Drag strip preparations

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Hey, could all of you experienced drag racers hook it up with techniques for drag or preparations for you car (tire pressure, spring rate, minor wieght reduction, staging, launching, etc.) some of us just drive our cars straight out there from everyday driving, and i dont think that thats the proper technique. so hook it up experienced people!!!

Mod, could you make this a sticky for this forum...only if it gets proper responses
 

Declectic

SeanJohn1802
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justin, i was going to tell you about lowering your tirePSI, but sense you dont launch at anything about 2.5 rpm (w/out doing a neutral drop) i was going to tell you to lower them, but i decided to wait till you did your manual conversion

i lower mine to about 18psi when i go ....
 


nightkids1

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well, i change my oil, and do minor things. i need some 15's so i can get a faster time, 17's aint helping.
 

CiviKid

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what rpm should I launch from? I have a 93 LX redlines at 6500
 


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oh daniel...you know what else i realized yesterday, i had a full tank of gas. how much does that actually slow me down? last time i went i had 1/3 tank
 

Je

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Originally posted by "Rice4Brains"

oh daniel...you know what else i realized yesterday, i had a full tank of gas. how much does that actually slow me down? last time i went i had 1/3 tank
would that really make a difference
 

Team 4R

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Originally posted by "CiviKid"

what rpm should I launch from?
isn't it annoying when people ask a question and just assume everybody has all the required information.......? we need to know your car, motor, and setup first................

and, yes, gas is heavy. you'll find yourself running a lot quicker with less gas.
 

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SeanJohn1802
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yeah, try not to load up on gas yo... half tank okay... or 1/4 tank ...... thats weight modification foo!!! ask andy, he's the weight reduction QUEEN!!!
 

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Originally posted by "SeanJohn1802"

yeah, try not to load up on gas yo... half tank okay... or 1/4 tank ...... thats weight modification foo!!! ask andy, he's the weight reduction QUEEN!!!
:rolf: so andy, hook it up with some tips for wieght reduction. not crazy weight reduction, just simple stuff that wouldnt take a whole days work on the car but would still make a little difference in the 1/4 mile
 

nightkids1

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well also, wieght matters most on rims, if you take 10 pounds of each rim thats the same as lossing 200 pounds(around that, or at least thats what i heard), also smaller rims helps. taking out your seats is the easiest thing to take out also, front pasenger seat is like 30lb's
 

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SeanJohn1802
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he's got the stock steelies, cant get much lighter than that without spending money
 

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Originally posted by "SeanJohn1802"

he's got the stock steelies, cant get much lighter than that without spending money
:werd:
 

silverctr

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For those who have adjustable shocks, set the fronts on the softest setting and the rears on the stiffest setting. It eliminates some wheel hop giving you better traction off the line on top of the rear shocks helping push the rear up forcing the front of the car down.
 

WiggerMan

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I used to take my passenger seat out, my spare tire, turn the stereo OFF, head down with less then a 1/4 tank and buy like 2 gallons of the racing gas they have down at sac raceway... keep the car as cool as you can.. like when u move up the lines... just push the car up... dont start it.. move a car length stop it ect, just roll it on up... start it when u are about 2 races from your turn... keeps the engine bay cooler and thus less chance of hurting your car.. other then that, just dont rev too high.. and also i lower my psi to around 12-15... whatever you can get away with w/o fookin up the rims
 

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Originally posted by WiggerMan
just push the car up... dont start it.. move a car length stop it ect, just roll it on up... start it when u are about 2 races from your turn
i dont know about all that...

i'd rather keep my engine a lil warm... with out vtec, my s**t is pretty fawkin slow... and vtec wont engage unless the motor is warm...

i would assume its the same for an EX

i recently found out (after being flamed on in person) that lowering the tire PSi isnt all its cracked up to be... still have some researching to do....
 

Melt

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ive never been to the track but when i go ..

subs - out
backseat - out
pass seat - out
gas - empty (check my avatar lol)

rims arent a problem ... im rollin on civic vx'ers (9 lbs per rim)
 

boi-alien

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whenever i used to go do drag racing these are some of the things that i'd do.
remove all the rear seats, remove the passenger seat. the drag strip is fairly far away from my house so i'd make sure i had about 1/4 tank of gas by the time i got there there was about 1/8 tank. i never really bled my tires just because i didn't want to bring a pump with me to fill them up afterwards. and i've heard that it doesn't make much difference with street tires anyways. i'd make sure that my oil levels are ok. and then that's about it for prep work. when you get down to the strip i usually launch my car at about 4200 RPMs (any higher i'd get mad wheelspin) then i'd feather my clutch these would give me the best 60ft times. honeslty about launching your car you have to practise, every single car is different and there is no be all and end all RPM to launch. i'd say go to an industrial area late at night and just practise launching the car. as for staging i suggest that you don't stage very deep if you stage too deep it's harder for you to cut .5 reaction times. and when you launch it totally depends on the type of tree your dragstrip uses, the one at my dragstrip goes down every .5 seconds i believe, so i basically start feathering the clutch at the end of the second light. reason for this is you need to factor in your reaction time when you see the light and let go of the clutch and also the reaction time of your car after the clutch is released. it works out to about 1 second i think. if you go any earlier than the end of the second light you'll get a false start, if you go when you see the 3rd light you'll have 1 second reaction times. after you've launched just shift as fast as you can be careful not to miss gears though. i don't suggest powershifting, some people say it makes you a lot faster if you powershift, i feel that even if it does make you faster (which i don't think it does) it's just not worth the damage you'll end up doing to your car.
 

Bangin' HB

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Originally posted by WiggerMan
I buy like 2 gallons of the racing gas they have down at sac raceway... like when u move up the lines... just push the car up... dont start it.. move a car length stop it ect, just roll it on up... other then that, just dont rev too high.. and also i lower my psi to around 12-15...
race fuel doesnt do any good unless you need it... it is said to keep your car running sometimes to keep the temps consistant... and lowering the psi too low will cause too much drag unless you have slicks or enough power to keep spin the tires enough to make them expand. not trying to prove anybody wrong, but these are just some myths that people believe will help when it wont
 

shaundrake

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Someone used the term "wheel hop" and I think they meant "weight shift", but who knows.

Take the boards, spare, and jack out of the back and get AAA insurance.

Under the steering column in the dash is a large piece of metal that serves no obvious purpose. There are two bolts holding it on. Get a rear latch from a CX or VX and get rid of that rear wiper. Take out your heavy speakers and subs but leave in your amps and deck since those aren't all that heavy and are more difficult to remove. Carbon fiber hood and racing seat wouldn't hurt if you got that kind of money.

You could remove your complete AC system and also convert to manual steering. However I think weight reduction helps more in auto X than in the 1/4 mile. PS removal will make your engine rev up faster. You could take the belt off your alternator.

None of these suggestions will affect your times much. The two ways to drastically effect your times are to 1: practice and 2: get good tires.
 

silverctr

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Another thing on race fuel, if you're car ain't built for racing only, don't use it. Race fuel is leaded, and our cars run on unleaded. Using leaded fuel fouls up the plugs on top of other things which end up hurting instead of helping.
 


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