dennis5374

any experienced bracket racers have pointers on being consistent over and over? Im thinking a th400 and transbrake would help a bunch but any other ways of maintaining a consistent car? My race season is coming up in April and ill be running a blown and sprayed 355 lt1. My car wasn't too bad last year. I dialed in on motor at 12.49 and ran 12.50-12.55 consistently but in the finals my last run I ran a 12.1 and broke out. I knew I was way too fast because of the way I hooked. I tried back peddling at 3/4 track but still ran too fast and lost too a stock 04-05 Monte Carlo v6. Worst part was I was beaten by a 50 ye old woman I have all the respect in the world for her but I have to admit my pride was wounded just a little bit. It made me realize that the car doesn't have to be fast just consistent.

TedH

Getting the car to hook every time the same way is a good starting point. Launch at the same rpm, shift at the same rpm, stage at the same depth every time, burnout the same way every time, keep track of the weather (DA), watch for cloud cover vs sunshine, have the same engine temperature every time, same tire pressure every time... If the car has a computer make sure it has been on long enough to be out of startup mode. Always have the same amount of fuel.

Keep track of your times. I always keep a log book with all the breakout points and make notes as to whether on not anything changed from driver perspective during the run.

The less variables you have to maintain the easier it is to keep the vehicle consistent.

kazman

Bracket racing is a skill and has no bearing on the sex or age of the driver. A good bracket car doesn't have to be fast either. There are advantages to running a "slow" car. As Ted stated one needs to manange all the variables better than your opponent. IMP the supercharger makes your car more prone to change to weather and conditions than plain all motor. I would forget about the spray at this point in your racing. A trans brake may not be legel in you class. Be sure to check it out. Launch rpm is critical and it will change your reaction, 60' and ET. LT1's are very sentisitive to water temps. I have an electric water pump and a manual switch for pump and the cooling fan. I run at exactly the same water temp every pass. I know if the water jumps 10 degrees my run is going to be .04 slower. A note on the turbo 400. Be sure to get a trans temp gague and make sure the trans is fully warmed up. I will loose a full tenth with a cold trans. A bracket car has to be able to hook on spit. Make sure the supension is set up to do that.

If you have any questions shoot me an email or im. Good luck. -Jim

96capricemgr

Top pointer I can give you is don't run a blower and nitrous on a bracket car.

kazman

Or learn how to hold .09 and drive the stripe. But that's for another discussion thread.

Consistant vs predictable. Keep good logs and know when and how much the car is going to change. I change my dial almost every round.