First off read Daytona's post on this thread

Here are some others, sorry if they get repeated.

Stall Launch Also called "loading up" Easy to do. One foot hard on the brake, another light on the gas. When the lights come down, off the brake and slam the gas. The tricky part is finding the right "launch RPM" You don't want to spin the wheels on your launch, even a chrip of the tires can cost you time. This helps by locking up the torque converter, and starting with the motor at 2000 RPM's is much better than 800 RPM's

Tire pressureI run 35 PSI on the street but go down to 26 PSI on the track. Go low tire pressure gives a bit better traction, but you don't want to go too low becasue it will slow you down too much. Flater tires are harder to break (spin)

Good Burnout Unless your running slicks, go around the waterbox. You don't want your tires wet here at all. Advoid water like the plauge, even driving thru the pits. You'll see rubber on the track surface, try to do your burnout on that. It is very sticky and burnouts heat up tires. The combo gets the tires really, really sticky. Kinda like movie theather floor. If you ever walk across the rubber on the track, even tightly laced shoes pull off your feet :eek:

All Acc Off Kinda a no brainer, Radios distract you and draw power away. A/C is a speed killer, and heat doesn't help out either (at least on the line) If your running at night, headlights are OK, but cut off the fogs.

Cool Motor Down Running the heat, and holding down the gas a little bit will reduce underhood temps. You'll see the needle move

Lose Weight Not you but the car. Spare tire and jack are about 30 lbs. Don't carry unneccessary crap to the track. If you are going alone and take food and such, just travel light.

Run Less Gas In a FWD car, a 1/4 to 3/8 tank is all you'll need. Higher Octane isn't neccessary but if you want to run it, go for it. If you use track gas, no more than 100 Octane (unless they have a lower grade ava)

Run Auto Tranny in "3" Driving in 3 will pervent the car from going into overdrive. Overdrive is a cruising gear. An Alero will not outrun 3rd gear in the 1/4 mile (unless s/c or t/c) and shifting won't help.

Reaction Time or R/T Reaction time is very important in bracket and heads up racing. It could win or lose your race. ALWAYS GO ON THE 3RD AMBER The old saying is, "If you still there when the light turns green, you lost" The New LED systems set a perfect light at .000, the old light blub system was .500 for a perfect light. You typical ricer on Import racing days will set between .400 and .700 R/T. I avg about .080 and if I get anything higher than .125 I hate myself. Daytona avg about .020 and hates anything higher than .040. I know this is confusing so let's look at an example.

Your car runs a 15.50 and the other car is running a 15.00. That's a 1/2 second faster than you, but that doesn't mean he or she will win. If car 2 has a .100 light and you have a .088 light, you will win by .012 seconds or about the distance from the front bumper to the front of the front wheel well. You beat a faster car, by R/T

Dial In Time This is key in bracket racing. Also call handicapped racing. You perdict what the car will run based off you previuos runs of the day. Let's just say you ran 15.82 , 15.78 , & 15.84 I would dial at 15.77 or 15.76 pending on the current weather and the time of the fastest run. I see a lot of kids on Import day dialing about 1 second faster than the car will run. Dreaming doesn't win races. If you outrun your dial, you break out and lose.

Deep Staging Daytona does this, I cannot. At the top of the "tree" (lights) there are 2 sets of yellow lights. The very top is "Pre-Stage" and the second is "Stage" Deep Staging means that after you light both lights, you roll ahead a little bit more and the very top lights go out. Only the "Stage" lights are on. This will cause you to have a better R/T and faster E/T but a lower MPH. I red light a lot doing this. "Red lightning" or "going red" mean you went before the ambers came down and this gives a negtive R/T. One time I red lighted by -.004 Heartbreak. I was deep staging at the time.

Be consistant What ever you run in time shots, do the same in brackets. Don't change what your doing when comp starts. If your best run is 15.80 and you think you can get 15.40 by doing something different, do it next time.

very good information Redog, thankyou for posting that, i'm sure it will help out many of our younger members who don't know quite what to do.........thanx again!!! :thumbsup:

thats awesome redog....very informative.

yeah, great stuff man....bummer though, I thought I was going to find out how to run 12's for under 50 bucks.....heh

great info redog, im a bit smarter 2day :thumbsup:

i learned my 1 new thing for the day...it has been a sucessful day

Great post. Learned a few new things. Thanks

I'm pinning this the to sticky pad.

good post, but heating up stock tires doesn't do anything except waste tread.

you heat up drags so that the compound gets softer/stickier, stock tires arn't like that, made of different materials.

hey i got a question, and this may sound stupid.

My alero's steering is incredably sensitive (compared to other cars from different companies ive driven) and im worried that it will be a problem when i go to race this season. Ive never done a drag race before so i dont know how hard it is to control the car at higher speeds and acceleration. any words of advance in n00b language to help me out?

also how do i do a good burnout? ive spun tires and left rubber in parking lots playing with my friends but nothing like where i stay still and constantly spin.

only way to constantly spin is to turn off your traction control and pull your parking brake, then floor it...i wouldn't do it though, its hard on your car and tires.

accelerate your car as fast as you can from a stop, that will show you how hard it is to control the car at higher speeds and acceleration. you wont get above 90 at the track....

one of my friends was telling me that i should run with the traction control off. is this true? i was thinking that having it on would help me from spinning off the line but he knows a little more than i do so i want to know what you guys say.

