Drag race start

Friday, 14-Apr-2000 14:38:25

Message:

192.146.105.81 writes:

What is the best way to drag race start a street car (at the strip of course). In my dual Weber 1776 with radials I usually drop the

clutch at about 3000 rpm. Then I asked a "pro" racer what he did and he told me he put the gas pedal to the floor at the start line! I

thought that was odd so I asked another racer and he does the same thing! So the next time out I tried it but the needle went off the

scale of my 7000rpm VDO tach and the engine started popping back real bad. Then when I dropped the clutch I just spun the tires a

bit more and turned a worse time. I thought maybe I was doing something wrong so the next time I waited until the lights started

going down the tree before putting the gas to the floor, but same result. What am I doing wrong?

Bill S.

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Replies:

get some slicks and then try it (n/t) (john f) (14-Apr-2000 15:12:42)

room 109 bracket racing 101 (Muffler Mike) (14-Apr-2000 15:13:04)

one other thing (Muffler Mike) (14-Apr-2000 15:16:24)

Re: room 109 bracket racing 101 part 2 (Muffler Mike) (14-Apr-2000 15:22:41)

Street car launch (Andy Costello) (14-Apr-2000 16:11:01)

i dont know about that one andy......... (bergboy) (14-Apr-2000 16:56:29)

Try it............... (Andy Costello) (14-Apr-2000 18:16:53)

been a long time sice i have done that. :) (n/t) (Muffler Mike) (14-Apr-2000 19:25:26)

Re: Drag race start (Nor-Cal VW) (14-Apr-2000 19:00:05)

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Class is now in sesson.

You were doing the right thing in the first place. By flooring it, you are just overpowering your tires.

Now a days, I race just like you talk about with other racers. But maybe here is what they did not tell you.

I have a 2 stage rev limiter. I push my button and switch my limiter to step 2 which is set between 5000 and 5800 depening on track

conditions, put my foot to the floor and hold it. The rev limiter keeps it at the desired rpm. I drop the clutch and let the button go and

away I go, but I am using a set of tires that will hook up at this kind power that is applied.

Now I use to run 165 radials and found 3000 to be a good number, but the hardest part is keeping it at that point and keep your eye

on the tree. What I did in this case what intall my first 2 step rev limiter and set one at 3000 but didn't floor it but used the rev limiter

to know where I was on the rpm with out looking. Gas it a little untill you hear the motor it the limiter and hold it there, drop the

clutch, let it spin a little and roll intothe throttle.

Good luck.

Muffler Mike

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avoid mashing the throttle on the line like you did, unless you have some sort of rev limiter.

You will damage something, most likely in the valve train.

Muffler Mike

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if you get a real rev limiter to help you take off, then you can adjust the rpm and really be able to tell what rpm works best for et,

track condions, etc.

try the 3000 and if it seems too bog a little, try a 3200 or 3400, move it around until you seem to have the best 60 ft time. you may

find that a smaller motor like that might actually like something like 4000 to make it spin just a little and keep the rpm in the power

band. I just becomes trial and error.

Muffler Mike

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Street car launch

Friday, 14-Apr-2000 16:11:01

209.178.177.144 writes:

Pull up on the e-brake handle and let out the clutch pedal so it starts to pull the rpms down but push on the gas to keep the rpms at

4000 and when the lights drop, floor the gas,let out the clutch & drop the e-brake handle all at the same time. This will launch the car

with little tire spin and will save your transmission. You will have to experiment with the launch rpms so it will not bog. Tape the

button down on the e-brake handle so it will drop with out locking. You can also push the e-brake handle in and drill a small hole

thru the end and put some safty wire thru it.

Andy Costello

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152.163.204.193 writes:

im not sure about slipping the clutch like that at the line. i would be woried about burning it.

what i do is take the gear out of the e-brake handle. this is my staging break plus it lets me load the trans to avoid breakage.

when i am about 1-2 feet from the pre stage beam i pull up on my e-brake enough so that i have to slip the clutch to move the car up

and not roll. i do this untill i get the pre-stage light on and continue up to the stage beam. i never let off of the brake the entire time im

staging. i launch my car at anywhere between 5-6500 rpm depending on the track. i hold the rpm more by ear then anything (a 2-step

would be nice) i check once or twice on the tack to make sure. when the third yellow lights im gone! drop the clutch and floor it. i

run slicks and the launch with a four puck isnt to violent. the slicks soak up alot of the bite unlike street tires which are very hard and

dont give! i will never run real street tires on the track.(my personal preference)

onmy car with real street tires, to high of a launch rpm and nothin but spin to little and lots of hop (sometimes). yes i had a t-bar.

my two cents

-aaron

bergboy

--------------------------

This is what I did for years before I went to a 2 step rev limiter. If you run a 2300 Kennedy pressure plate and a good metal woven

clutch disc you shouldn't have any problems. Letting the clutch slip a little bit is the only way to preload the trans. Give it a try and

compare 60ft times.

Andy Costello

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63.23.17.88 writes:

Bill,

Both Mike & Andy know what they're talking about here.

Aaron, I also was worried about frying clutch discs doing this (I use a Hurst line lock & a MSD Three step Rev limiter with the

second stage using MSD's adjustable Rev selector) on a heavy car.

I get about 50 runs on the strip ( Including my street playing :-) ) with my Center Force Disk.

I'm also adding Berg's anti-shocker to see if I can keep a Type 1 transaxle for more than a month! This may let it last longer.\

Back to you Bill,

A tip On Street Tires, It's not advantageous to go below 14 psi in the rear tires. Especially if they're on the small side like 235's or

smaller. I've found that it dosen't help any lower.

And like Mike & Andy said, Starting around 3000 or more is good (I change my Rpm depending on how other cars are hooking up &

if the Lazy track officials are letting street tires go in the water! I've more than once lost it off the line due to it being wet!) &

remember if it's a ET tree go on the last yellow!

Dave.

Nor-Cal VW