yesterday i spent all day at the 1/8 mile drag races. hoo boy that was fun! lemme tell you, racing at a tree is a LOT harder than street racing. basically, my best reaction time of the night was a .8 and my best 60 foot was 2.4. i need PRACTICE!!! anyway, i have a few stories from this.
killed a nova 9.9 vs 10.2 (his reaction time didn't save him, i only won by like .05 seconds).
got killed by a fucking vw shitbox, but it was AWD and he was a regular (knew how to race) not only that, i would have DEMOLISHED him in the 1/4 at the rate i was closing the gap.
ran a few more shitty times, left for dinner, came back. they started the different divisions of racing: high school heads up, domestic heads up and bracket, and import heads up and bracket. i was entered in the bracketed. for those who don't know, the difference between the two is so: heads up racing is who's fastest. the green lights go at the same time. bracketed racing, you have what's called a 'dial in time.' you can NOT run faster than your dial in time or you get disqualified. this is to make the races even because you leave at different times, and whoever has the better reaction time wins the race.
also, for those of you who don't know, when you get a drag racing time, the time does not include your reaction time. the quarter mile time starts when you start, not when the green goes. so, knowing this, i was in the bracketed import racing (even though my car's an eagle... go figure). so, of course, my first race i look over, and what do i see? a dodge? dart with a 9.2 dial in. my dial in was 9.7. so i'm playing the rabit that he has to chase down. i pull up to the line, read my tree, dump the clutch WAY to hard and spin 'em all the way through first. by the time i grab second the dart's closed the gap and in front of me. As my tires chirp into second and the rpms start climbing, i gain some ground back, and i'm coming up on the finish all too fast. no time to shift nicely into third and as i try for the power shift to make up ground BAM gears grind, throw it out, i bounce of the rev-limiter and lose all my boost. SHIT, i'm done for. the dart finishes with me at his bumper, .2 seconds behind him. coming around to pick up the time slip, i find out he broke out. he wasn't planning on me catching up, and he didn't want to lose, so he had to give it more gas, and he broke his dial in by .03 seconds.
at this point i felt bad 'cause he deserved the win, i ran a 9.95, which was my worst of the day, and the only thing that saved me was my .8 reaction time. (2.6 60' time) anyway, i pull back in the line to race again and his buddy pulls up behind me, and we start talking and he asks me who i just beat, and i had to tell him i beat his friend in the dart. he was dissapointed but it's not a bad thing that he ran faster than a 9.3 in the long run, so no big deal. the guy in the dart comes up and shakes my hand, and i get ready to race again.
next race is vs a guy i met in a galant vr4 at the track. fyi, a gvr4 is a dsm also. anyway, he's almost bone stock and dialing in at 9.55, so he's playing catch-up. well, that's not exactly how it worked out AGAIN. again, with a shitty ass 2.5 60 foot vs his 2.1, i was the one playing catch-up again, and catch up i did. even though my car wouldn't let me into 3rd gear speed-shifting again, i broke out with a 9.65, .05 seconds faster than my dial-in, ending my night.
no big deal, i watched all my other dsm buddies get beat on the track in the heads-up division. bad night for the awd guy, alex, losing to a turbo supra. watching another awd guy lay out his tranny vs the same supra. the supra guy supposedly called out alex that night for street racing 'cause alex BLATENTLY missed a shift and still put up a good race. anyway, the supra flaked and the dsm boys left the legal races, and headed to the illegal races.
there alex had a score to settle with a 90 mustang 5.0 with crazy gears (no top end), cams, exhaust, headers, the works basically. this guy was toying with all the other camaros and mustangs out there, running behind them, tail gating them, while getting on and off the throttle to fuck with them. anyway, the night goes on and alex finally lines up with this guy. BAM AWD LAUNCH KICKY-POW!!! alex starts with a car lead, vs a very nice RWD launch and extends to a 2 car length. not bad for a stock turbo? no sir. and with much congradulations, we retired for the night. btw, alex's car runs mid 12's on street tires, definitely a force to be trifled with.
