[joekd]

Originally Posted by wnta1ss

\ Because for me, etiquette would be that the guy on the inside gets the turnout first, unless you are WAY WAY WAY ahead of him.

Not etiquette, safety

Inside lane ALWAYS turns first no matter how far ahead you are. Have seen guys talked to by track officials for doing this more then once

[lt4camaro]

Originally Posted by 95 imp

You also want to launch sooner.

Lift off the brake when the last yellow illuminates.

For my M6, I usually leave at the second to last bulb. By the time you react, and your car starts moving, you will be closer to when the green light actually fires.

Your suggestion is all well and good if you are racing someone in the other lane, but otherwise reaction time has no affect on ET. OP can cut a perfect light and still run his same ET.

[ZO6Ted]

And the reason why turbo cars sometimes sit on the line to continue building boost several seconds after the green lol. Looking for the best ET.

[JSH]

Two comments:

1. After you've turned the staging light on, press the brake and gas and bring rpms up to say 3000

2. It's very difficult to cut a good light if you wait until the bottom amber light is on.

2a. Consistently cutting a good light (<.050) is difficult

[HP Hog]

Originally Posted by Yosh6

For best et light the second bulb, as shallow as humanly possible. What does that look like? The light flickers a few times and then stays fully lit.

Sorry for the ignorance but why does this effect your et? Does the timer start at some specific point on the track and not when you actually start moving? Thanks.

[HP Hog]

To answer several people's question. I am feeling some wheel spin through most of my launches. If I give it less wheel spin, it seems that my 60' times get worse though. Give it more throttle at launch and I spin more and the 60' times get worse. Dunno, maybe it's just in my head but that's what it seems like is going on. The tranny definitely short shifted into 2nd. How do I prevent this? Do I really need to turn off all nannies. I've heard of some pretty good times in competitive mode on this forum.

Btw, the guy in the redeye is running slicks or drag radials (can't remember which one) and he ran a 60' foot time of 1.79.

Thanks again for everyone's help.

[wnta1ss]

Originally Posted by HP Hog

Sorry for the ignorance but why does this effect your et? Does the timer start at some specific point on the track and not when you actually start moving? Thanks.

Yes, timer starts based on the light beams. What he was suggesting is because you'd then get the wheels moving a little before the timer starts.

[Yosh6]

Originally Posted by HP Hog

Sorry for the ignorance but why does this effect your et? Does the timer start at some specific point on the track and not when you actually start moving? Thanks.

There are two light beams in the staging area similar to the light beams on a garage door opener. The first beam lights the pre-stage light on the top of the tree. It is just a reference and has nothing to do with timing. When you trip the first light beam, you are pre-staged. When you roll forward and trip the second beam the bottom (staged) light comes on and you are FULLY staged and ready to race. If you can barely trip the second light and stop there, you are shallow staged. The two beams are 7" apart and that is also the distance mentioned most that you need to roll forward to uncover the stage beam which wiill trip the timer. When you hit the gas and start rolling forward, the E.T. clock does not start until your tire unblocks the second (stage) beam. So, one way to look at is you get about a 7" rolling start before actually starting the E.T. clock when you are shallow staged. To visualize the concept, what if it were 7-feet? That would be a nice rolling start. 7" doesn't sound like much but it is worth a few thousandths. Could be the difference between a 12.02 and an 11.98. Deeper staging would be achieved by rolling forward in that 7" area. If you roll forward enough, the top (pre-stage) light will go out. At that point you are "Deep Staged" which is an official drag racing term. That is frowned upon at a lot of tracks, including Little River. They may not say much in a Test N Tune, but if you do that in a bracket race or shootout, they WILL disqualify you. (If you roll forward too far and uncover the staged beam, you will get an instant RED LIGHT and never see green.)

