How to race?

[MustangNewB]

I want to go to the track, but I dont want to make a fool of myself.
Please answer my questions...lol.

I drive a standard 1994 mustang Stock

How do you race?

How do you launch? What is launching?

How do you burn out in the beginnging before your run. ?

How do you just chirp first?

What is powershifting?


Please fill me in on those and anything else you want to help me out with!

Thanks!

[Rellik]

Here is a simple guide to answer some of your questions. if you still have any, let us know

Quote: Originally Posted by V6power articles Drag Racing by Frank Osborn In its simplest form a drag race consists of two cars racing each other from a standing start down a straight track to see which one can get to the finish line first. The racetracks that drag races are contested on are called drag strips. Drag strips can be small and simple local operations or big, fancy, and expensive facilities that rival any sporting venue anywhere in the world. However, they all contain several common areas that are essential to the proper functioning of a race. The pit area is where the racers park their race cars, trailers, and support vehicles. The staging lanes are where the cars line up to race. With the wide variety of racers the staging lanes are often designated to different classes. For example, motorcycles might stage in lane 1, dragsters may be staging in lane 2, the trailered cars may be in lanes 3 & 4, and the street cars may be in lanes 5 & 6. The water box is the area before the starting line where the cars are allowed to do a burnout to clean off their tires and heat them up. Doing this causes the tires to grip the track better, giving better traction and leading to faster times. The starting line is where the cars line up to start the race. At the starting line is a pole with a series of lights on it. This is the Christmas Tree, or the Tree. Also there are a set of sensors that allow the cars to line up in the proper place. The track itself is typically a 1/4 mile long, although some are only 1/8 mile. After the track is the shut down area, or the runoff. This is where you slow the car down so as to bring it back the the pits. The return road travels back down the track towards the pits and typically the timeslip shack is here. This is where you get your timeslip for the run you just made. The concession stands is where you can buy food and various racing-related paraphernalia. Now that you know what is at the track, let's cover what you should bring with you. Long Pants. They are a requirement for all drivers. Helmet. Normally if you run 13.99 or faster you need a Snell Approved helmet. Some tracks require all drivers to wear a helmet so check with the track first. Money. Pen or pencil. Needed for filling out tech forms, waivers, and writing info you learn while you're there. Food. If you don't care for the track food then bring you own. It can be a long day. Sunglasses. Cutting down the glare can help you see the starting lights. Tire pressure gauge. A good attitude. Arriving & Preparing to Race After you pay at the gate your first stop should be the pits. Find a place where no one has any belongings and park your car. You want to unload everything from your car that you don't need to race. So take out your spare tire, jack, boxes, trash, stereo equipment, basically anything that can be removed easily. If you are racing with your stock tires you can change the air pressure to help improve your times. Increasing the pressure in the front tires will reduce the rolling resistance on the tire which makes it easier to rotate. Reducing the pressure in the back tires will slightly increase the contact patch for better grip. This also allows the sidewall to flex more, giving better traction on the start. A good place to start on your pressure is around 40 psi on the front and around 25 psi on the back. Results will vary so experiment with these to find what's best for you. Now it's time to head to tech. Basically the officials check your car to make sure it meets the safety requirements. For our V6s the main areas will be the battery is secure, good tires, working seat belts, and no fluid leaks. You will get a car number at tech, this identifies your car so they can match up your timeslips and give you the correct one. From here it's off to the staging lanes. The tech guy will tell you which staging lanes you can pull into. Just park your car and wait for the lane to be called. When your lanes moves the first place you'll come to is the water box. The typical procedure is to drive around the water so as to not get it on the front tires and then back up. Once the tires are in the water a short spin is required to get the tire slightly wet. After that the car pulls forward to the dry pavement and does a burnout. Watch the official at the burnout area because he will signal you when to start. Normally only a short cloud of smoke is needed but making a big cloud is always fun. Radial tires do not need to be heated so you can just drive around the water box and proceed straight to the starting line. At the starting line is a set of sensors close to the ground. These are spaced 7 inches apart and are the Pre-Stage and Staged beams. The Christmas Tree, or Tree, will be in front of you and have 7 sets of lights. Starting from the top the lights are the pre-stage, stage, 1st yellow, 2nd yellow, 3rd yellow, green, and red light. When your front tire crosses the pre-stage beam the top light on the tree will come on. This means you are pre-staged and almost ready to go. You should now inch forward until you cross the 2nd beam, at which point the staged lights will come on meaning you are ready to go. When both cars are staged the tree will start. The 3 yellow lights and the green will light sequentially with a half-second delay between each light. When the 3rd yellow lights you should hit the gas and go. This accounts for the time it takes you to press the gas pedal and the car to start moving. A perfect light would mean that you started at the exact same time the green light came on. If you left the starting line before the green then the red light will come on. From here you race as fast as you can to the finish line, which is usually flanked by the scoreboards. At the end of the track is the turnoff to get on the return road. Proper procedure is the car closest to the turnoff goes first. If the cars speed are very different (a 11 second car & a 15 second car) then the first car done will turn. Keep your speed slow in the return road and stop at the shack to get your timeslip. Analyzing Your Timeslip The timeslip contains a wealth of info about your run, but making sense of it all can be a chore. At the top will be some basic info like the track name, location, date & time. Sometimes the weather data will be recorded. In general, high temperatures, high humidity, and low barometric pressure have a negative effect on your times. These will only affect your times by a few tenths in the extreme cases. The rest of the timeslip shows how your car ran. R/T: Reaction time. .500 is perfect, anything under is a red light. This is the time from the 3rd yellow lighting to your front tire crossing the stage beam. This has no effect on your 1/4 mile time. 60': The time from the start to the 60' line. This is to judge your launch and see if you had traction or spun off the line. Every tenth of a second here is .15 to .2 seconds at the end of the track. 330': This is your time at the 330' mark, or 1/4 of the 1/4 mile track. 1/8: The halfway mark. MPH: Your speed at the halfway mark. 1000': Your time at the 1000' mark. 1/4: Your total 1/4 mile time. MPH: Your speed at the end of the track. There's much more to drag racing like deep-staging, bracket racing and burnout techniques but this covers the basics. When you go do not be afraid to watch other people and ask questions. Everybody at the track was a beginner at some point.