that's my story :O
-steyr
killed a nova 9.9 vs 10.2 (his reaction time didn't save him, i only won by like .05 seconds).
got killed by a fucking vw shitbox, but it was AWD and he was a regular (knew how to race) not only that, i would have DEMOLISHED him in the 1/4 at the rate i was closing the gap.
ran a few more shitty times, left for dinner, came back. they started the different divisions of racing: high school heads up, domestic heads up and bracket, and import heads up and bracket. i was entered in the bracketed. for those who don't know, the difference between the two is so: heads up racing is who's fastest. the green lights go at the same time. bracketed racing, you have what's called a 'dial in time.' you can NOT run faster than your dial in time or you get disqualified. this is to make the races even because you leave at different times, and whoever has the better reaction time wins the race.
also, for those of you who don't know, when you get a drag racing time, the time does not include your reaction time. the quarter mile time starts when you start, not when the green goes. so, knowing this, i was in the bracketed import racing (even though my car's an eagle... go figure). so, of course, my first race i look over, and what do i see? a dodge? dart with a 9.2 dial in. my dial in was 9.7. so i'm playing the rabit that he has to chase down. i pull up to the line, read my tree, dump the clutch WAY to hard and spin 'em all the way through first. by the time i grab second the dart's closed the gap and in front of me. As my tires chirp into second and the rpms start climbing, i gain some ground back, and i'm coming up on the finish all too fast. no time to shift nicely into third and as i try for the power shift to make up ground BAM gears grind, throw it out, i bounce of the rev-limiter and lose all my boost. SHIT, i'm done for. the dart finishes with me at his bumper, .2 seconds behind him. coming around to pick up the time slip, i find out he broke out. he wasn't planning on me catching up, and he didn't want to lose, so he had to give it more gas, and he broke his dial in by .03 seconds.
at this point i felt bad 'cause he deserved the win, i ran a 9.95, which was my worst of the day, and the only thing that saved me was my .8 reaction time. (2.6 60' time) anyway, i pull back in the line to race again and his buddy pulls up behind me, and we start talking and he asks me who i just beat, and i had to tell him i beat his friend in the dart. he was dissapointed but it's not a bad thing that he ran faster than a 9.3 in the long run, so no big deal. the guy in the dart comes up and shakes my hand, and i get ready to race again.
next race is vs a guy i met in a galant vr4 at the track. fyi, a gvr4 is a dsm also. anyway, he's almost bone stock and dialing in at 9.55, so he's playing catch-up. well, that's not exactly how it worked out AGAIN. again, with a shitty ass 2.5 60 foot vs his 2.1, i was the one playing catch-up again, and catch up i did. even though my car wouldn't let me into 3rd gear speed-shifting again, i broke out with a 9.65, .05 seconds faster than my dial-in, ending my night.
no big deal, i watched all my other dsm buddies get beat on the track in the heads-up division. bad night for the awd guy, alex, losing to a turbo supra. watching another awd guy lay out his tranny vs the same supra. the supra guy supposedly called out alex that night for street racing 'cause alex BLATENTLY missed a shift and still put up a good race. anyway, the supra flaked and the dsm boys left the legal races, and headed to the illegal races.
there alex had a score to settle with a 90 mustang 5.0 with crazy gears (no top end), cams, exhaust, headers, the works basically. this guy was toying with all the other camaros and mustangs out there, running behind them, tail gating them, while getting on and off the throttle to fuck with them. anyway, the night goes on and alex finally lines up with this guy. BAM AWD LAUNCH KICKY-POW!!! alex starts with a car lead, vs a very nice RWD launch and extends to a 2 car length. not bad for a stock turbo? no sir. and with much congradulations, we retired for the night. btw, alex's car runs mid 12's on street tires, definitely a force to be trifled with.
that's my story :O
-steyr
