Drag racing Etiquette

[AlaskaTy]

I've only been to the track once, and I was told that good etiquette was to light the prestage lights (1st yellow ones) wait for the next car to light his and then both light the staging lights (2nd yellow ones). How do you guys have time to build boost at the line if you do this? Or do you just say to hell with it and stage (both lights) while the other driver is in the burn out box?

Jason

 

[Turbo6]

Just stage it.

 

[ed hess]

seems to me if you want to win on reaction time

stage completey

just as he prestages turn on the rev limiter and line lock, nail it and build.

make him feel hurried.

after all what makes you think he is going to be nice to you especially if its for money.

1/2 2nd after he stages completely the starter is going to hit it.

if he did it this way you would still be trying to build boost.

ed

 

[MadPSI]

I can understand doing the whole etiquette thing if you're in competition or a trophy dash or something. But at 'run whatcha brung' night just stage, you're most likely going to be sitting there after the light goes green anyways.

Hell, I didin't even start building boost until the green light came on sometimes. The starters at our track like to let both cars sit there staged for hours before dropping the lights. If you've ever seen a trans temp gage move during transbrake you'd crap your pants.

 

[Christian Dionne]

It's not just etiquette, it's the rules for NHRA competition. You should have no problem staging and getting a great reaction time after 50+ passes down the track. Believe me, I've strung a ton of .500-.520 lights together while using proper staging etiquette. I would try it during your "test N tune" nights, just to get better at it.

This is probably one of my biggest pet peeves at the SyTyNats. A bunch of supposed track kings get together and nobody knows how to stage or cut a good light. For once I wanna see some 10 second SyTy's with sub .550 R/Ts

Please don't give me the "my turbo doesn't spool" crap either. If it doesn't allow you to make the desired boost/rpm you need to launch then you have a TorqueConvertor/Brakes/Timing/Fueling problem to fix.

I'm not trying to preach to everyone about bracket racing their SyTy, just understand I'm a NHRA ProStock kinda guy

 

[Hu Ryde]

I agree, green means GO!!!!

 

[MadPSI]

You're probably in the 0.00001% of Buick/SyTy owners then... Because 99.9999% of everyone I know doesn't give a rat's ass about cutting a good light (which is now .000 so you know).

I agree that people not knowing how to stage, pulling past the beams, taking a long time chaps my ass too, don't get me wrong. But my guess is that the majority of the people posting to this board aren't serious enough to go out and buy a liberty 5-speed in order to courtesy stage on a 4/10s tree and leave with the desired amount of boost.

Furthermore, most of the people here don't have transbrakes, so you've got most people trying to stage, put the truck in netural, pull ebrake, pump brakes, give gas, put back in drive, build boost, etc... Most people absolutely cannot do that in the time between staging and the green light. And almost nobody here will sacrifice a good launch for R/T...

 

[ed hess]

You're probably in the 0.00001% of Buick/SyTy owners then... Because 99.9999% of everyone I know doesn't give a rat's ass about cutting a good light (which is now .000 so you know).

I agree that people not knowing how to stage, pulling past the beams, taking a long time chaps my ass too, don't get me wrong. But my guess is that the majority of the people posting to this board aren't serious enough to go out and buy a liberty 5-speed in order to courtesy stage on a 4/10s tree and leave with the desired amount of boost.

Furthermore, most of the people here don't have transbrakes, so you've got most people trying to stage, put the truck in netural, pull ebrake, pump brakes, give gas, put back in drive, build boost, etc... Most people absolutely cannot do that in the time between staging and the green light. And almost nobody here will sacrifice a good launch for R/T...

i must be the exception around here. My setup has everyting in it i could do to be able to stage, build boost and launch with whatever boost i want my simply letting go of a button.

but you are probably right because not a single person ever asked me squat about doing this. Although a couple people that didnt understand why i was installing the hardware I was thought i was nuts.

So i guess if all you want to do is make time run after time run and never compete then..... do whatever makes you happy.

but if you are going to be racing i dont think whoever is in the next lane really gives a dman if you have enough time to do anything but stage and be ready to go on the last amber.

ed

 

[MadPSI]

but if you are going to be racing i dont think whoever is in the next lane really gives a dman if you have enough time to do anything but stage and be ready to go on the last amber.

If I were in an NA or SC car you'd bet I'd be rushing the hell out of the poor turbo guy in the other lane for that reason.

 

[myclone]

FYI.. The tracks local to me will back you out of the staging beams for "rushing" the other guy. If hes just backed into the water box and you light both the stage/prestage bulbs it starts a ~10sec timer that will DQ your opponent. I dunno how other tracks do it but the starters usually get pretty ticked off if you DQ the other guy due to rushing him and will chew your ass for it (BTDT). Not only do you run a good chance of getting tossed out but when the DQ'ed guy and ~four of his buds come over to your pit wanting a piece of your ass you might rethink your procedure.

