When I first joined the firecrew back in 1972, they had just started doing bleach burnouts. We didn't have a proper firetruck and we sometimes used my car with a couple of fire marshals and several fire extinguishers inside. The car was parked near where the ambulance parks today.

Back then, the startline was about 10 metres nearer the barn and the cars used to swing around from the fireup road and were pushed back to just in front of the barn. Bleach was then poured in front of the slicks and they burnt out just a few feet in front of the spectators. Great gobs of this black bleach could be seen flying through the air, all over the spectators and all over my car! At the end of the meeting, all the bleach on my car had solidified, it was rock hard! The only way to remove it without damaging my paintwork was to scrape it off with my fingernails and then use T-Cut.

[moparmick]

The stuff they spray on the track has a very sweet smell.

[Slinky]

moparmick said:

The stuff they spray on the track has a very sweet smell.

I love the smell of track bite in the mornings... Reminds me of when I was in naam...

[Eurodragster.com]

Slinky said:

I love the smell of track bite in the mornings... Reminds me of when I was in naam...

Cheltenham?

[Slinky]

Eurodragster.com said:

Slinky said:

I love the smell of track bite in the mornings... Reminds me of when I was in naam...

Cheltenham?

You got me..

[Tet]

Hmmm... that was going to be my comment. When visiting friends in Cheltenham, our group always describe it as "going to 'naam". Strange little world, isn't it...

[Nitrohaulic]

I've read that in the 70s over here in the U.S. so many teams came up with their own traction formulas that the burnout area would become a (dangerous?) mixture of various chemicals, so who knew what you had when it was all mixed together.

As far as rubbing tires, I've crewed on bracket cars and been very surprised at the pebbles and sometimes large rocks that I've picked up in their tire paths after burnouts.

[LWG]

To reply to slinky and this humourous thread by others....
The intro music for the NFAA (Wagner) was used from Apocolypse Now re the ill-fated attempt to tame 'Naam' -
Also, maybe I should re-name my car as 'Chaos Theory', on the basis that having quite a lot of spares, the only thing we didn't have was a spare pair of AJPE billet heads. Still, for a first full pass, a 6.7/218, will do for now... great driving job by John Wright and all the work by the Crew...