Having it on will only slow down the engine, not a good thing when at the track.

^^ Yeah if you spin up enough the TCS will kick on and slow you down and flooring it takes longer for the car to regain from TCS

My great description of how your power system places a mechanical load on your car is gone :cry:

thats awesome thanks :)

hey guys thanks. i just got back from the track (75-80) and im really happy becuase for my first time racing my best time was a 16.2525. I completely blew away my friend in his eclipse whos best time was a 16.5.

I gutted my car except for door panels but other than that pretty much everything and i have a custom intake and ran no filter except the MAF screen(which, believe it or not, helped) i dont leave it like this when you leave the track and forced inducted it but anyways i ran 15.979 beating my friends 3800 camaro. he ran 16.1 best oh i have the 3400 engine by the way

just a couple things my manager at work posted up for the local track-goers. :thumb:
http://www.nyspeed.com/forums/showthread.php?t=857
http://www.nyspeed.com/forums/showthread.php?t=855

Can't read the posts without registering and logging in. Copy-and-paste it into a thread here, please.

Link 1: Weight loss for your car
Some of these I don't recommend for those of you who daily drive your car, haven't yet payed your car off, or are very accident prone. Do so at your own leisure. Do all of them and you could easily shave 200-300lbs off of your ride. These tips are beyond the obvious spare tire, jack etc.....


1. Scrape all of the undercoating off (scummy weekend job, oven cleaner works good, gasket remover too. Again if you drive your car in the winter, you may not want to do this) -20 lbs
2. Remove your carpet and all sound deadening. You can put the carpet back in and leave the deadening out if you want. -30lbs.
3. Buy a lighter battery. Those 900 cold cranking amp batteries can weigh nearly 75lbs. The ones you guys run for your stereos can go even heavier. Maybe pick up an el-cheapo one for your runs at the track? -15/30lbs depending
4. Remove your non-drive wheel sway bar. You AWD cars are SOL here -15lbs
5. OBD-1 compliant cars Gut the cat(s). Pick up a few HP while your at it -5lbs
6. Remove your bumpers. This is a serious weekend job. 500 bolts, clips and brackets later and they are off. REMEMBER-a 10 mph tiny fender bender now becomes a radiator into the front of the motor accident now-due so at your own risk! -40/70lbs
7. Remove your A/C compressor, condensor etc.....you'll have to buy the corresponding belt for your application -50lbs
8. Remove all stereo stuff, power antenna, head unit, speakers, wiring the works. Gives you an excuse to buy more guages to fill the head unit hole too -20lbs
9. Fair weather cars--Remove wipers, motor, wiring--put some rain-x on your windshield to be safe -25lbs


The ones below require cash, but are worth it.(I should've put the battery one here, oh well)

1. Header(s) -15/30lbs
2. Racing seats -20/50lbs
3. Fiberglass hood/carbon fiber hood -25/50lbs
4. New wheels -20/50lbs

There are tons of more things you can buy to shave weight, but basically anything that replaces steel with aluminum or along those lines will work.


Link 2: Drag Racing Tips
I figured i'd post this since there seem to be a lot of questions coming up about car setup for the track. Add to the list as you feel necessary.......

CAR SETUP:

1.Remove excess weight (spare tire, jack, stereo eqipment, rear seats)
-Theres tons of other stuff that could get their own forum here
2. Inflate your non-drive tires rock hard (reduces rolling resistance)
3. Wash and wax your car (dirt has weight and is not aerodynamic)
4. Clean your K+N or replace your air filter (freer flowing)
5. Put a bag of ice on the intake (double bag it so there isnt a mess on
your motor)
6. Increase your spark plug gap .010" (don't overdue this!)
7. Go to a 1 heat range cooler plug (dissipates combustion heat faster)
8. RWD cars, unbolt or remove front sway bar (better weight transfer)
9. Run highest octane gas for a few weeks before the race (computer
won't pull timing)
10. Only fill your tank maybe 1/4 full (less weight)

DRIVING

1. DO NOT GO IN THE WATER WITH YOUR STREET TIRES!
2. Don't heat them up either, just a dry hop to burn any crap off of them
3. Shallow stage for best E.T. (just barely trick the stage beam. This
allows your car a few inches of momentum before the E.T. clocks
actually start, thereby reducing your E.T. a tiny bit)
4. Play with the air pressure on your drive tires to get the best traction
(what works for you on the street may not work at the track
you'll have to experiment. I bring a portable air compressor with me)


I will start a new thread with not so easy weight loss tips for your car too.

earlier it stated to turn off your tcs, i bought my alero used, and it doesn't come w/ a manual, how exactly is this done?

Nevermind, i f***ed around for a minute today and found it....stupid thing should be label TCS be much easier for idots *cough* *cough*

I also have what may be considered a stupid question. I noticed earlier someone said to put it in 3. Will it be better to manually shift it or will it have any more effect on the car's performance?

D is an overdrive gear, the car shifts better in 3 in the 1/4 mile.

You don't want your car shifting into overdrive in the 1/4 since it's more a cruising gear and for highway fuel ecomony.

You're not going to run out of gear in a stock Alero

does using 3 vs D have any effect in the 1/8?

3 vs D in the 1/8th wont matter as long as you're at WOT the whole way.

As far as manually shifting, you shouldn't need to if you're in 3 and you press the gas pedal slightly farther than the firewall.