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Re: "Red lighting help!
[Re: 73-Dart-sport]
#1057864
08/20/11 01:54 PM
08/20/11 01:54 PM
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Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 52,972
Romeo MI
MR_P_BODY
Master
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Master
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 52,972
Romeo MI
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Quote:
Obviously we all try to cut the best light possible. My son and I both leave as soon as the third yellow comes on. He must have quicker reactions and he is going barely red on quite a few passes, like -.005 red. The car is footbraked and we just barely bump into the beam to turn the second light on. We try to be as consistent as possible. Any recommended changes to get him green (other than falling asleep) would be helpful. I have read somewhere about adjusting air pressure in the front tires possibly or just launching at a lower rpm. Any thoughts or advice would be appreciated.
Taller front tires or lower rpm at the launch... you
can try lowering the air pressure in the fronts to
set lower in the beams for a longer roll out
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Re: "Red lighting help!
[Re: 73-Dart-sport]
#1057867
08/20/11 02:28 PM
08/20/11 02:28 PM
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Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 685
SW Ohio
AAR-B4
mopar
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mopar
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 685
SW Ohio
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Quote:
Thanks Mike. Will lowering the front tire pressure also slow our e.t. down?
No, lower pressure or larger diameter will lower your et. The car will be rolling a little quicker when you leave the stage bulb, the et won't change enough that you will notice.
It looks like you have a small diameter tire now so lowering the pressure might not work for you.
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Re: "Red lighting help!
[Re: 73-Dart-sport]
#1057872
08/21/11 09:05 PM
08/21/11 09:05 PM
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Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 4,242
State of retirement
52savoy
master
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master
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 4,242
State of retirement
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Quote:
Anyone else have any ideas? Thanks for the other responses.
I went through the same thing years ago... My lights were always in the .000-.020 range and one season it caught up with me. No matter what I tried it was always the same outcome. REDLIGHT. Finally in desperation I let a buddy take over the driving at the end of the season but his rt's were too slow. After a whole year of frustration and a winter of trying to figure it out, another year came and right away I was redlighting again. It finally dawned on me to intentionally redlight. I did that for a couple races and then went back out and backed off a little.. that took care of my problem because it's never happened again.
Can't say you would have the same results but it might be a solution..
good luck...
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Re: "Red lighting help!
[Re: 73-Dart-sport]
#1057873
08/21/11 09:16 PM
08/21/11 09:16 PM
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Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 52,972
Romeo MI
MR_P_BODY
Master
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Master
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 52,972
Romeo MI
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Quote:
So are you saying that putting your slicks down a pound will slow your reaction time down insuring that you will not go red?
I actually go the other direction... if I cant lower
the fronts enough... I up the rear pressure to get a
little more slippage and still MPH good
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Re: "Red lighting help!
[Re: MR_P_BODY]
#1057874
08/22/11 10:42 AM
08/22/11 10:42 AM
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Joined: May 2004
Posts: 2,864
IN
Irun5snd8th
master
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master
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 2,864
IN
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I actually agree with what both Mr. Gall and Mr. P are saying. While the rears can affect the reaction it also has a huge affect on both traction and MPH. If the track will hold it, you can pick up your MPH and ET by upping the tire pressure in the rear. This is one reason that its important to do a consistent burnout. To maintain proper pressure in the rears.
AFCO, Rons Fuel Injection sponsored Dodge Challenger
Mention Street Lethal Motorsports
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Re: "Red lighting help!
[Re: Irun5snd8th]
#1057875
08/22/11 11:44 AM
08/22/11 11:44 AM
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Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 2,515
PA
moparacer
master
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master
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 2,515
PA
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He needs to leave a a lower rpm then you leave at.
Probably about 200 RPM. Simple solution. Need to get it in the teens consistently on reaction time as if you are trying to be .000 every pass you are going to red light quite a bit footbraking.
Easiest ways to adjust RT from easiest to hardest.
Stage RPM.
Front/rear tire pressure.
Front/rear shock settings.
Front suspension travel.
Change rear gears.
Looser or tighter converter.
I spent the better part of a year tweaking my car to react the way I wanted it too and I ended messing with just about all the above except the converter.
67 Barracuda street/bracket car 11.27-119
68 Dart 502 BB 8.70s-152
414 cid SB Dragster 7.65-174
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Re: "Red lighting help!
[Re: Irun5snd8th]
#1057877
08/22/11 11:55 AM
08/22/11 11:55 AM
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Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 4,319
Puyallup, WA
StealthWedge67
master
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master
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 4,319
Puyallup, WA
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I was having the same trouble. Last week I went 6 runs without going red, so I think I'm headed in the right direction. IMO, making changes to the car is just band-aid's. You're going to have to change what you do. I always said and thought I was going on the last yellow, but reality is that the body anticipates the timing pattern of the lights. You need to wait until the Yellow is actually staring you in the face before you move a muscle. Last weekend I started in my time-ony hits waiting until I thought I was WAY late. I was, but @ .170, it gave me a baseline to work from. From there, I just tried to slowly widdle away at it. After a couple of runs, I was in .07 range, and my last run was an .041. Still not what it takes to win a race, but I felt good about seeing consistant green lights! and maybe more importantly, I'm gaining confidence in what I'm doing. You might try changing the way you hold your foot on the brake, also. If it was with the ball of your foot, try it on your heel and see what that does. Bottom line, I think if you want to become a confident and competent footbrake racer, you need to address yourself and what you're doing; not the air pressure in the tires of your car. With all due respect to the guys above that have made these suggestions, the car isn't the problem here, the issues and the solutions lie in the drivers seat. 
LemonWedge - Street heavy / Strip ready - 11.07 @ 120
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Re: "Red lighting help!
[Re: StealthWedge67]
#1057878
08/22/11 12:00 PM
08/22/11 12:00 PM
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Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 5,160
Texas
dannysbee
master
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master
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 5,160
Texas
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I disagree you want the driver to react spontaneously. You make corrections with the car.
Getting old just means you were smarter than some and luckier than others.
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Re: "Red lighting help!
[Re: 73-Dart-sport]
#1057880
08/22/11 12:48 PM
08/22/11 12:48 PM
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Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 43,228
Bend,OR USA
Cab_Burge
I Win
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I Win
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 43,228
Bend,OR USA
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Several things on here that I agree with, change the car not the driver  try stiffening up the front shocks first for him, if you have externally adjustable fronts that is, if not try a new stock 50/50% front shock when he drives and use the ones on the car when you drive it.Front tire sizes can contributes a lot to reaction times, especailly on a foot brake car  I use to run 135x15 Radials on my old Duster that I ran Super Street in back when S/ST race with a .40 Pro Tree, still couldn't make that rascal get close to going red  Maybe it was me that couldn't go red on a Pro tree   There a lot to be said in dfferences in reaction times between folks Do you have any stagger in the front end? There is a local racer with a BB bracket Duster that won the divisional bracket championship several years ago that uses RPM only to adjsut his reaction times, he flog the combination on jetting, timing and so on until ho could get the car to react to RPM changes on the starting line There is a fix for every problem, finding it is the hard part   Test,test and test some more, it is his problem, so he needs to do the fixing, you can help him
Mr.Cab Racing and winning with Mopars since 1964. (Old F--t, Huh)
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