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| Bracket
Racing 101 |
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|
It's
All In The Timing, Pt. 1 |
| This
is a reprint of my Bracket Racing 101 column
from Drag Racer Magazine. It's always a good
time for a refresher course on how our timing system works...
|
 Everything
we do on the dragstrip relates to time. We put a time on
our windows, we try to leave on time, and we’ll hit
the brakes at the stripe to kill some time. Yet with all
of the importance of time to what we do, there are racers
who don’t fully understand the timing system of the
dragstrip.
In my
travels racing at Northeast dragstrips I’ve gotten
to know Al and Sue Smyth
of Portatree Systems (www.PortaTree.com).
The Smyth family is extremely active in our sport. Al races
a stick SS/AH 1968 Barracuda, son Stephen races a 2009 A/SA
Hemi Challenger, and daughter Allison races a C/SA 1997
Firebird. Practice trees, full competitive drag racing timing
systems, and simulators are all part of the products that
Portatree manufactures. As someone who founded and runs
a company that makes...
Continued
here... |
It's
All In The Timing, Pt. 2 |
| This
is a reprint of my Bracket Racing 101 column
from Drag Racer Magazine. It's always a good
time for a refresher course on how our timing system works...
|
In
"It's All In The Timing, Pt. 1", Al Smyth
from Portatree Systems (www.PortaTree.com)
helped us dissect the beginning portion of the dragstrip,
specifically the timing system at the starting line. Now
that we’ve hit the gas and are off and running, let’s
take a look at the various increments we’ll encounter
along the way.
The
typical 1/4 mile dragstrip is wired with timing sensors
at 60 ft., 330 ft., 660 ft., 1,000 ft., and 1,320 ft. In
addition to these timing sensors, there are speed clocks
at 660 ft. and 1,320 ft. Each of these increments are useful
to us bracket racers when trying to tune a vehicle or figure
out what the vehicle would have actually run if we hadn’t
lifted before the stripe...
Continued
here... |
|
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| Keep
Your Pace To Win The Race |
| This
is a reprint of my Bracket Racing 101 column
from Drag Racer Magazine. Now that we're
into a new season it seemed like a good time to run it here...
|
One
day last season I was having a conversation at Englishtown
with a fellow bracket racer. The racer had just lost an
early round, and I asked how the round went down. “My
opponent double-bulbed me, so I rushed to get in. I went
red.”
Each
racer has their own routine and pacing when at the track.
Whether you like to get to the track early and unload with
time to spare, or arrive as cars are being called into the
lanes, whether you go up to the lanes at the first call
or you wait until the last, we all race within our own comfort
zones. However...
Continued
here... |
| Don't
Be Afraid Of The Deep |
| This
is a reprint of my Bracket Racing 101 column
from Drag Racer Magazine. If you're struggling
to cut good lights then deep-staging should be considered. |
| In
my columns Take Action For Reaction and Take Action For Reaction
Part II, I discussed the two major components that comprise
reaction time - the driver’s reaction to the tree and
the vehicle’s reaction to the driver. The latter is
somewhat easily adjusted: if the vehicle is leaving too quickly
or too slowly the driver can leave at a different RPM, change
the pressure of the slicks, or change the travel of the front
suspension. But in the case of the driver’s reaction
time, what can be done if he or she is just inherently slow?
Remember, both components of reaction time must equal .500
in order to equal a .000 light (assuming a 5-tenths tree).
Article
continues HERE... |
|
|
| Looking
Back To The Future |
| This
is a reprint of my Bracket Racing 101 column
from Drag Racer Magazine. Being that it's
currently mid-winter and the topic of the column was off-season
research, it seemed like a good time to run it here... |
Shortly
before writing this column I was on location at the NHRA
Division 1 Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series at Old Bridge Township
Raceway Park in Englishtown, NJ. One of the announcers was
Lewis Bloom, with whom you may be familiar from the NHRA
broadcasts on TV. I told Lewis how much I enjoyed his insightful
analysis and statistics, and it got me to thinking about
how I’ve used similar historical analysis in my own
racing. This is a great time to have this discussion, now
that the past season is behind us and we’ve started
planning for the new one.
Article
continues HERE... |
| Racing
Into Fall |
| This
is a reprint of my Bracket Racing 101 column
from Drag Racer Magazine. Even though a lot
of this info is simple common sense, perhaps some of you never
thought of it. Now that we're into the autumn months it seemed
like a good time to run it here... |
| Bracket
racing constantly changes from season to season. Cars and
drivers perform differently in summer and fall. Now that we’re
getting into the Autumn months, let’s take a look at
some of the ways to adjust for racing in the fall.
Continued
here... |
|
|
|
| Take
Action For Reaction, Pt. 2 |
Take
Action For Reaction, Pt. I |
Just
The Basics |
| This
is a reprint of my Bracket Racing 101 column
from Drag Racer Magazine. We're all working
on cutting good lights, it seemed like a good time to run
it here... |
This
is a reprint of my Bracket Racing 101 column
from Drag Racer Magazine. We're all working
on cutting good lights, it seemed like a good time to run
it here... |
This
is a reprint of my Bracket Racing 101 column
from Drag Racer Magazine. Being that it's
currently mid-winter and the topic of the column was basic
off-season maintenance, it seemed like a good time to run
it here... |
| In
my last column, where I discussed how reaction time is comprised
of driver reaction time and vehicle reaction time, I took
a closer look at the former. I also described how you, by
using a practice tree, could determine your own driver reaction
time. In this column I’ll take a closer look at vehicle
reaction time. Although this can be applied to any drag racing
application, it’s most relevant to Pro tree or bottom-bulb
Sportsman tree racing where the vehicle does not use a delay
box. Article
continues HERE... |
In
my last column, I discussed the importance of periodically
inspecting various components on your racecar such as suspension.
In addition to the safety aspect, I mentioned the fact that
loose suspension components can rob your car of reaction time.
Now that Spring is approaching and a new racing season is
upon us, I thought it might be timely to delve deeper into
reaction time. Having a better understanding will be helpful
as racing gets under way. Article
continues HERE... |
As
you’re reading this it’s the winter leading up
to another racing season. This is
when some basic
maintenance can
pay big dividends
to your bracket
program. In my
last column, one of the main points I discussed was the importance
of consistency and parts longevity as being part of a successful
bracket car: consistency because it goes hand-in-hand with
predictability, a primary factor in winning races, and longevity
because broken race cars are not typically effective tools
for going rounds. Article
continues HERE... |
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