Last night I ran at Sears Point and ran two 15.1 runs when I usually run high 14s. My 60' times were horrible because every genius there with street tires decided to drive through the water box. But the other factor I really want to figure out is how much will a 10-20 mph headwind effect times? The best part about sears point is the return road is the road course, I had to restrain myself from flying through the turns. Also I saw a few lt1 cars running 15's and 16's as well as some newer Mustang GT's running similar times. Needless to say there were quite a few beginners out last night.

 

That's a strong enough wind to make a difference. When an NHRA Comp, Super Stock or Stock car is trying to set a record, the record cannot be set if there is a 10 mph or greater wind from the rear.

Since a wind from the rear is enough to increase the true speed of the car, a wind from the front will also slow down a car. How much depends on the front profile of the car. A third gen can cut through the air better than a first gen. Even more if it's been lowered.

That's also why land speed records are done in 2 directions then averaged out.

 

Whoa, sweet. I was out there last night too for the first time. Had no friggin' idea what the hell I was doing. Didn't even realize until my last run that people were going into the launch pad near the outer walls to avoid the water box. I was wondering the same thing about the headwind, cause other than that, the conditions were pretty much perfect. I ran a 15.1, 15.4, and 15.3. I saw someone I know there who seems to know his stuff about drag racing, and he said that the headwind could account for about a half a second on the ET. On top of that, other cars seemed to be running a bit slower as well. For example the C5 I ran next to my second run ran a 14.434 ET, when from what I've heard they run mid 13's to low 12's in stock form.

BTW, were you running the blue IROC?? There were only a few other 3rdgens I saw there than me. A blue IROC, a '90ish Procharged GTA, and an '87ish Z28 that sounded like it had a big block under the hood. I was in a dark red '91 Firebird Formula.

 

I was in the red 91 Z28 I saw the other thirdgens but never saw your car. Did you ever see what the guy with the procharged GTA ran because I think I overheard him saying he only runs in the high 13's and his car isn't stock.

 

Hmmmmm. I didn't see your car there, but I did talk to the guy in the Procharged GTA. He was running high 13's which did strike me as somewhat strange. But I don't think he was running much boost. He was talking about putting a bigger pulley on to run 9# instead of the 6# he was running. I dunno though. Seems like he should have been running a lot better.