I will probably get made fun of for asking this, but I have never been 100% sure on how this works:

Of course, the E/T is how long it takes you to get from start to finish, but when does the clock start? Does the E/T measure starting at the green light, or does it start after you break the beams?

I would imagine it would be when the light goes green, otherwise, reaction time wouldn't play any part of drag racing. However, when I was racing last weekend, I had a better E/T, but my opponent smoked me off the tree and he was declared the winner.

I guess I just want to know why I lost. Here are the numbers off my slip:

Car: Camaro tC
Dial: 15.80 15.95
R/T: .120 .530
E/T: 15.924 16.011

Another note is that he got the green before I did. The dials were correct on the boards at the finish line because I remember looking at them. Yet he still went green before me even though I was slightly slower.

 

E/T is the time from the beam is broken at the tree until the finish line.

Reaction time is a factor, because whomever finishes first, wins, regardless of ET.

 

16flat? I guess you're automatic?

 

I will just shrug off that insult. I am in a 5-speed, but it was extremely hot and over 90% humidity that night. Nobody was running good times. Plus, the track itself was ungodly hot.

 

Ok, I was under the impression that the E/T was the determining factor and each person was going against the clock, not who actually crossed the line first. I should have known that. Thanks for your help.

 

Example: Car A has a r/t of .000 and runs 14.00 e/t
Car B has a r/t of .750 and runs a 13.75 e/t

Car A finished first and got the win light by 0.5 seconds.
Car B finished second and ignored the win light, and will go back to the pits and brag about beating Car A While it's true he has a faster car, Car A has a better driver.

The biggest number besides e/t in dragracing is the 60'. Especially in fwd cars, having a good 60' will make the biggest difference in your e/t and trap speeds. If you can consistently get a 2.0-2.1 60' in a fwd car on street tires, you're doing well.

 

I didn't even realize that this track's perfect reaction time was .000 At the track I race motorcycles at (only 1/8 mile), perfect reaction was .500 so I figured this run was pretty good. That is, until I saw the other guy's reaction was .120 That is when I realized I was stupid and need to go back for some revenge now that I know I was sitting at the line half a second longer than I needed to be.

 

How was that an insult? That's what automatic tC's run.

Also, if the track was ungodly hot then you should of been getting some really good traction.

 

Hot track means poor traction. Also, hotter air isn't as dense so you don't get as much power. High humidity also reduces power.

 

I agree that you don't get as much power with the hotter air (probably about 5whp difference), but when the track is hot it means it has more traction then it would being cold.

hot track = good traction
cold track = bad traction

 

Whats traction good for if performance is affected by as much as 5whp?