Are Legal
And a great Bracket race weapon
Have you Won a race with yours?

 

I had to take mine off since it'd only work when on the brakes...ask how many times I'd break out when hitting the brakes even though incrementals were the same stupid chin spoiler anyways.

I've thought about putting one on the car, but too much PITA since it's so low up front anyways, and no real way to make it a quick flip up deal..to lazy to bolt/unbolt pre/post race.

Many times you'll get lucky with one, but expereinced drivers already have it scoped out prior to pulling into staging...not to mention I race your mirror/A pillar not your tire/bumper...waay too many variables in the competition's front end designs to try "wheel" racing anymore.

 

mine breaks the beams the same on or off the brakes
most B/R will race your wheel
on my 8.80 car in the 1/8
its about .02 and 3 mph

 

They don't work well on a door car. Under constant accelleration, the front end is always extended upwards. If you have a stripe taker mounted under the spoiler, the extended front end may be too high for it to work. If you hit the brakes as you cross the finish line during eliminations, the front end will drop and break the beam early.

Stripe takers are good on an altered or dragster but are unpredictable on a door car.

NHRA rules state that you must have 3" of ground clearance from the front of the car to 12" behind the centerline of the front wheels. Headers and oil pan excluded. This is measured at rest. A stripe taker mounted 3" off the ground when at rest will be considerably higher when you cross the finish line under accelleration.

Although I can't find the specific rule in the NHRA or IHRA rules, stripe takers must be solid and cannot be adjusted while the car is going down the track. This prevents you from lowering or fabricating something that drops down once you're in motion.

I've considered installing a stripe taker under the spoiler but I already scrape the spoiler loading the car on the trailer. I don't need anything hanging lower. I'll take my chances and normally don't hit the brakes at the finish unless I know I have a good win and don't want to break out.

 

Forgive my ignorance, what's a stripe taker? I gather it's something you mount on the front end to break the beam at a certain time? What's the advantage of that?

 

The starting beam is only a couple of inches off the ground. It's triggered by the front wheels. The finish line beam can be up to 12 inches off the ground.

You start the timer with the bottom section of the front wheels but stop the timer with a part of the car that's higher.

Think of a dragster. It has a nose that extends out past the front wheels but the wheels still start the timer. If the wheels tripped the finish line then the same object traveled the 1/4 mile distance in a specific amount of time. Now if you could trip the finish line beam a little sooner, it would look like you ran quicker than what you actually did. Dragsters use a stripe taker by mounting a fin on top of the nose. This will trigger the finish line beam before the wheels do effectivly making the vehicle look like it runs faster.

In a door car, you judge where your opponent is beside you by comparing where his front wheels are to your own. If you are both at the same position on the track at the finish line and if he has a stripe taker, he will break the finish line beam first.

Og course in a bracket race you still can't run faster than your dial in so does it really matter? In a heads up race, a stripe taker may just get a few more win lights if the cars are evenly matched.

It just makes it hard to judge where your opponent is in relation to the finish line since you can't use his wheels as reference.

 

oh okay, thanks!

 

Mounted mine w apeice of L-angle from radiator to front facia then trimmed and zipped screwed a peice of mudflap

 

please change your zip screws to bolts with poly nuts so your not one to lead to a tire blow out cuz a screw fell out due to vibration.

just a safety thing is all. buddy lost a tire mid track at 120+ due to a deal like that.

 

My car is tight top to bottom but i know what you are saying

 

I think I kinda missed something in here. If the finish line beams are 12" above the ground, what would adding something underneath the car do to trip them faster? It seems to me like the nose of the car (A Camaro/Firebird) would be tripping it at 12" off the ground. I'd see it working though if the trap lights were below the body.

 

Many are under 6" high.