Camaro5 Chevy Camaro Forum / Camaro ZL1, SS and V6 Forums - Camaro5.com - View Single Post

xjer22x · 09-10-2013, 04:36 PM

This is what i got typed up so far. Some good verbage to know.

TERMS AND PHRASES OF DRAG RACING:

ET = "NHRA DEFINES THIS AS HOW QUICK A VEHICLE IS" this is basically your final time it took to travel the 1/4 mile distance.

MPH = "NHRA DEFINES THIS AS HOW FAST A VEHICLE IS" how fast you were going at different points of the track. This is also a good indicator of how much power your car is producing. it is possible to run a slower ET than another car with less power, but you will produce a higher MPH. Also has a ton to do with aero dynamics and at what rpm your motor is happiest. Measured at 1/8 mile, 1/4 mile and with NHRA 1000' as well. The way it determines your speed is how fast you go from cone to cone (the cones are those orange thingys in the center of the track lol)

REACTION TIME(full tree) =**DOES NOT AFFECT 1/4 MILE TIME AT ALL** This indicates how much time it takes from the last amber light being turned on and the car starting the Elapsed Time timer. The green light is turned on .500 seconds after the last amber, so a R/T value of .500 indicates a "perfect time". A value less than .500 indicates the car started before the Green light, which is called Red Lighting. A time greater than .500 indicate how much delay occured from the Green light coming on to when the car started moving out of the stage beam. There are some tracks where a perfect reaction time will result in a "0.000" due to them starting the counter at a -.500 after the last amber light to be able to display a perfect reaction as zero's

60 FT = this is very important figure as well. Basically shows the amount of time it took you to travel 60 ft from the start line. its amazing how those first 60ft can make or break the whole race.

CONES = the cones in the center of the track have reflectors on them and a beam is shot from the outside of the track to the reflector. When the beam is broken that is when it will give you the time it took for you to reach that cone. The cones are located at 60 feet, 330 feet, 660 feet or 1/8 mile, 1000 feet, and 1320 feet or 1/4 mile. There are two cones located at 660 feet and 1320 feet, and with NHRA drag races they are located at 1000 feet as well. The two cones are used to determine mph.

CHRISTMAS TREE = on a Christmas tree there are two prestage bulbs per side, two stage bulbs per side, three ambers per side, one green light per side and one red light per side. there are three types of trees that can be dropped.

.400 PRO TREE= Pro tree is where once staged all three ambers will turn on at the same time (pretty much saying "go"). 4 tenths pro tree gives you 4 tenths of a second from when the ambers turn on for you to reach the activation beam.

.500 PRO TREE= 5 tenths pro tree does the same thing but gives you 5 tenths of a second.

.500 FULL TREE= Full tree will turn the first amber on, then the second, then the third (kind of like saying ready, set, go). There is a .500 delay between each amber light and the green light. It gives you 5 tenths of a second to reach the activation beam once the last amber lights up. Move too early and it will be a red light which means automatic D.Q. (and no D.Q. does not mean dairy queen lol)

STARTING LINE = there are three beams at the starting line. Prestage, stage and the activation beam. To stage your car you must activate both prestage and stage beams (or if "deep staged" you can roll farther to turn off the prestage bulb). After the first racer completes staging, there generally is a 7 second window for the other racer to complete staging( some track are generous and allow 10 seconds) once both cars are staged then the guy running the Christmas tree can activate the tree with a button, thus starting the timers.

DENSITY ALTITUDE aka "DA" - Simple terms, this is a calculated number that simulates your elevation above sea level. The higher the elevation, the less oxygen is in the air per square inch, causing the car to struggle to produce power. I.E.... if the DA is calculated to be +1200, that means the airs density is equal to the air you would find 1200 feet above sea level. Generally the higher the elevation, the less oxygen there is in the air. This leads to a car struggling to produce power when there is less oxygen. This does generally have more of an impact on N/A cars due to the design. And forced induction cars not as much. But it still can play a big factor in the performance of a vehicle. There are several "DA Calculators" that an be found on the internet that will calculate what the actual simulated DA is, and then tell you an estimate of what you could expect for a 1/4 mile time if the DA was zero(sea level). They use weather conditions at the time including temperature, humidity, barometric pressure, your actual elevation, etc to figure out the DA. Generally you want lower temps, low humidity, and high barometric pressure.

