so the raceway that's right next to me closed before i got my car ready to take to it but now it just re-opened under new management. its the wild horse pass motorsports park (formerly known as Firebird int. raceway)

so of course being new management after kicking ol' Firebird out they're down to arm drop drags with no time. not a big deal, but I would have loved to get a official time with my car >_>

their websight is http://racewildhorse.com/



BUT now onto the questions: what should I expect there? (I'm not talking about my run time)

Anything I can/should do to my car before I go?

Are there some sort of general rules to follow that should get my car through inspection?

and should my helmet work (or do i even need one), its a bell 2008 SC-R and it is DOT approved. but i don't know what that means off the dirt and at a drag race.

thanks for the help

 

web site doesent look like its worth much help. most tracks have a rulebook or atleast tell you if they are sanctioned so you know what rules to go by. i would call someone at the track about the rules

 

yea, that's what happens when you kick out the previous tenants of 30 years because your greedy, you find out you have no idea what your doing, web sights a mess, their FB page is useless too, no one replies to your emails, and the previous people you leased the land to have taken everything not permanently attached to the ground.

 

Show up at the track and take your chances. Worst case is that a tech inspection will let you know what needs to be corrected to allow you down the track. You don't pass tech, you get a refund for the next time.

 

Always show up with your car looking as professional and well put together as possible. Let them know you have a helmet. Put it on before they let you into the burnout box. Run 20-25 psi in your rear tires. Less if they are drag radials. Like 15ish psi. If racing at night, turn on your tail lights and front marker lights. Do not race with your headlights on. Let the faster car get on the return road first. Don't drive over 30mph on the return road.

 

^I'd have to disagree about the tire pressure. Low pressure for slicks, but my radials like 20+ psi.

 

Drag radials and street radials like different pressures. Street radials work better with normal or higher pressures. A radial tire isn't designed for low pressure. The steel belts in the tire don't allow the sidewalls to roll over like a real slick does with the lower pressure. A radial tire with low pressure will wear on the outside edges of the tire because the center of the tire is lifted off the ground. A drag radial normally works good in the low 20 psi range but when you look at the cost of the tires, it's better to just buy some real slicks unless you race in a class that requires a radial tire. No drag radial or DOT slick is designed to be run on the street. They just have a DOT rating for classes that require a DOT tire.

Street radials also use a different rubber compound. It's hard rubber designed for long street life. Any type of race tire uses softer rubber to provide better traction however they have a short life because the rubber wears off so quickly.

 

Most important is have fun and enjoy the time out at the track! Thats one thing that i always aim for. Its a great experience.

Take you helment if you think the car could go under 14.0s in the 1/4 mile. DOT isnt what most officials want to see but take it anyways. They want to see snell 2005 and up or sfi 31.1 2005 and up.

Take some basic tools with ya incase you need them to secure something down durring tech...exc.

They will probly check for a coolent over flow, your helment if you go fast enough, check to see your batt. is secure and possibly look for a driveshaft loop if your under 14.00 ets

For the tire issue, if you don't have slick or DR's just run i30psi or so in those street tires, you'll just have to launch carefully because if you start to spin you'll be irritated that you made such a horrid time on the pass. Best to just play around with the launches and learn from it. Personally i love having a set of slicks. I have way more tire then i need but knowing that i can hook easily and don't have to fry the tires off, is worth it. If your just a street/strip driver get slicks. I like how DR's look on cars but I personally think there a waste of cash unless your in a Drag radial class. Just my opinion so don't take it the wrong way.

 

Aren't there some weird issues with mixing front street radials and drag slicks in the rear?

 

thanks for all the info everyone. I may get a new rear set of tires because the ones i have now are very worn, but Im not getting drag tires. I'm not that desperate to get a good time. they arn't even timing the run so I'm going to have to get a friend to do it himself, old school stop watch style XD.

from what i got from they're going to be following all the NHRA drag rules. (although i didn't hear that from the track itself, only by word of mouth) so now i know what i need to get, battery mount is first, wont take bungee cords :P

but this has me a little, worried, i guess you can say

"Crew members discussing the current state of the track, even when prepped, rated it at a 3 on a scale of 1 to 10."

is that bad? or is it just bad for your time and not handling?

 

you probably wont notice a difference in your car. just run the hell out of it and have fun

 

That's about what our local track was like. On the street legal nights, it was barely a 1 and even with my big tires, I struggled to get traction. Occasionally on a good race weekend, we could get a 5.

So don't forget, everyone is getting the same traction. Since there's no timing system, it's a heads up bragging rights race. Don't get upset because you get beat by any other sort of vehicle. Just go and have fun.

 

at our local track on test n tune night lots of guys complain about track prep and traction but we can tell a difference in our 10 second car. its all about having fun

 

i know im just going to have fun, and im not expecting to win. my enemy will be the stop watch my friend will be holding. like i said this will be my first drag race ever so im setting my expectations kind of low. (of course i would like to see a time of under 15 before the night is over) but for the first runs im not going to push it hard.

 

so my car survived the drags at the drag, :P I can be almoast sure that my car was the favorite of the day. every time I took it out my dad said about 5 people in the crowd were talking about it ^.^ although I am sad to find out from the videos i have from inside the car (they didn't have a timing system or a tree, hell they didn't even have a cute girl in a bikini doing the arm drop) my best run was 16.2. but I averaged about 16.7

http://www.youtube.com/user/C0mmanderX/videos ---- I uploaded the videos to my YouTube account so i can share them

 

Never get upset about how fast/slow your car is. The worst buzz kill is to finally get to a dragstrip with a timing system to find out your "12 or 13 second" car only runs 15 or 16 seconds.

If it's a heads up race then HP and traction is normally going to win. If it's a bracket race then speed means nothing and everyone has an equal chance of winning. How fast you want to go only depends on your budget. Having a car that can be driven to the track, make a bunch of passes then drive home again without needing any repairs is a fun car to race.

In the external videos, you can hear a lot of tire squeal. Some sticky tires can help reduce that wheel spin even on a poorly prepped track.

Glad you had fun. It's an addictive drug. After making a few passes, you can't wait to go back and do it again. Watching a 16 second car going down the track is boring but when you're behind the wheel, even 16 seconds is exciting.

 

yea, when i was doing my runs I line up, go, get to the end, turn around and drive right back to the staging area. i did it about 6 times in a row until i realized that id been doing it for 45 minutes XD

yea inside my car it was a ton louder, the go pro didn't pick up even close to the sound level I was hearing. I actually didn't even know i had been passed or any of that until after i passed the finish and then looked around

i just love that I may have lost most of my runs, i got the holeshot almost every time. ^.^

 

Before passes write on your slip how you launched did you burn out etc, it will help you know what works for your car.

 

i would, if they would have timed it. but after this weekend they're ripping out the track and putting in a whole new one before they put in the tree and timing system they bought (because before firebird left they took everything that wasn't cemented to the ground, because for the last 30 years they held the lease on it, and not anymore)