Hi guys,
Im going to be running in the clash of the titans tomorrow which will be a Pro Tree. Deep staging is allowed for the class I will be entering. If I deep stage and as soon as i see yellow and let off the brake and go will I red light? If not i'll deep stage for a better R/T...

Now if theres a chance I can red light using the foot brake on a pro tree by deep staging I will just stage regular.

What are common R/Ts for foot brake cars on Pro Tree's?

-Robert

 

Anything better than .8xx would be good. To cut a good light with a pro tree and foot braking you almost have to anticipate when the ambers will light up. If you launch as soon as you see the lights, you're probably going to be too slow. .400 seconds between the amber and the green. A typical foot brake car takes at least .500 for the car and driver to react. Deep staging will help but you'll have to do some test passes first to see how quick you can react. Most of the time you won't red light unless you screw up and leave before the tree is activated.

Pro tree racers usually use transbrakes. There are 2 type of transbrakes. Pro and full tree brakes. The main difference is that a pro tree transbrake has 2 different passages to dump the fluid instead of one so that the car can launch quicker. We're talking thousands of a second but that's all it takes.

 

Is it a .400 tree or a .500 tree? If it's a .400 tree you won't redlight even deep staging unless you guess. Now a .500 tree, this is what I usually run, you can redlight with this tree if you deep stage, but nomally only if your car is pretty quick, 11.5 and faster, and has a brake. My advice is if it's .400 deep stage, come up on the converter, and go as soonas you see yellow. If it's .500 shallow stage and repeat the above.

Randy

 

If you are already cutting good lights leaving off the bottom bulb on a .500 tree then I'd suggest airing up the front tires (about 5 lbs for a start) and doing everything else you normally do. Changing your driving technique isn't the way to go, adjust the car and you'll do fine.

 

Let the other driver stage first. That way you can kinda get a rhythm going on the tree and your not setting there wondering when they're going to stage. Pre-stage, get confortable, then stage when your ready.

 

There is no "bottom bulb" in a pro tree. All 3 ambers light up at the same time. A typical pro tree is .400 seconds while people running in Super Street use a .500 pro tree.

The full tree that most of us see and use is .500 and each amber lights comes on one at a time. Unless you're using a delay box, you then wait for that last yellow before launching. Unlike a pro tree, you can sort of time when that last yellow comes on. As I mentioned above, with a pro tree, when you see yellow, you're probably going to be slow since there no warning when they come on and you and the foot brake vehicle will be slow to react that fast.

Many of these competition races like the one Nox1d3 will be going in will use a .500 pro tree just to make the playing field more equal. Someone who never drag raced before would have a better chance of cutting a similar light to someone who's more used to a .500 full tree.

 

You will not be able to redlight. Are you sure you can deep stage? HRP uses autostart, so be careful. If I am assuming correctly, and you are running the 14.0 class, you'll be just fine. No cars in that class will be able to cut a light.

Average human reaction time = .170 - .200

Estimated vehicle reaction time for 14.00 car normally staged= .370 -. 390

So, no matter if it's .400 or .500, you'll be way green.

If it was me, I would try to stage "loosely," meaning don't worry about just barely turning on the stage light.

Then again, I think the track is open as I type this post, so you'll prolly never see this

Bill Arning

 

There most certainly is a bottom bulb. True bottom bulb racers either use a blinder or block out the upper ambers so it makes no difference if all three or one at a time come on since you're only looking at one bulb. Any racer that can cut good lights can adjust their car/truck to leave quicker by adjusting air pressure up, etc. If you can go red you can do fine with a pro tree. Just look at guys like the Biondo's that can and do win in any car on any tree.

 

Unfortantly i didnt get to race in the clash of the titans, the night before the event I broke a tranny mount and decided so skip out on the event I watched it though, looked like alot of fun