Some Driving Tips for Racing

[SixPakPete]

After doing some basic restoration and rebuilding, I finally have my 69 1/2 Six Pak RoadRunner ready for some mild strip action. The car is driven primarily on the street, so the mods were geared to making the car do well on the street vs strip. I redid the brakes, put the PST urethane bushings, new ball joints, super heavy duty torsion bars etc. It has an automatic with stock hemi torque converter, stock leaf springs, 3:55 gears. Motor is warmed over but nothing too radical. I do run the six pak setup.

It's been a long while since I did any racing with it. Anyone out there with some good drag racing tips on how I should best drive this puppy out of the hole? How do you approach the tree? When do you leave? Do you shift manually or let the shift itself?

Thanks for any help!

[383-man]

Some years back I raced my girlfriends 340 Dart with G-60 street tires and I had always run slicks on my car. Well my first pass was a 14.01 and then my brother went 13.57 so I drove it like he did. I held the brake tight and put it at about half throttle and when the last yellow was going out I released the brake and held the gas the same until I got about 50 ft out or so and then put it to the floor. It worked great as the tires did not spin and that is the secret to get good et,s with street ties and that is get out of the hole without breaking the tires loose or your et goes up in smoke .Anyway I ran a 13.49 and showed my brother you could drive.What a difference by not smoking the tires any! Good luck , by the way I shifted the 904 but it did not make much difference when I let it shift itself , Ron

[GTS225]

Well, let's see....If your running street tires, lower the air pressure in the rears, and raise it in the fronts. Less rolling resistance in front, and a slightly larger contact patch in back. If your running slicks, that will be up to you as far as air pressure.
Don't leave anything in the trunk that will move around, it could change your weight transfer characteristics.
Do a bit of experimenting with your staging. It depends quite a bit on your car as to whether you stage deep or shallow. Same goes for launching...you might be able to get away with launching when the last yellow comes on, then again, you might have to wait till it's going out.
Personally, I'd let the trans do the shifting in a street car. I suspect that in the long run, it will net you a bit of an advantage in consistent ET's.
I suggest that when you make changes of any kind, make only one change at a time. Try it out for a few passes to get a "measurable" results, and if it doesn't help, back up a step and try something different.
Maybe it's just me, but that old "trick" of hitting the brakes at the big end is a bunch of hooey....keep your foot in it 'til you cross the finish line and you'll get an honest feel for what you car is capable of.

[Belvedere]

I agree on feathering the throttle out of the hole and standing on it at about 60 to 75 ft out. With street treaded tires, drive around the water. The tread will pick up water and create problems on the line. Unless you are running some drag radials, your basic street tire can become over whelmed by a modest B-block. Keep an accurate log of what you did each time, that way you know what made a difference. Have a friend watch your car when you leave and pay attention to details. I would leave the tranny in drive and let it shift itself. If you get into bracket racing and feel you are breaking out on the big end, keep the throttle to the floor and apply the breaks, don't stab them. All you need is a few thousandths shaved off and a slight amount of drag will do that. Depending on where you race the tree can be full or pro. Some allow you to deep stage some don't. Talk to the track people or some of the racers to see what's allowed. They would prefer that you had some idea of what to expect. Make sure you don't stage with the rear tires. That's a dead give away you could be a rookie.

[JusHAT]

Never stab the brakes at the big end. If you are close to breaking out just release the gas and smash it down!

[Rob Campbell]

SIXPACK,

I have only ever run street tyres on a few occasions and found my times were to inconsistent due to wheel spin.

Now that I run slicks I find that the car is much more predictable, provided I get enough heat into them prior to launching.

The most important thing is to only change one thing at a time and measure the result.
When we make a change, we try it for 2-3 runs, this then gives us an accurate comparison.

However we only do this on test and tune days, during race day we do not change the car except for extreme temperature changes.

Get a good crew together and ask them to watch the car off the line and tell you what it did. Or better still get someone to videotape each run.

This way you can see exactly what the car is doing, or not doing.

Consistency is the key, try and do everything the same each run.
This will only come with practice.

[mopar34069 Joanne]

They have all suggested great tips the only thing I can add is make sure you have a helmet with you. Depending on the E.T. 13.99 and quicker you need a helmet to even run. Some guys that run slower still wear the helmet for piece of mind but 13.99 and quicker it is mandatory at the track.
Good Luck....

[bbaspense]

For bracket racing you need consistency. The key is to do the same thing evrey time.

When you roll up to the line just make it so the stage light flickers on. It is an easy spot to leave from each time. Some people roll in but don't know that they aren't in the same spot . You can roll another few inches before you are deep staged. That make a big difference in reaction because of roll out.

On street tires I would leave from idle and mash the pedal. Let the converter flash. Sometimes your converter will flash to a higher stall than foot braked . This will also allow the car to be out a few feet before all the peak torque goes to the tires. That should take out most of the wheel spin and will be consistant every time.

Milking the car off the line would never be the same twice.

I would shift the tranny manually at 5500. This is unless you have the tranny kickdown set up to shift the car around 5500 rpm. If it did I would leave it in drive. Consistency again.

The best way to dump someone is to hold the throttle down and stab the brake with the other. This will keep the engine underload and if you may had made wrong decision you still have momentum to power up again. This really works. I read that tip early and he was right on the money.

Like posted before....I run my 13.30 Aspen with 45 psi in the front tire. To find the best pressure for the rear you should find a empty parking lot and spin the tires. Raise and lower tire pressure until you can measure the full contact patch on the ground. I've heard some people needing 35 psi to get the full patch. You will have to experiment.

I know your car I rare and expensive But I would run a driveshaft loop to protect you from a driveshaft failure. I broke mine last year on a 13.40 pass and it broke at the 1000 foot mark. It broke my pinion, snubber smashed my floor, exhaust, bellhousing. If it wasn't for the driveshaft loop the driveshaft would have probably come through the floor. It scared the hell out of me and I don't want to see another person go through it. Also if you are running slicks at any time you will have to run one anyways.

Just my $.02.
Jason

[cuda66]

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http://www.4secondsflat.com/drtitlepage.htm