GENERAL RACERS TERMS

BOGGING - This is the result of attempting to launch the vehicle with either too low of an RPM, not enough power, or releasing the clutch to quickly. The tricky part about launching is finding the right combination of RPM, Clutch release, and throttle amount. So when you attempt to launch, and it feels like the car fell on its face or takes off very slowly. Thats an example of bogging down. The reverse affect is when you launch with too much RPM, too much throttle, or releasing the clutch to quickly - you spin the tires. So its all a matching game.

WHEEL HOP - A downside to IRS is the possibility of wheel hop. This is the cause of the geomitry and movement of the suspension all working together to create a bouncing effect. In basic terms, the tires are bouncing up and down very rapidly due to lack of tracking. unlike a solid axles that is stuck together on both sides. Each wheel in the rear is all hooked up by itself. And when it starts to lose traction, it can create a motion of moving upwards and twisting at the same time. So the tire start to skip violently. inside the car it feels like an earthquake in sense. This can cause extreme damage from axles snapping, rear ends braking, to body panels moving. **rule of thumb - if you feel wheel hop - let of the gas and abort the pass**

BREAKING - AND WHAT TO DO - this is pretty self explanatory. if something goes wrong, blows up, snaps, stops working, etc.... that is a break. But the biggest thing that could determine how long the track is down is what to do if you break. This is a risk we all take by going to the track. But don't fear it at all. At any point if you feel like something is wrong, hear noises that aren't normal, or worst case scenario you see smoke behind you. The golden rule is pull out of the groove, and as close to the wall as possible as quickly as you can. What you want to eliminate is spreading pieces or fluids across the track. This can be very dangerous for anyone else racing. You will become everyones worst enemy if you drive down the whole track while leaking oil. So at first sign of anything going wrong, pull over as quickly and safely as possible

COURTESY STAGING - (except deep staging) - After your burnout, roll up to the line, light one bulb on the tree. Do not light the second bulb until the car in the other lane has at least lit one bulb. They can roll in and light both bulbs if you already have one lit but nobody should light both bulbs until the other car has one lit. Note: Deep stage cars should abide by the same rule. However, I have seen instances when the deep stage car will quickly get in and light the second bulb. Note: Once a driver lights both bulbs, the other driver typically has 10 seconds to stage.

ROLL-OUT - is the time from when the driver initiates the leave until the car physically leaves the starting line that starts the Elapsed Time (E.T.) clock. This could and should effect how you stage and leave the line. I will not dispose all the technical components of this, but a Heads/Cam Camaro on 20" drag radials will have roughly .42-.50 roll-out.

DRIVER-MOD - This is a polite way of saying that someones car can run a faster time, if a better driver was racing the car. It could be for a number of reasons... a driver that doesn't weigh as much, has more experience, or has more skill. Or a combo of all things. This is used to point out a car is capable of a faster time if there was a different driver altogether.

BOTTOM END / LOW END- First half of the race track

TOP END- Last half of the race track

FOOTBRAKE - The process of holding the brake with your left foot while bringing the RPM up with your right foot in preparation to launch. This stalls up the torque converter allowing for a better launch.

SANDBAGGING - Term used in bracket racing. Generally, the car slows down before the finish line to avoid breaking out and run their index/dial-in. Note: Jumping on the brakes at the finish line can be dangerous.

AT THE STRIPE- Beating or losing to a fellow competitor just at the finish line.

MANUAL RACERS TERMS

SLIPPING THE CLUTCH / FEATHERING THE CLUTCH - this is the act of regulating the clutch pedal to minimize tire spin. instead of releasing the clutch pedal rapidly or full engage it, you modulate the pedal mid or half way through its travel to cause the clutch disks to "slip" on the flywheel. This is used also to minimze the amount of "shock" the drivetrain feels during the launch.

POP THE CLUTCH / SIDE STEP THE CLUTCH - This is the act of releasing the clutch pedal as fast as you can. Some describe it as "side stepping" or basically just sliding your foot off the pedal so it snaps up. But this can be done just by pulling your leg bag as quickly as possible too.

