Getting the car to react quicker

I foot break my bracket car and I use air pressure in the front tires to help me control my reaction time. Im running the older style of moroso front runners and using 39lbs of air in them and that seemed to work for me most of the time, l could inflate or deflate them a bit to get me in a decent range of lights, but lately I've been struggling to get better then a.050 and that's not going to get you very far at most tracks. I've been as high as 42 lbs and feel like I'm pushing the envelope running that much air in the tires. The moroso,s are 27 high. What other tricks are used to help with reaction times. I really don't like giving the car an extra bump in as your guessing were your at. Thanks Dave

Dave a couple other things I vary when FB racing are rear tire psi, higher the quicker reaction, rear and front shock settings, tighter is quicker, and launch rpm.

Any of the above will help to speed up the vehicle reaction time.

Dave, Dave, Dave ---------


It's all about you but if you really want the car to react quicker then get a BB with lots of POWER


By the way the season is just about over for us up here so you have all winter to figure it out. I will say that I have at times run my front tires close to 60lbs

Small front tires and DEEP stage

Thanks guys! Aj what you said would explain it being worse, l decreased the rear air pressure because the track was a bit slippery. The front shocks are calverts so not adjustable, rears are ranchos and I have them on 2 as car is most consistent there and I'm close to pushing the front end at my current launch rpm, but things to consider.
Russ you know I have a boat anchor but I don't have your funds ($$$$$) lol and I'm worried I might break that boat anchor so I'll have to stick with my small block also trying to thin the herd at this point and not wanting to spend money for the next owner. 10 k for the valiant, not the show poodle ( don't own any of those) but a multi championship car. Any other ideas out there?

If this is a dedicated race car you could do what I did. I changed the gas pedal and used a solid rod (like the old GM products) to the carb. I went from .05-.07 reaction to .001! I felt there was a lot of resistance in the factory cable. I used a Chevy truck pedal but since I got an e-body, that pedal could be made to work also. I was very surprised how well it worked.

You didn't detail everything done to the car, so I'll mention several things that you can try, if not done yet, as you can afford it.

1) Poly or solid motor mounts, including a torque strap.

2) Poly trans mount.

3) Solid front leaf spring bushings.

4) Clamps on the front 1/2 leaf spring segments.

5) Frame connectors.

(The less "give" or "cush" there is in the mounts, suspension & frame, the faster it will react.)

6) Lighter throttle return springs, as long as you keep it safe.

7) Shorter front tires. (I prefer to keep the rear tire pressure at the optimum traction/footprint level.)
8) Periodically lightly sand any "glazing" off of the rear brake shoes. It can help hold better and bring the converter up a bit more.

9) Carb tuning. Experiment with the accelerator pump circuit for better response off the line. Squirters size & pump shot duration. Jet for mph and pump shot for 60'/330' times.

You may need to try different shock settings in the rear after making some changes. I run my Rancho's at 4 out of 5 (old versions) which would translate to 7 or 8 on the newer 9-way. I never cared for 90-10 style shocks or OEM because the lift too easy. You're going up instead of forward. I like adjustable shocks on the front (Viking or QA1) which have an external knob set between 2 & 4 out of 18(?). But it just depends how well your rear suspension works. You may need the more immediate weight transfer. Each car is different.

The can be a couple of hundredths difference in reactions between tracks and timing systems - track set up variations as well as the timing system brand itself!

All GOOD advise,,,,

BUT you forgot the most obvious choice....a younger driver!!

Good tips,,Dave is a VERY good driver and he will tweak his way back to the front of the pack,,,again

lol Well, I'm in Florida and have been looking for the "Fountain of Youth", but no luck. But I feel strongly that drag racing can help you stay younger. It's great mental and physical exercise. "Seat time" can only help so I'll keep at it as long as I can afford it and be competitive. Hopefully you and the OP will agree.

Rear tire sidewall construction.
Low gear ratio.
Adjustable front shocks and front travel limiters. Limiting the front end too much will upset the car though.
Not a big fan of the Moroso front runners for a number of reasons.
Buy a practice tree.

CMac: lower gear set for tranny or rear end ? Running 513 in rear now.

No info on engine or rear tire height, but 5.13 is quite a lot for most bracket cars. I have 4.86 gears w/30" tall tires & low trans gear keeping everything under 7,000. Even though the initial launch was a bit better, my 360 didn't like 5.13's, even in the 1/8 mile.

I was referring to the low gear set in the trans. Not the easiest thing to do, but if it's a 904, you can do that fairly inexpensively. Car might like it. Obviously if it makes it spin the tires and be inconsistent, it's not a good trade off. Plenty of good suggestions here. Half a hundy here, half a hundy there. It adds up.

WCMac, l thought you meant the tranny but wasn't sure.
Myron: the car is a 71 valiant (dart body style) 340 motor 727 trans 8 3/4 rear, motor and mid plate, rubber trans mount, caltrops and monos ,8 point bar with drivers side swinge out, frame connectors, 13x31 pheonix tires on the rear, 27 in tall old style moroso fronts, weights about 3000 with me as driver. It runs 7.0s 1/8 and 11.2s in the 1/4. It always ran best (et wise with 4.88s but got 5.13s with winning contingency so thought I would try them) 3 championships and a runner up over15 yrs. then some health issues sidelined me. Last 4 yrs I've raced about 6 or 7 times a yr, so Dennis is right. I'm old and I don't get the needed seat time now. Also as you said different tracks require a different starting line rollout. I'm on the edge right now with running 40 to 42 lbs in the front tire to get 0 or 500 lights so I'm looking for ways to quicken the cars reaction so I have more wiggle room at the starting line. Hope that clarifies some things, if not I'll try to answer other ?s. Thanks guys for the help, especially Russ because contrary to his opinion it is always about HIM lol. That's an inside joke between Russ and I!

Being an old 'guy' myself I've found that getting up on the converter more helps my lights. I leave anywhere from 1800-2600 depending on the track and how I'm 'hitting the tree'. If you can trust the track will be prepped good start to end radial slicks are the ticket and that's a big if.
We're talking 22-24 psi and no wrinkle or growth. This picture is stiff sidewall bias slicks