Liam in Montreal

Last friday at the drags (not very good times, too hot and humid...best being a 14.6X), I noticed that sometimes I would get a higher trap speed, but higher ET! compared to a lower ET but lower trap speed....

so what's the logic to that? (I was trying out different shift points)

regs,
Liam

LCP

...that said, it's not always correlative. If you <i>waste</i> time by making a mistake, such as mis-shifting, or you shift slowly, or your clutch slips through first gear, then you'll have a lower ET and trap speed because you're hardly accelerating at all during the time you waste moving down the dragstrip (which therefore shortens the time you have in which to accelerate).

Liam in Montreal

I know this is the grand debate in the 140 club (the 140mph standing mile club at the bonneville flats).

Anyway, I know that lower ETs are what you aim for, but I just found it weird that I could get a 15s 1/4 @94mph, and 14.6 1/4@90mph

regards,
Liam

Audiboy

certain speed. Either that, the car converts from low end torque to high end torque ;P

Dead

I've been to strip a lot with Gjaime and have noticed a number of things and one is that drag racing is more about quick vs. fast and how much power can you make and how soon.

Lets assume everything was equal(as in no mistakes and missed shifts)your high ETs with higher trap speeds would indicate you were making less power on the front end and more on the backend. The low ETs and low trap speeds would indicate you made more power on the bootm and it fell of at the end. Some many variables play a part in each.

I've watched a 6 second car make a killer start and have a problem right after and coast through the lights with a 10second ET at 50mph.

Audi2ptzero

ET is from start to finsih. MPH is measure at the last 66 ft.

If you over run a gear your ET will get faster but your mph will get slower, because your no longer gaining speed at that point. The best run you could ever have is one that shows the MPH's on your gauge at a steady pace to the finish line. Now if you watch your cluster you will see that at some point the mph will pause which means your well past your shift point.

Audi2ptzero

1/4 mile is longer but who does that. The mph has nothing to do with the ET time since the MPH is all about power in the last 66 ft of the race.

Power5

You will get a higher ET and Higher MPH if you spin the tires more on the start. This keeps your revs high (no bogging) but slows your ET since you are not going anywhere. The better your launch the quicker you get down the track but the less space you have to get your speed up.

I will bet that your faster mph runs had much slower 60' times than the low ET runs.

Liam in Montreal

Yeah you're right actually