BURNOUT - The burnout for a manual car will work best if you start in 2ND gear. This allows for the tires to spin much faste causing them to heat up better and quicker. **MAKE SURE ALL TRACTION CONTROL AND NANNIES ARE OFF**

*WITH DRAG RADIALS
- back into the water just slightly
- then roll forward just a little bit
- Put the car in 2nd gear
- bring the RPM up to around 4500-5000rpm
- then fully release the clutch (pop the clutch) and quickly hold down on the brake pedal very firmly(with your left foot)
- then you want to hold the rpms around 5000rpm while doing the burnout
- continue the burnout until there is a decent amount of smoke
- at this time you release the brake pedal and roll out of the burnout a little bit before pushing in the clutch and then stage

*WITH STREET TIRES
- THIS CAN BE TOUCHY DEPENDING ON THE ACTUAL STREET TIRE. SO PLAY AROUND AND SEE WHAT WORKS BEST.
- Avoid the water box altogether. Just before pulling up to stage, just spin the tires quickly to clean them off.
- Some street tires like a quick burnout. So just light them up and release just as you see smoke.
- some street tires produce a film when they get too hot. Thats why you need to test each style out.

POWERSHIFTING / FLAT FOOT SHIFTING - unlike a normal gear change where you slightly release the throttle as you push in the clutch - power shifting is the act of never lifting your foot of the throttle as you change gears. This is done as a means to reduce the amount of time its takes to shift and keep power to the tires. You still do depress the clutch while changing gears as normal

MISS-SHIFTING / MISSING A GEAR - whenever you attempt to change into a higher or lower gear but you don't successfully get it fully in gear. This can happen due to trying to shift quickly and your feet are not moving at the same rate as your hand. Some times when this happens you can hear a grinding noise and it stays in neutral, or there is resistance from not having the clutch fully disengaged - causing your hand to slip off of the shifter. Most commonly you will hear of 2nd or 3rd gear being missed with a camaro and this can destroy a good run.

CLUTCH PEDAL STUCK ON FLOOR - another flaw to the camaro design is that the brake reservoir is shared with the clutch fluid. What this causes is the fluid to become overheated and contaminated very quickly. The side effects to this cause the clutch pedal to get stuck after being pressed down. It happens more frequently on warmer days, or after a couple passes at the strip. the pedal will get stuck part way or all the way down causing you to burn your clutch. You will smell a bad burning smell and it shortens the life of your clutch - THE EASIEST FIX FOR THIS IS TO SEPARATE YOUR CLUTCH FLUID FROM YOUR BRAKE FLUID. MOST COMMONLY THIS IS DONE WITH A GTO RESERVOIR KIT. AND SWITCHING THE CLUTCH FLUID TO A HIGHER QUALITY FLUID HELPS AS WELL.

