Hey guys i am thinking about goign down to the 1/8th mile strip here at school on Friday. I have never dragged before in my life. I know that every track will be different but can you give me a little insight on what to do when i get there and what will happen if i race. I will be running my DOT tires so i know that there will be no need for a water box but any other advice that might help me. I talked to someone who worked there the other day at work breifly and he said i should come down and i would have a good time. So thanks in advance for the help and if anyone has already done a writeup or something that would be helpfull too.

 

Stand at the staring line and carefully watch the "experienced drivers" pre-stage, stage (with the converter loaded some), timing on the lights (when to leave) and how they launch their cars.

I see a lot of inexperienced people at the track every week who apparently have never watched the starting line routine, prior to attempting to run their car at the track. For example; driving completely through the pre-stage and stage lights, leaving when the first amber comes on, Etc.

 

Basics: Providing the car passes tech which most street cars should do.

As mentioned above, go watch the procedures.

With street tires, drive to the inside of the waterbox if possible to keep the tires dry. They sweep the dirt and rubber to the outside so you don't want to drive through that. Street tires pick up dirt and water and you don't want to bring that onto the start line.

Do a short dry hop just to clean off the tires.

Drive up until you get close to the start line then drive up until you turn on the prestage light. It's considered a courtesy stage to wait until both prestage lights are on before you stage. Once both lanes are staged, you can load up the converter slightly by holding the brake pedel and applying a slight amount of gas. You don't want to spin the tires.

When the three yellow lights come down one at a time, as soon as you see the last yellow light up, put your foot to the floor and let go of the brake. By the time you and the car react, the light will be green. Keep your foot to the floor until you cross the finish line. Just let the car shift by itself since you're not out to set any personal records. Keep the tranny out of OD.

Make sure you know what side the exit is on. The lane on that side of the track has priority. If the exit is on the left side and you're in the right lane, don't cross over to the exit unless the car in the other lane is ahead of you. You never know if the other car, if it's behind you, may go straight through to an exit farther down the track or has a problem and can't stop.

Drive back up the return road (not race back), pick up your time slip and do it again.

That's the basics of making a run down the track.

Check to see if your local track requires all drivers to have a helmet. You may need to buy a Snell rated helmet.

The Staging Light website http://www.staginglight.com/guide/index.html has had good information for years. Well worth reading.

 

This is key .. I've seen accidents happen like that .. Make sure you know where to exit and if you have to cross the other driver's lane to exit, make sure he has already exited or is in front of you .. There are usually a few places to exit the track, so keep an eye out on that ..

 

I guess y'all didn't see that he has a M6, so there's no converter to stall up. Just spin the tires a little bit in first gear to get the dirt off, if you see smoke, stop. Practice doing this before you get there so you don't take a lot of time and you know what you're doing. When the third light comes on, ease out of the clutch as you apply the gas. If you feel the tires start to spin, feather the gas until they get traction. Don't feel too bad if you miss a gear, it happens to everyone. For the first run or two, don't try to make your best time. Get a feel for the procedures and the track and where the exit lane is. Make sure you have your lights on so they can see you down the track. Good luck.

 

Whoops. Sorry. I don't normally look at the sig and assume most people will drag race with an automatic. Banging gears has a fun factor on the street but the majority of drag racing is automatic transmissions unless it's a class that requires a manual gearbox such as ProStock.

 

My biggest surprise (on street tires) was despite being on a good sticky track how easily she would still get loose in my M6. From a stand still and also into 2nd.

Your first time down the track I would not try to set any land speed records, just stay calm and take it all in..have a good time.

 

Go here: http://www.staginglight.com/

Down on the left side you will see a guide to bracket racing. Start there and come back with any questions. The fellow who owns the site it a top notch racer and all around great guy.

 

Here's a primer I wrote:http://www.kennedysdynotune.com/Trac...ech%20Tips.htm

Rich

 

Don't drip water all over the starting line by running your AC.