To stay on the good side of the starter and everyone else I pull up close the beams but watch over my shoulder for what my apponent is doing. When he is done with his burnout and is starting to roll forward I prestage then do my neutral/brakes/boost thing. By this time he is usually staged and I use the brakes and/or boost to creep into the stage beam (yes, I got enough ass to hold the brakes hard enough to keep from creaping further).

Just my 02

 

[ed hess]

hey myclone

they dont do that at atco, but then again at atco if you just stage and sit there without bringing up the rpms i dont think they will care. but if you stage and then sit there with the rev limiter hittin 3k they might get a bit annoyed.

ed

 

[MadPSI]

How are you going to hold 25+ PSI at the line with brakes???

The faster of the Buick guys here are launching with 27 pounds...

Remember the guy is looking for a 10-second timeslip with a good R/T.

 

[100in6]

first of all... i really don't know what the rules are regarding this. when we're doing test and tune we leave when we're ready and don't worry about reaction time. so i'm interested in hearing what the rules really are/

but more so... i'm just happy to see that we got a post on the racing section

 

[myclone]

hey myclone

they dont do that at atco, but then again at atco if you just stage and sit there without bringing up the rpms i dont think they will care. but if you stage and then sit there with the rev limiter hittin 3k they might get a bit annoyed.

ed

It prolly varies with the track as to what happens but I had words with the starter at my local 1/8th mi track over it when he backed me out.

To make a long story short after I finished the pass that I got backed out of the lights on I went back to my pit, got more PO'ed about what had happened, decided to find the starter guy, and find out why he was yelling at me. I waited for a lull in the racing and went over to the starter guy and asked him what purpose he had backing me out and yelling at me and that I didnt appreciate it. He apologized and explained that if one person is fully staged without the other guy even being prestaged the timer starts so the "late" guy has to hurry to prestage before he's DQ'ed.

Maybe its diff for test n tune but I was in elims and can promise you its frowned upon.

 

[ed hess]

myclone.

after this thread i just did some testing on my dfi setup. Although its not done yet i just timed how long it took to build boost using my setup.

about 1.25 seconds to go to 3k rpm and 10psi boost using the rev limiter and boost builder.

so i guess i can let the other guy have a fighting chance since once the lights start to come down they take longer than that and i will have already reached that rpm and boost probably before the lights even start to move.

I gotta get this sucker down the track.....

just a couple more odds and ends....

ed

 

[jwaller]

hey myclone

ed

if one person is fully staged without the other guy even being prestaged the timer starts so the "late" guy has to hurry to prestage before he's DQ'ed.

Maybe its diff for test n tune but I was in elims and can promise you its frowned upon.

thats the way it is here. kinda like when you watch it on tv. both cars have to stage very close to the same time.

but my track knows me and they turn that feature off when I'm up. bc they know it takes me a while to get up there and ready.

 

[ed hess]

hey myclone

ed

if one person is fully staged without the other guy even being prestaged the timer starts so the "late" guy has to hurry to prestage before he's DQ'ed.

Maybe its diff for test n tune but I was in elims and can promise you its frowned upon.

thats the way it is here. kinda like when you watch it on tv. both cars have to stage very close to the same time.

but my track knows me and they turn that feature off when I'm up. bc they know it takes me a while to get up there and ready.

This must be the thing i allways see printed on the bottom of the slip the says:

AUTOSTART OFF

do your slips allways say autostart on ?

ED

 

[jwaller]

[quote="ed hess]
This must be the thing i allways see printed on the bottom of the slip the says:

AUTOSTART OFF

do your slips allways say autostart on ?
ED[/quote]

autostart (starter guy doesn't do anything) is what happens when 1 guy pulls up (and stages fully) before the other and the lights begin to come down. it sorta helps if makin by runs, hurts if you beat the other guy up to the line. (thats what is pissing off the starter I bet, he has to do his job then).

and when it's off(autostart) the timing of the second car doesn't matter bc the lights only come down when the starter guy pushs the go button. that way the starter doesn't have to trip the other beam with his foot to send a single down track.

my slips usually say autostart off bc they know I am goin to be sitting at the line way ahead of the other guy building boost/gettin ready

 

[100in6]

another situation i have had is with dry hopping. they don't like it when i dryhop and want to back up without going through the water. i had one guy actually stand in front of mine and prevent us from hopping and made us just stage. i didn't think that was very fair when other guys take as long as they want in the water while i just have to sit there and wait. i guess it's like john says when they know you they may give ya a little slack

 

[AlaskaTy]

Well, it seems like everyone has their own technique...and it sounds like tt doesn't matter. By the way I was only doing test and tune (my first time ever at a track) and I was trying to get my rt's down and I'd end up pulling screaming 2.3 60's...pretty embarrasing, but I didn't know any better. Oh well, next time I go it'll just seem like the new motor made a killer difference (best et: 14.7....after vacuum leak )