drag racing tips

[ch4ng]

hey everyone, have any tips for launching my car at the drags?
AE111 levin. 15" front tyres at 20psi, rears at 50psi.

what do you guys think?
rpm, clutch- drop or release, which orange light to go on, etc, any other tips?
cheers

[Bling]

50psi in the rear??? Sounds way too high.

I found adjusting pressures didn't make a huge difference, got good tyres? Good tyres will make a good difference. Road tyres aren't designed to be run at such low pressures 20psi etc.

rpm / clutch drop etc etc will depend on how harsh you want to be on your car.

Trail and error is the best way to work out whats best for you.

[Brick]

practice practice practice

[flygt4]

also every car is different, and the track will be different every time you go.

there will be a point in the rev range where there is just enough wheelspin to keep you moving and not bog down, but not too much that you're standing still. then probably give or take 1000rpm either side of that on the day depending on track surface etc.

there also not much point doing a big burnout on most street tyres, it will very rarely improve your 60ft times and some tyres grip levels do strange things when overheated.

[pc]

20psi in the front is too high, draw a line on the tyre & rim, start at 15psi and keep lowing the pressure each run till the tyre turns on the rim then pump it up a little.
Launch revs will depend on traction, clutch strength, engine torque etc. so pick some method that means you aren't really spinning the wheels, but you don't bog it down. Spinning the wheels lots produces extremely slow 60's

[Bling]

there also not much point doing a big burnout on most street tyres

How else are you supposed to impress the honeyz if your cars slow?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vY1xQa15fhI

As you can hear my tyres were absolute rubbish, came on my car from Japan, still in use by another toyspeeder though

[Brick]

Na luke its like this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcq_2GPGFqg


need all the smoke on the one side

[Bling]

Haha, that one wheel seemed to scare that vtec away

[Crampy]

Don't run street tyres at 20psi. Just leave then at normal pressure.

Don't launch too hard, your tyres wont handle it.

If you want to get serious, buy some DOT rated drag tyres and chuck on some cheap rims. Will probably be the best thing you can do to your car for the drags. Well best bang for your buck. Engine mods are expensive.

I've just bought myself some M&H drag tyres on some 14 inch rims
Should help out a lot.
These ones: http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing ... =247660766

[Quirky]

Do a quick burnout just to remove the dirt of your tyres.
I spin until i see the slightest hint of smoke and stop.
I run 25psi in my Corolla at the strip.
Don't be pressured by the lights, just go when ever its green, take your time, it doesn't start counting until you cross the 2nd set of beams.
Also I dont clutch dump, I just ride the hell out of the clutch to kill the wheel spin. Seems to work as I managed a 14.8@91mph from a stock gze motor.

[ch4ng]

yea, you guys just pretty much confirmed what i was thinking.
dont have the budget for drag tires, hence the reason for second hand semislicks in another post

i know for sure that ive got pretty low end tyres (sorry sam ) but i do have an lsd so when i do do the usless burnout at the start i will at least be spinning up both wheels

definitely will be practicing more and attending nightspeeds
see you all there!

[Crampy]

What intake have you got? If a pod filter, you can go better there.
Try taking your headlight out at the drags too. A lot of people do that. nice cold air to feed to motor.

I raced my BZ-G with my street tyres (16 inch with GS-D3 tyres) and then tried some very well used 15inch Z2000 circuit tyres. Went way better with the circuit tyres.
Went to a 15.7 on a essentially stock BZ-G (this was at a winter wars event, never did a night wars). Having said that, circuit tyres are certainly not the best for drag racing, as they have stiff sidewalls.

[ch4ng]

keep lowing the pressure each run till the tyre turns on the rim then pump it up a little.

what do you mean by that?

i was launching at 3-3500, letting the clutch out quick but not dropping it, it would spin for one and a half seconds or so.

edit:
@crampy
yea i saw quite a few people take the headlight out, i think ill do more preparation next time and do that, ive got a big airbox surrounding a pody,

[Crampy]

keep lowing the pressure each run till the tyre turns on the rim then pump it up a little.

what do you mean by that?

i was launching at 3-3500, letting the clutch out quick but not dropping it, it would spin for one and a half seconds or so.

Don't listen to him. A proper street radial wont like running low pressures.
You'll actually end up with less footprint than if you ran higher pressure.
By all means drop it down a little bit, but not to the extent it looks like a Drag slick hahaha.

[Bling]

Unless you are quite serious about this, i'd just run road tyres over semi slicks. I only ever raced on crap road tyres and managed 15.4s. If its just a casual thing, then i'd just use whatever tyres you drive on.

If your airbox encloses your pod filter, I wouldn't bother taking anything apart either, just make sure you have good flow to the intake of the box.

[Toby]

It's all about practice.

All basically standard cars require precise throttle control and forethought to get the best out of them, especially FWDs.

Don't do a burnout on street tyres, launch like you are racing.
This means you get 2x as many goes at it as the others, makes a huge difference on a slippery track.

Drive through water if it is there for guys with drag tyres (and more than 83kw)... it just drips from your wheelarch onto your tyres while you watch the lights if you drop the clutch in it.

[THA SHZ]

Are you doing daytime drags or nightspeed ?
If nightspeed dont even worry about semis , they wont do anything at all for you , get a half decent road tyre for the front , and run a higher and narrower rear tyre so you put more down force of fronts to help stop as much wheel spin .
Run your fronts generally at 20 psi , no less on the street tyre at night , once again wont help anymore , and just practice a hel of a lot .
No quick fix as such as each different racer has their own personal preference of handling it , just get out there and have fun , then once you've done that come do a real track like puke and you'll forget all about straight line racing

[IH8TEC]

And whom ever said dont worry about the lights, just go on the green, at nightspeed generally it's knockout unless you do dyo,

if knockout then leave on the second orange, i saw it alot last week people lost races because they were really crap with reaction times.

[holden_fan2005]

Run dyo

You don't have to be quick or anything like that just run good reaction times and keep consistent.

[AE86less]

i know for sure that ive got pretty low end tyres (sorry sam ) but i do have an lsd so when i do do the usless burnout at the start i will at least be spinning up both wheels

Forgiven

They were a wicked upgrade over the 3 mismatched sizes and two baldies!