Okay, I signed up and paid my fee to race at a local drag strip with our club. I've never been on a track before, and the only drag racing I did was back in high school (many moons ago) on back roads. Any advice? I'm driving my stock 01 Cobra vert.

 

JUST HAVE FUN!


all the rest of the stuff will come later

 

warm the tires just a bit, slip the clutch on the launch and hit all your shifts. good times ahead.

 

Watch some of the other racers for awhile to get an idea of the starting line procedure. Drive around the water box; don't even get your tires wet if they are street tires, when given the OK by the starter do a very small burn out. The idea is to just clean off the tires, street tires do not get stickier with heat the way a slick or drag radial does. Pull up to the line and stage the car. If you look close you will where you need to put the car, it is considerably back from the lights (or tree). Stage the car by bumping the two yellow lights at the top of the tree on (these are called the pre stage lights) then ease forward (just a few inches) and the second set of lights will come on (these are called the staged lights). Once the person in the other lane is staged the starter will start the tree, for now do not worry about your reaction time just go on the last amber light or on the green. Reaction time does not affect you time so don't worry about yet, just get used to the starting line procedure and have fun. Don't be afraid to ask a track official for help if you don’t understand something that’s what they are there for. You can see the lights in my sig pic btw.

 

good links
http://edragracer.trishield.com/what...tmastree.shtml

better link
http://www.v8sho.com/SHO/drags.html

 

If you think you can break a 14 flat, bring a helmet with you.

Have fun and good luck!

 

Thank you JD, excellent advice! I will check out the websites. I need to learn the terminology so I'll know what people are talking about. I'm sure it's changed since 1976.

My ex would never let me get on the track, but 20 years later...I'm gettin my chance! *raspberry at him*

I won't be racing against anyone, just me against the lights. We have the track for 4 hours, so I'm hoping to get maybe 5 runs in. This is on May 7th, and I don't think I'll have time to do any modifications before hand, but where would I start if I wanted to start making changes?

 

1. Your ex sucks. My g/f usually goes with me and usually gets better times.
2. Probably the best thing you can get right now is drag radials, all-season street radials spin like you would not believe and it will really hurt your ETs.

 

^^^^ what he said and I just realized you are going with a club, find sombody who has experiance at the track and ask them for help, thats what clubs are for. BTW your ex sounds like a real Richard head.

 

*LOL*

The one I got now loves to see me behind the wheel. When I made the decision to race, I thought I'd give the Cobra a real run (been driving like a little old lady since I got it)

I came to a stop in the middle of a deserted road, looked at him and said "Hold onto your coffee!" Made a lot of noise and smoke, then finally got traction and took off, but only went a short distance. He was sittin there with the biggest smile on his face...

...and didn't spill his coffee.