How does an ET reflect a trap speed and how does a trap speed reflect an ET. I guess what I really mean is how can you have a high trap speed say, 130MPH but only have an ET of about 11sec. (Supras). Then is some cases you have a 9sec. ET while trapping at 144MPH. I always thought that if you are going faster, shouldn't you be quicker? I know this has sometime to do with the 60' time, but I don't know how that plays a role. I would really like to understand this, can someone help me out?

 

Think of an AWD 4-cylinder. They don't have a lot of power, so there's NO WAY they can break the tires loose, so they hook up instantly, cutting sub-2.0 second 60' times. But, they'll top out at, lets say hypothetically, ~100 mph. They'll be really "quick" though, because of hooking up, and run a ~13.0 (I'm kinda making #'s up here) but they'll cross the line screaming, doing only ~100 mph ...

... now take a 600HP, nitrous fed, RWD car, on drag radials (sticky, but not sticky enough). The guy sprays right off the line, completely blowing the launch, cuts a ~2.4 60' time, but makes up for that bad start halfway down the track, and crosses the line doing ~130 mph. BUT, that launch may have cost a lot of time, and therefore the car only ran a low 12, where it should have been an ~11, if the car hooked up properly.

Hope that makes sense, in a round-about way?!

 

Another way to think of it is Trap speed equals horsepower while ET equals traction. This is a very gereralized statement and there are numerous factors influencing the two.

Like the good Cap'n above said, say you have a super stocker with a well setup racing automatic and a well thought out suspension with a motor that makes about 550 hp at the crank. The super stocker will 60' somewhere in the 1.3x's and the shifts will be amlost instantaneous. This will translate into an ET of around 9.90 at about 130 mph.

Then take a bozo like me with a 6speed and the same 550 hp. My street car will be heavier by almost 500 pounds than his which will greatly influence ET and speed so let's assume in this theoretical world that our cars wheigh the same. I will 60' in the 1.5's and I'll take at least .10 longer between each shift than him because I'm a wuss and won't speed shift and he's got that slick automatic. Every .10 in 60' means about .15 at the other end. Add that with my molasas shifting and you've got a difference of about .6 making my ET somewhere in the 10.50 range. However, I've got the same horsepower so my car will be going about the same speed at the other end. That's why one guy can be quicker but not faster.