First Time At The Drags

[Vevapower]

I wrote this out a couple of years back and most of it still rings true!

But yeah most of it has been covered off by Boganspeed earlier.

I don;t mind kicking off.

ZF 6 speed drag racing my experiences/tips.

1st outing

Things you'll need to do prior.

Make sure you take any loose items out of the car

Make sure you take a jumper for cooler months (beenie too if Sydney or Mel)

Make sure you have a long sleeve shirt

Make sure you have over half a tank or at least a 1/3 if you have a surge set up

Make sure you take a Tyre pressure gauge ($10 from Supacheap) .

Make sure you take helmet that complies to ANDRA AS/NZS1698 under 10 years old

Make sure you have an Andra license if you feel your car will dip into the 11's (WSID no longer has this rule and other tracks may have adopted this by now) best to check with the local strip.

When your there.

Best to arrive early to avoid being not let in and long cues through scrutineering

If it's you 1st time tell the desk it is don't lie (they will usually give you an FTXXX number which also alerts the marshals that it's your 1st time and they will be a bit more patient with you/ help you.

Park up in your respective lane and open your bonnet, good to get engine temp/bay temps down prior to the run.

Take notice of which lane goes before you and (remember some unique or standout cars) this way if your watching or away from your car you'll know you better hurry back to your car.

Time to go

Tyre pressures I found 22 - 24 in street tyre worked best (but trial an error here guys) and MT's 17 - 18 NItto NT05r's 22

Make sure you bonnet is fully locked down (some people just let it pop to cool and forget to push it back down)

Move as instructed to the designated lane.

If you don't want to do a burnout drive around the water

If you intend to do a burnout make sure you traction control is OFF

If your doing a burnout just Drive for first timers is fine or Manual if you know what your doing.

Street tyre burnouts only need to be a few seconds start in the water and slower come off the brake and dry the off in the dry surface for a second or two.

MT's burnout maybe pull 3 gears in the water (power dependent 2 gears if under 300 kws) and slower roll out and screech up

slowy approach the stage if your a first timer watch both the tree and the marshal as he will wave you up.

Bring the 1st light on (pre stage) then bump forward (slowly roll) until the second (bottom light comes on - full stage)

Now your ready to go.

First timers you might just want to watch the lights come down to green and the simply off brake and mash pedal.

Stalling up is the better method but does take practice and is dependent on a few things like tail haft spec, stall converter etc...

I found 2200ish rpm to be a good starting point for stalling.

I would bring up the stall gently and as I reached the designated rpm simply swap from brake to go pedal.

If you a first timer best to start with DRIVE

Manual is a bit trickier but ultimately quicker.

If manual I found pulling gears at 5500 to be about the best speak to your tuner to further refine this but the it best to pull it 500 rpm under the desired point due to human and mechanical lag.

Now your humming make sure you keep it pinned he whole way (unless you feel or hear an issue then jump off right away) trying to be WOT slightly past the 400 meter mark.

Now on the brake 2/3rs you don't want to be mashing on the brakes at over 200kms.

Slow down to around 50 - 60 and then easy does it back along the return road.

Make sure if its at night you turn your lights back OFF

Collect your ticket and park back up in your lane pop bonnet.

Repeat.

Other stuff.

It helps to go with someone that has a fair idea about these cars and they will be able to help you a lot in things you might forget about or habits you might have.

Also they can help you interpret your time slip and tell you places where you might be able to improve or better still advise you on what limit you may only be able to reach on the night.

Talk to other Turbo barra guys while your there and swap notes if amazing how much info you'll gain quickly if you do this.

And most of all have fun.

Warning DRAG RACING IS ADDICTIVE and EXPENSIVE.

[natsxr6]

Nice write up matty, spot on with everything

[Lennox]

So who's guilty of leaving traction control on accidentally during the burnout. I did it once.. Quite embarrassing

[Never had any say Panda]

Haha I did the burnout fine at a test and tune once.. But they held us up because one of the guys in front dropped oil..

So since it was fecking hot and of course aircon isn't an option we turned off the cars and stood next to them while waiting..

Forgot to turn traction off on that launch.. Though was a bit annoyed we weren't allowed to do another burnout..

[Rab]

/me puts his hand up

Traction control on and car in drive for my first run - was wondering why no burnout, but too excited to think my way through a start up routine.

[Bfneo]

Great write up guys ! Really helpful and answering all my questions !

Haha I'll make sure that I'll turn off the traction control haha last thing I want to do is embarrass myself !!!

[Vevapower]

Best thing about trying to do a burnout with TC on is that you wont do it again!

[Kimberley Scott]

Never been to the drags but my old BA used to override TC and switch itself off.

[gaz097]

Manual or auto?

[Kimberley Scott]

Me or the guy going to drags?