09-10-2013, 04:36 PM	#2
xjer22x Drives: 2010 rs/ss black # 10,308 Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: hoffman estates, il Posts: 914 View My Garage	This is what i got typed up so far. Some good verbage to know. TERMS AND PHRASES OF DRAG RACING: ET = "NHRA DEFINES THIS AS HOW QUICK A VEHICLE IS" this is basically your final time it took to travel the 1/4 mile distance. MPH = "NHRA DEFINES THIS AS HOW FAST A VEHICLE IS" how fast you were going at different points of the track. This is also a good indicator of how much power your car is producing. it is possible to run a slower ET than another car with less power, but you will produce a higher MPH. Also has a ton to do with aero dynamics and at what rpm your motor is happiest. Measured at 1/8 mile, 1/4 mile and with NHRA 1000' as well. The way it determines your speed is how fast you go from cone to cone (the cones are those orange thingys in the center of the track lol) REACTION TIME(full tree) =DOES NOT AFFECT 1/4 MILE TIME AT ALL This indicates how much time it takes from the last amber light being turned on and the car starting the Elapsed Time timer. The green light is turned on .500 seconds after the last amber, so a R/T value of .500 indicates a "perfect time". A value less than .500 indicates the car started before the Green light, which is called Red Lighting. A time greater than .500 indicate how much delay occured from the Green light coming on to when the car started moving out of the stage beam. There are some tracks where a perfect reaction time will result in a "0.000" due to them starting the counter at a -.500 after the last amber light to be able to display a perfect reaction as zero's 60 FT = this is very important figure as well. Basically shows the amount of time it took you to travel 60 ft from the start line. its amazing how those first 60ft can make or break the whole race. CONES = the cones in the center of the track have reflectors on them and a beam is shot from the outside of the track to the reflector. When the beam is broken that is when it will give you the time it took for you to reach that cone. The cones are located at 60 feet, 330 feet, 660 feet or 1/8 mile, 1000 feet, and 1320 feet or 1/4 mile. There are two cones located at 660 feet and 1320 feet, and with NHRA drag races they are located at 1000 feet as well. The two cones are used to determine mph. CHRISTMAS TREE = on a Christmas tree there are two prestage bulbs per side, two stage bulbs per side, three ambers per side, one green light per side and one red light per side. there are three types of trees that can be dropped. .400 PRO TREE= Pro tree is where once staged all three ambers will turn on at the same time (pretty much saying "go"). 4 tenths pro tree gives you 4 tenths of a second from when the ambers turn on for you to reach the activation beam. .500 PRO TREE= 5 tenths pro tree does the same thing but gives you 5 tenths of a second. .500 FULL TREE= Full tree will turn the first amber on, then the second, then the third (kind of like saying ready, set, go). There is a .500 delay between each amber light and the green light. It gives you 5 tenths of a second to reach the activation beam once the last amber lights up. Move too early and it will be a red light which means automatic D.Q. (and no D.Q. does not mean dairy queen lol) STARTING LINE = there are three beams at the starting line. Prestage, stage and the activation beam. To stage your car you must activate both prestage and stage beams (or if "deep staged" you can roll farther to turn off the prestage bulb). After the first racer completes staging, there generally is a 7 second window for the other racer to complete staging( some track are generous and allow 10 seconds) once both cars are staged then the guy running the Christmas tree can activate the tree with a button, thus starting the timers. DENSITY ALTITUDE aka "DA" - Simple terms, this is a calculated number that simulates your elevation above sea level. The higher the elevation, the less oxygen is in the air per square inch, causing the car to struggle to produce power. I.E.... if the DA is calculated to be +1200, that means the airs density is equal to the air you would find 1200 feet above sea level. Generally the higher the elevation, the less oxygen there is in the air. This leads to a car struggling to produce power when there is less oxygen. This does generally have more of an impact on N/A cars due to the design. And forced induction cars not as much. But it still can play a big factor in the performance of a vehicle. There are several "DA Calculators" that an be found on the internet that will calculate what the actual simulated DA is, and then tell you an estimate of what you could expect for a 1/4 mile time if the DA was zero(sea level). They use weather conditions at the time including temperature, humidity, barometric pressure, your actual elevation, etc to figure out the DA. Generally you want lower temps, low humidity, and high barometric pressure. GENERAL RACERS TERMS BOGGING - This is the result of attempting to launch the vehicle with either too low of an RPM, not enough power, or releasing the clutch to quickly. The tricky part about launching is finding the right combination of RPM, Clutch release, and throttle amount. So when you attempt to launch, and it feels like the car fell on its face or takes off very slowly. Thats an example of bogging down. The reverse affect is when you launch with too much RPM, too much throttle, or releasing the clutch to quickly - you spin the tires. So its all a matching game. WHEEL HOP - A downside to IRS is the possibility of wheel hop. This is the cause of the geomitry and movement of the suspension all working together to create a bouncing effect. In basic terms, the tires are bouncing up and down very rapidly due to lack of tracking. unlike a solid axles that is stuck together on both sides. Each wheel in the rear is all hooked up by itself. And when it starts to lose traction, it can create a motion of moving upwards and twisting at the same time. So the tire start to skip violently. inside the car it feels like an earthquake in sense. This can cause extreme damage from axles snapping, rear ends braking, to body panels moving. **rule of thumb - if you feel wheel hop - let of the gas and abort the pass BREAKING - AND WHAT TO DO - this