[WhiteStang99]

nice guide

[MustangNewB]

Ok that exlains alot while at the track:

But what about:

How do you burn out in the beginnging before your run. ?

How do you just chirp first?

What is powershifting?

How do u spin the tires in the waterbox?

How do u burn out without moving forward. To burn out i would normally.
Gas to floor and pop the clutch.. but that means i move forward.. How do those guys stay in one spot?

[Rellik]

Quote: Originally Posted by MustangNewB How do you burn out in the beginnging before your run. ?

Do you have a stick or an automatic? Are you on street tires?

Stick: come to a complete stop. Apply clutch. press gas pedal to increase RPM's to about 3500. Drop clutch. Put foot on brake and keep RPM's up for about 2-5 seconds. Take foot off of brake, quickly press clutch in, and take foot off of gas.

Automatic: Apply brakes. Press down on gas pedal until your rear tires brake loose. Keep RPM's up for 2-5 seconds. take foot off gas.

Quote: Originally Posted by MustangNewB How do you just chirp first?

Now sure what you mean. Drop the clutch a little fast, or power brake. Like I said, what do you have.. stick or automatic?

Quote: Originally Posted by MustangNewB What is powershifting?

In a Manual, power shifting is the art of never taking your foot off of the gas pedal while shifting. This increases the RPM's quickly, and you must, just as quickly, put it into the next gear.

Quote: Originally Posted by MustangNewB How do u spin the tires in the waterbox?

This is answered in the first response

Quote: Originally Posted by MustangNewB How do u burn out without moving forward. To burn out i would normally. Gas to floor and pop the clutch.. but that means i move forward.. How do those guys stay in one spot?

You'll notice that they always move forward slightly. This is the time from dropping the clutch and hitting the brakes.

example http://v6stangs.com/multimedia/rellik/race6.mpeg

[02Stang]

i never had an automatic before so i dont really know but...it sounds like it's not good for the car to do a burnout on an automatic transmission. Wouldnt the car be wanting to go but the brakes are on. Does it damage the brakes at all? do you just hold the brake until the wheels spin? so easy to do

[tire]

it does wear on your brakes, but unless you race it a ton, you'll be fine. you don't want to burn out if you are on street tires, except a small 1/2 sec burn to get crap off the tires. try to avoid the water box if you can, drive around it. it's just a big puddle used for burning out on slicks. if you get any water on your tires, spin them for a second to get the water off or else you'll piss the people off behind you because they'll have to clean up after you. also, you'll launch like you're in the rain.

[Seph]

Wow excellent guide, if I ever go out to the race track I'll definitely print this thing out and study it lol

[Seph]

