Ok, I know very little in regards to drag racing.. so I'm looking for a little enlightenment here.

I was checking out the SoCal F-body website, and was scrolling through the member's rides section. I saw a list of people who ran 9's, 10's, 11s, etc.. But I was really puzzled when I saw people running the same mph, but with different times. For example:

F-body (A) runs 12.xx at 106mph
F-body (B) runs 13.xx at 106+mph.

how does that work? Ok, maybe the person in car B had traction problems and couldn't hook up well enough to break 12's that day. But if the car couldn't hook up in the beginning and ended up running a really slow time at the end, then wouldn't the mph be a lot slower?

Also, what would be a "good" R/T and 60' time? I've only been to a drag strip once with my car and I ran a 13.4@106mph, but my R/T was something like 1.4, and 60ft was 2.2+. I realize that the R/T isn't really there, but do I have potential to run a very low 13, or even a (very) high 12?

thanks

age!

 

Well I will try to answer all of your questions, though it is kinda hard to explain in writing. First of all a perfect reaction time on a regular tree is .500, and a good 60' on street tires is a 1.9 or a 2.0. With your 106 mph you are capable of running a 12.8 or 12.9, but you would have to have slicks and pull a 1.7 to 1.8 60'.

Now the reason for different times with the same mph, is exactly what you said one car had traction problems. And your mph will be slightly higher when you have traction problems. The reason is that they are not really "clocking" your speed, but measuring how fast your car is accelerating or pulling. so if you spin the tires for 60' and then hook you will go past the finish line pulling a little harder, since the faster you go the slower you accelerate.

I hope this helps, maybe someone else can explain it better.

nick

 

Nevermind, I'd cancel this reply, but I had to try this one out: :lala:

 

This will be going to the Drag Racing board in a while.

 

Yea, it'll go over there where it'll be discussed further in depth, but mostly this has to do with traction and gearing. Also, your reaction time has no effect on your ET. You could cut a 2.5 second light and a .500 light and still turn out with the same ET both times.

 

And, at 106 mph, you can very easily run a 12.8 or so if you can manage to find some traction.

 

"Also, your reaction time has no effect on your ET. You could cut a 2.5 second light and a .500 light and still turn out with the same ET both times."

Yeah.