So, why would you want to stage deep? For a better reaction time. This is important in a race, not important in a time trial. In a race, the time it takes to go from a standing stop to 1/4 mile is the combination of your Reaction Time plus your E.T. There are several timed events in a drag race. The only one that starts on the green light is reaction time. The longer you sit there without rolling forward off the stage beam, the longer your reaction time. You can sit staged after the green light comes on for any length of time and have no effect on your E.T. Your E.T. starts when you uncover the stage beam. That also starts the timers for 60', 330', 880' and 1/4 mile E.T. So, shallow stage for better E.T., stage deeper for better reaction time. There is a lot of strategy with staging in a race including late staging, early staging, and deep staging. Deep Staging is allowed in NHRA National Races. John Force deep stages more than any of the top NHRA pros. Not only does it improve the reaction time, the pre-stage light going out often distracts the opponent in the other lane. Sorry to go so long but a lot of people need a better understanding of this. I went to a drag strip a couple of weeks ago and half the people there did not understand staging. It gets very frustrating for those that do.

That brings up the issue of Staging Etiquette. In theory, both cars enter the water box at about the same time, do their burnouts and move to pre-stage at about the same time. They pre-stage, stage, lights start, easy peezy. Sometimes, one car is slower than the other in getting to the staging area. There used to be some time limits in the rules; I don't think they are there anymore. The official starter is in complete control and will motion drivers to get going if they are slow in getting staged. The problems come when you have something like a 12 second car racing an 8 second car. The 8 second car is usually slower to get to the line because they have more to deal with, especially turbo cars. IMHO, if you get to the staging area first and the other car is still in the water box, DON'T pre-stage. Sit there, wait and watch. When the other car gets close to pre-staging, then, you pre-stage, or let them pre-stage first. The order should always be one car pre-stages, second car pre-stages, BOTH should be pre-staged (top lights only) before anyone lights the bottom light. When one car is pre-staged and the other car is still in the water box, it doesn't look right, it doesn't look, well, courteous. The most discourteous thing to do is light up both lights before the other driver lights one.

[cjperformance]

Originally Posted by HP Hog

To answer several people's question. I am feeling some wheel spin through most of my launches. If I give it less wheel spin, it seems that my 60' times get worse though. Give it more throttle at launch and I spin more and the 60' times get worse. Dunno, maybe it's just in my head but that's what it seems like is going on. The tranny definitely short shifted into 2nd. How do I prevent this? Do I really need to turn off all nannies. I've heard of some pretty good times in competitive mode on this forum.

Btw, the guy in the redeye is running slicks or drag radials (can't remember which one) and he ran a 60' foot time of 1.79.

Thanks again for everyone's help.

Getting the wheelspin sorted is first order of business. Sounds like you are already feeling out the limits. Nannies and everything else really wont help if your tires and track combo dont support a hard launch. Maybe try on a warm day or night. Youll make less power with higher ambient temp, but youll also hook much better. 60 foot of 1.79 for something with what... 700 or 800 hp with a PD blower and DRs seems low. Difference between 60 degree track temp and 90 degree track temp are HUGE in terms of traction.

[lt4camaro]

Originally Posted by HP Hog

Sorry for the ignorance but why does this effect your et? Does the timer start at some specific point on the track and not when you actually start moving? Thanks.

You got some great answers that were well explained, short version is your car starts rolling further back from the timer start light giving you more of a rolling start by the time you trip the start light.

[lt4camaro]

Regarding wheel spin, if you insist on going down the track on the factory tires, go on a sunny day. Run after the noon hour when the sun has warmed up the track, do good burnout and make sure your rear tire pressure is 25 psi warmed or 23-24 PSI before your burn out session. Your already in competitive mode so you have no traction control. Concentrate on launching as hard as you can with no tire spin and feel the tires bite and roll into the throttle to the floor. Couple of simple things, air up the front tires to 45PSI and remove the front sway bar and go with a full tank of gas.

[HP Hog]

Thank you everybody for the answers. Much appreciated.