Quote: Originally Posted by Rellik Do you have a stick or an automatic? Are you on street tires? Stick: come to a complete stop. Apply clutch. press gas pedal to increase RPM's to about 3500. Drop clutch. Put foot on brake and keep RPM's up for about 2-5 seconds. Take foot off of brake, quickly press clutch in, and take foot off of gas. Automatic: Apply brakes. Press down on gas pedal until your rear tires brake loose. Keep RPM's up for 2-5 seconds. take foot off gas. Now sure what you mean. Drop the clutch a little fast, or power brake. Like I said, what do you have.. stick or automatic? In a Manual, power shifting is the art of never taking your foot off of the gas pedal while shifting. This increases the RPM's quickly, and you must, just as quickly, put it into the next gear. This is answered in the first response You'll notice that they always move forward slightly. This is the time from dropping the clutch and hitting the brakes. example http://v6stangs.com/multimedia/rellik/race6.mpeg

where was that video shot? Looks pretty nice

[stangracer]

to burn out in a manual without moving forward you need to do heel-toe-driving. apply clutch, keep right heel on brakes (all the way down) and apply gas slowly with right toes. release clutch slowly until tires break loose then apply gas all the way with toes while still holding brakes with your heel and release the clutch. once you release the clutch you have your left foot free and you can apply brakes with left foot and gas with right. kinda tricky and might take some practice.

[Seph]

nice

[Tbird232ci]

Quote: Originally Posted by Seph where was that video shot? Looks pretty nice

justl ook at the center divider at the track, California Raceway

[Rellik]

Quote: Originally Posted by Seph where was that video shot? Looks pretty nice

Since I didnt notice the question eons ago... I'll answer it now.

It was taken at California Dragway (California Speedway)

[Thomas91169]

thats why fwd is good sometimes. i did my first burnout at the track(sacramento raceway). i revved it to 5k, popped the clutch and pulled up on the ebrake, and just sat there for about 4 seconds, then slowly let the ebrake out to make it seem like the fronts were spinning so good they werent moving the car till the end. everyone payed attention after that, even though i only did a 15.3. but the track grips alot better than the street, if i were to go WOT in 1st id spin them all the way and spin half of second, but on the track, it only spins for a little in 1st and grips like a mofo.

[NOStang00]

Dude...nice post by Rellik......Stick er auto?....Staging is your key for dragging! Work on that first! You dnt want to burn-out before your run if your on street radials! Just pass the water-pit.....technically it's better to bog with front-wheel; however, in your case...just drive normally n a little spin won't hurt...power shifting is when you dnt let of your gas pedal.....rev out 1st gear to red-line (personally I hold it through it) dnt let off the gas....ingage the clutch quickly (this must all be done fast) n throw it in 2nd..n the best way is to slide your foot off the clutch to the left...this allows the clutch to snap back (Very Fast)..work on just bringing your leg back and trying to "snap" the clutch! Again with 2nd gear...keep it to red-line....ingage n snap that clutch...3rd gear can be hard to grab in this situation...but practice makes perfect!you shouldn't have to worrey about 5th....honestly 4th either. Only power shift 1st - 3rd.....you can normally hit 4th gear....n you will never need 5th! If you think you're ready I can teach you to power break your manual tranny...it's not easy....and you'll need both of your feet on all 3 pedals! Left foot controls the clutch like normal...now the right foot...place your heel on the break (this keeps you from going in that forward position you didn't want) n now place your toes on the gas for power! Work on it at home in the streets before trying it out on the strip....again...you dnt wanna burn-out tho unless you have DRAG RADIALS....otherwise just pass the water-box n line the hell-up! Malin726 on AIM or e-mail tempest726@yahoo.com

[Js281GT]

I am actually planning a trip on August 6th (friday) for some drag racing. It will be held @ palmdale (lacr) in California. There will be about 10-15 cars there ranging from wrx's to camaros. There is an afterparty @ one of the racers house. Send me an email if you are in the area and want to have a blast. Hopefully my pops will be there with haybusa bike! jon.straszewski@bankcardusa.com

[Js281GT]

Maybe we can all meet up somewhere and drive in together. 10-15 car train. My two buddies from maximum motorsports might want to go, but they are not really into drag racing. Watch me spank my buddies SS again

[Seph]

Wow sounds fun, the palmdale one is pretty close to me. Hell you are in Thousand Oaks that's pretty close to me as is lol

[Tbird232ci]

well, since it hasnt really been mentioned, well, it kinda has

with my 5-speed, for a burnout, i just roll through the waterbox and when the rear tires get in there, i floor it, just to burn the water off the tires, once i hit dry pavement, i let em spin a little, then get on the brakes, and work on staging

if you get street tires too hot, what happens is the oil in the rubber actually separates from the tires, and gives a slight coating on the tires and on the ground, making traction worse, and basically wasting money because you never need to do a real burnout on street tires

[Thomas91169]

Quote: Originally Posted by Tbird232ci and basically wasting money because you never need to do a real burnout on street tires

yeah but its the only place you can do one legally and get away with it.

[Tbird232ci]

you pay for it either way, on the street, you pay in tickets, at the track you pay in tires

[MonteCitan]

Quote: Originally Posted by Tbird232ci you pay for it either way, on the street, you pay in tickets, at the track you pay in tires

You don't even have to pay in tires if you use DRs or something.. they last long enough