Drag Racing tips for a no0b

[CHAOS]

well, saturday i'm hitting the strip for the first time ever. cecil county to be exact and i've never driven my car/any car down the strip... any tips you guys could give to launch properly and read the tree etc etc... any etiquette tips are welcome as well... dont want to look like an ass. maybe a run down on how the run should normally go would help as well lol...

[S4toSTI]

I am interested to see the responses in here.

[teh DIRT]

okay. i think i have my launch down pretty well to give some tips, but my car is different from most of yours so technique's will vary.

First:

Stage first! get those lights yellow before the other guy, this will give you more time to prepare yourself for launching. The times i didnt stage first....i bogged.

Second:

on my car i rev the engine to 5k with constant 60% throttle blips. Blips are when you press the gas then get off of it over and over again. You want to time it so when you release the clutch....your gas foot is on its way down for a blip, but instead of coming up...you mash it to the floor.

Yeah so do that. As for the clutch, i pretty much drop it. Maybe a little slip then drop. If you have a WRX dont do this.

[xEJ20x]

:iagree:



And be sure to sporadically practice launchin after your first day of racing.
But make sure its in a out of the way spot.

[CHAOS]

great tips pete, thanx. i think ill try to practice a bit before i get down there... there are some secluded roads around here to launch on.

[CHAOS]

anyone else with tips?

[teh DIRT]

when are you going? im trying to get a few more runs in before it gets cold. installing some injectors soon so we will see.

[CHAOS]

check the upcoming events... we're heading down to cecil on the 28th aka this saturday... we're meeting up at Xotic then going down.... meeting up early so we can get in alot of runs.

[sesolcSTI]

I definately would not dump the clutch. Find out where you need to slip it to, to get your best launch.

I basically just stage, rev up to about 4500+ and when the tree starts going down, bump it up to around 5500 and start slipping.......buy the time it goes green it makes for a nice violent launch. Don't know if its the preferred method, but its what works for me.

Take your time, you wont nail it your first couple times up, its alot to put together in your head within a few seconds.

I fck it up all the time, no biggie as long as you are having fun and dont break anything. I can do it all day long practicing on back roads, but when you are up at the tree its a whole other story.......AWD = tricky until you find the sweet spot.

Im going to ATCO on thursday, ill let you know how i manage. Good luck and have fun! If you are going with Andy, then im sure he will be able to give you good pointers.

[driftingeric2k4]

The biggest mistake I see from new people is that they go when the light turns green. Never go on green. Going on green effectively means you lost. The trees at my track go pre-stage -> stage -> yellow -> yellow -> yellow -> GREEN I am not sure what style tree you use at the track you will be going to though.

I launch on the last yellow, while it is lit. My RT's are usually under .6 unless I spin excessively. Remember, the time delay between the last lit light and the green light is .5 seconds, a perfect RT.

Avoid the water box if you dont have slicks. You dont need the water box to burnout on street tires, in fact, you just get water in your grooves and some people may complain about that. Since you are AWD you wont be burning out anyway. I dont burnout on streets because it is pretty pointless, unless I am spinning my tires off to remove debris, such as dirt and rocks, or if the water box guy isnt paying attention and is hosing down the whole area.

Don't run your AC while in the staging lanes (not an issue now obviously, but for summertime), roll down a window or keep your door open. AC causes condensation which may drip on the track. If an official sees this, they may mistake this as oil or some other fluid from your car and shut you down. This happened to my friend last summer. Hopefully your track isnt nearly as anal as ours is.

It is common courtesy to prestage, allow your competitor to prestage, then stage. As opposed to rolling through both beams. If you do it, no big deal, the beams are only a couple inches away from each other. Most new people at a track have the most problems with staging, so dont worry if you roll through both beams and have to back up. They are literally inches apart, so roll up slow.

Other than that - practise makes perfect for the launch. Being turbo, learning how to brake boost might lower your times. Some do it, some don't.

[CHAOS]

another round of good tips... how/what is brake boosting? ive heard the term before but i dont think i quite understand how it works.