is pretty self explanatory. if something goes wrong, blows up, snaps, stops working, etc.... that is a break. But the biggest thing that could determine how long the track is down is what to do if you break. This is a risk we all take by going to the track. But don't fear it at all. At any point if you feel like something is wrong, hear noises that aren't normal, or worst case scenario you see smoke behind you. The golden rule is pull out of the groove, and as close to the wall as possible as quickly as you can. What you want to eliminate is spreading pieces or fluids across the track. This can be very dangerous for anyone else racing. You will become everyones worst enemy if you drive down the whole track while leaking oil. So at first sign of anything going wrong, pull over as quickly and safely as possible COURTESY STAGING - (except deep staging) - After your burnout, roll up to the line, light one bulb on the tree. Do not light the second bulb until the car in the other lane has at least lit one bulb. They can roll in and light both bulbs if you already have one lit but nobody should light both bulbs until the other car has one lit. Note: Deep stage cars should abide by the same rule. However, I have seen instances when the deep stage car will quickly get in and light the second bulb. Note: Once a driver lights both bulbs, the other driver typically has 10 seconds to stage. ROLL-OUT - is the time from when the driver initiates the leave until the car physically leaves the starting line that starts the Elapsed Time (E.T.) clock. This could and should effect how you stage and leave the line. I will not dispose all the technical components of this, but a Heads/Cam Camaro on 20" drag radials will have roughly .42-.50 roll-out. DRIVER-MOD - This is a polite way of saying that someones car can run a faster time, if a better driver was racing the car. It could be for a number of reasons... a driver that doesn't weigh as much, has more experience, or has more skill. Or a combo of all things. This is used to point out a car is capable of a faster time if there was a different driver altogether. BOTTOM END / LOW END- First half of the race track TOP END- Last half of the race track FOOTBRAKE - The process of holding the brake with your left foot while bringing the RPM up with your right foot in preparation to launch. This stalls up the torque converter allowing for a better launch. SANDBAGGING - Term used in bracket racing. Generally, the car slows down before the finish line to avoid breaking out and run their index/dial-in. Note: Jumping on the brakes at the finish line can be dangerous. AT THE STRIPE- Beating or losing to a fellow competitor just at the finish line. MANUAL RACERS TERMS SLIPPING THE CLUTCH / FEATHERING THE CLUTCH - this is the act of regulating the clutch pedal to minimize tire spin. instead of releasing the clutch pedal rapidly or full engage it, you modulate the pedal mid or half way through its travel to cause the clutch disks to "slip" on the flywheel. This is used also to minimze the amount of "shock" the drivetrain feels during the launch. POP THE CLUTCH / SIDE STEP THE CLUTCH - This is the act of releasing the clutch pedal as fast as you can. Some describe it as "side stepping" or basically just sliding your foot off the pedal so it snaps up. But this can be done just by pulling your leg bag as quickly as possible too. BURNOUT - The burnout for a manual car will work best if you start in 2ND gear. This allows for the tires to spin much faste causing them to heat up better and quicker. MAKE SURE ALL TRACTION CONTROL AND NANNIES ARE OFF** WITH DRAG RADIALS - back into the water just slightly - then roll forward just a little bit - Put the car in 2nd gear - bring the RPM up to around 4500-5000rpm - then fully release the clutch (pop the clutch) and quickly hold down on the brake pedal very firmly(with your left foot) - then you want to hold the rpms around 5000rpm while doing the burnout - continue the burnout until there is a decent amount of smoke - at this time you release the brake pedal and roll out of the burnout a little bit before pushing in the clutch and then stage WITH STREET TIRES - THIS CAN BE TOUCHY DEPENDING ON THE ACTUAL STREET TIRE. SO PLAY AROUND AND SEE WHAT WORKS BEST. - Avoid the water box altogether. Just before pulling up to stage, just spin the tires quickly to clean them off. - Some street tires like a quick burnout. So just light them up and release just as you see smoke. - some street tires produce a film when they get too hot. Thats why you need to test each style out. POWERSHIFTING / FLAT FOOT SHIFTING - unlike a normal gear change where you slightly release the throttle as you push in the clutch - power shifting is the act of never lifting your foot of the throttle as you change gears. This is done as a means to reduce the amount of time its takes to shift and keep power to the tires. You still do depress the clutch while changing gears as normal MISS-SHIFTING / MISSING A GEAR - whenever you attempt to change into a higher or lower gear but you don't successfully get it fully in gear. This can happen due to trying to shift quickly and your feet are not moving at the same rate as your hand. Some times when this happens you can hear a grinding noise and it stays in neutral, or there is resistance from not having the clutch fully disengaged - causing your hand to slip off of the shifter. Most commonly you will hear of 2nd or 3rd gear being missed with a camaro and this can destroy a good run. CLUTCH PEDAL STUCK ON FLOOR - another flaw to the camaro design is that the brake reservoir is shared with the clutch fluid. What this causes is the fluid to become overheated and contaminated very quickly. The side effects to this cause the clutch pedal to get stuck after being pressed down. It happens more frequently on warmer days, or after a couple passes at the strip. the pedal will get stuck part way or all the way down causing you to burn your clutch. You will smell a bad burning smell and it shortens the life of your clutch - THE EASIEST FIX FOR THIS IS TO SEPARATE YOUR CLUTCH FLUID FROM YOUR BRAKE FLUID. MOST COMMONLY THIS IS DONE WITH A GTO RESERVOIR KIT. AND SWITCHING THE CLUTCH FLUID TO A HIGHER QUALITY FLUID HELPS AS WELL. __________________ SYCK SS BUILD JOURNAL- Click here Last edited by xjer22x; 09-16-2013 at 09:47 AM.