Understanding Drag Stats

[cowie165]

Guys could one of the drag racers/competitors here please help me out with understanding what the times mean.

What is the difference between a car that runs 12.1 @ 98mph and one that runs 12.1 @ 131mph?

If the ET is the same, does the car with the lower top speed find more traction from the line so that it can accelerate faster/sooner?

It seems to be a 1.6 60' is a guy that can drive and a car with plenty of go, and a 2.5 60' is someone who probably drives like me. Are there any other figures that give you an indication of what is going on?

Thanks in advance,

Mark

[blk180]

are both rw drive cars some times people lift off before they reach the line or its bracket racing and someone is tryn to stay in their bracket. 131mph is big could run much faster.

[cowie165]

Those figures are just made up to clear up my question wrt the same ET but different trap speed. If they are unrealistic, sorry about that, just an (poorly educated) guess

[2rismo]

98mph could be making 200hp and the 131mph could be more like 500hp.

You need to look at the whole timeslip with all the incrementals to compare properly.

Adrian

[MrBlonde]

  cowie165 said:

Guys could one of the drag racers/competitors here please help me out with understanding what the times mean.

What is the difference between a car that runs 12.1 @ 98mph and one that runs 12.1 @ 131mph?

If the ET is the same, does the car with the lower top speed find more traction from the line so that it can accelerate faster/sooner?

It seems to be a 1.6 60' is a guy that can drive and a car with plenty of go, and a 2.5 60' is someone who probably drives like me. Are there any other figures that give you an indication of what is going on?

Thanks in advance,

Mark

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Mark, it isn't that simple! There are many factors at play which make straight line projections worthless.

Nevertheless there are some general rules of thumb which can help you analyse a full timeslip.

For a well sorted car the following ETs and trap speeds are well accepted:

13.0 @ 100 mph

12.0 @ 110 mph

11.0 @ 120 mph

10.0 @ 130 mph

9.0 @ 145 mph

8.5 @ 155 mph

8.0@ 165 mph

7.5 @ 175 mph

Note that late model, IRS cars tend to run slower ETs and faster trap speeds. That is indicative that the IRS, lack of space for rubber and less efficient weigh transfer work against these types of cars.

Regarding your questions, a stovehot driver with a slow car may still only be able to manage a 2.0 short time. A poor driver with a monster car might manage a lousy 1.5 short time, if you follow my drift.

[cowie165]

Thanks for your replies guys. Your comments have cleared things up some, but I'm not sure if you're implying that quoting an ET isn't *too* helpful when comparing cars, but they will generally follow the scale MrBlonde mentioned?

Still wondering. It'd be nice to know when some guy is spinning you a line about his latest effort at WSID. Sounds like I need to get my butt down to the drag strip and watch a few races to understand things better!

[NXTIME]

The figures MrBlonde gave are indicative of ideal runs and are a very good guide as to what a well sorted car can achieve on a good run. Not all runs are ideal and therefore other factors (such as wheelspin, pedalling, slow gear changes, backing off, car out of shape etc) will see variations on those guides. There are other figures that will give further indication as to how the run went, such as 330', 660' and 1000' times and speeds.

[benm]

  cowie165 said:

Sounds like I need to get my butt down to the drag strip and watch a few races to understand things better!

That's the best way to learn. I've been to easily 80-90% of all events held at WSID and seen a zillions runs and i'm still amazed at how quick some drivers/cars go with minimal power/mods.

You would be quite suprised how many drivers I meet in the staging lanes out in the pits whom are totally stoked at their ET's only to tell them that they could easily do another 0.3-0.5sec quicker just with a few adjustments and/or more experience without any modifications.

[scathing]

  MrBlonde said:

Note that late model, IRS cars tend to run slower ETs and faster trap speeds. That is indicative that the IRS, lack of space for rubber and less efficient weigh transfer work against these types of cars.

Modern IRS cars, especially "sports" ones, tend to have geometry that increases camber as the suspension compresses.

If you're powering out of a corner that's great, but if you're trying to launch then its not ideal.

[Lazy-Bastard]

can anyone tell me what an ET of 14.5 with a TS of 100mph would indicate.

I am a crap drag racer and have never broken 14.3 but my TS is always up around the 100mph mark, and my 60' is always around 2.2+

Does this indicate that my car could run faster with a decent driver at the wheel? and can someone tell me what sort of times it should be capable of running with those figures?

[ECR033]

  Lazy-Bastard said:

can anyone tell me what an ET of 14.5 with a TS of 100mph would indicate.

I am a crap drag racer and have never broken 14.3 but my TS is always up around the 100mph mark, and my 60' is always around 2.2+

Does this indicate that my car could run faster with a decent driver at the wheel? and can someone tell me what sort of times it should be capable of running with those figures?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Car could definately run faster with a decent 60' time.

My mph (104mph) isn't much higher than yours, yet I've run a best ET of 12.9...the big difference is 60', mine was ~1.8.

If you could get your 60' down to around a 2.0, then I believe that you should easily net a mid to high 13

[Lazy-Bastard]

  ECR033 said:

Car could definately run faster with a decent 60' time.

My mph (104mph) isn't much higher than yours, yet I've run a best ET of 12.9...the big difference is 60', mine was ~1.8.

If you could get your 60' down to around a 2.0, then I believe that you should easily net a mid to high 13

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thanks for the reply......looks like I need to practice my launches. I don't like being too brutal on my car though, hence the slow 60' times.

Maybe I should give up on drag racing. I think you need a certain amount of mechanical disregard to be a good drag racer

[MrBlonde]

  Lazy-Bastard said:

Thanks for the reply......looks like I need to practice my launches.  I don't like being too brutal on my car though, hence the slow 60' times.

Maybe I should give up on drag racing.  I think you need a certain amount of mechanical disregard to be a good drag racer

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Everything that breaks is just an opportunity to make your car stronger ;-)

[benm]

  Lazy-Bastard said:

can anyone tell me what an ET of 14.5 with a TS of 100mph would indicate.

Just as an indication I did 14.0 @ 100mph with a 2.0sec 60ft time and i've seen many others do 13.7-14.0's with 100mph.

So seems like you need to work on the first 330ft section of the drag strip.