Looks like there will be 'off street' drags held at Calder on the 1st of October (Friday). I've been interested in going as I've never been, so this looks like a good opportunity. Anyone else here interested in coming and seeing what they can do across the 1/4mile?

The gates will open at 5pm and racing commences at 6pm. Entry fee is $55 for competitors and $17 for spectators. All that is required is a normal drivers license and a registered car.

ps. The NDSOC club will be there on the night as well.

 

David - most 1/4 mile strip also require a helmet, but may not be the case at Calder. You guys do things differently down south of the boarder (j/k)!!!!

Let us know what times you get.

 

Yo DavidM,

Haven't had a good drag since I got chased down by the coppers while havin a run with you in Moorabbin. This might be a good way to officially settle auto vs manual.

And for once I don't have to work. Count me in.

LK

 

i might going to see

 

All that work on your car to get it lookin and runnin like that??
How can you sit on the sidelines and watch???!!!

 

All that work on your car to get it lookin and runnin like that?? How can you sit on the sidelines and watch???!!!

Yeah, you tell him!! ;-) Why come and not run? More Zeds we get running the better collection of 'data' we'll come back with.

 

Hey ypwpat....

You're scared aren't you....

Yea, I can tell. You're scared of gettin on the strip.

C'mon ypwpat - admit it. You're scared. It's ok if you are - we'll hold your hand and make it all better.

So it's alright. You don't have to be scared. Just come down with full intentions of gettin on the strip and lettin 'er rip!!!

So c'mon ypwpat!!! Get pumped - get mean - GET ON THAT DRAG STRIP!!!!!!!!!!

YPWPAT, YPWPAT, HE'S OUR MAN, IF HE CAN'T DO IT NO ONE CAN!!!

GO YPWPAT!!! GO YPWPAT!!! GO YPWPAT!!!

 

Hahahahah I'll see what happen

I might do it

So don't worry, but still the truth of all. I'm afraid to get Beaten lol

Cheers
Yun

 

I'm afraid to get Beaten

hehe, that's because you don't practice. It's a vicious cycle - you don't 'practice', so you get beaten. If you 'practica' then you will get better and stand less chance of getting beaten, and hence it will help with your phobia ;-) None of us are born experts.

So I'm with LK - be a man, and make a commitment to whoop some ****.

ps.
Here is a phylosophical question - why performance mod the car if you're not going to use them? Why not just do 'bling bling' mods?

 

Yeah - it is a bit of a nerve tingler for first time, but so was your first "watname"!

Once youve done it, you will want MORE!

Have a go - you won't regret it.

My first run on the bike was my heartstopper - the rubber on the launch pad flipped me into the biggest wheelie ever seen - 340kg of American iron heading for the fence - ***** in me duds bigtime!

 

I may going too, I m sure you need helmet at Calder!!! But only during you drag race, So you can borrow from your mate. As soon as you can shows them you have a helmet during the entry and start of the drag.

 

David - most 1/4 mile strip also require a helmet, but may not be the case at Calder.

I don't think that a helmet is needed, but I'll double check. Afterall, one just goes straight and for only a short period of time. Will report back with the findings.

 

mmmmmmmmmmm............. I m fairly sure we need a helmet because I have been to the drag at Calder few times. And they also require to have a quick engineer check to your car as well (before entering into the race track), Just to check all of your parts are not loose. But for sure we don't need 3 point seatbeat, bonnet tied or pins and fire extinguisher.

 

You normally need a helmet at the drags. Which adds to the difficulty, your not used to driving your car with a helmet on and you cant hear your engine reving to find the correct shift points or launch point.

 

Mchapman, from your sign, i saw customised Hitech, what did u customised?

 

Yea, I concerned about wearin a helmet the first time I drove on a track on a practice day there. (They required an inspection - basically Bob glanced at the car and said "Is your wife REALLY gonna let you drive that around the track???!!!" Had to have a helmet and a race suit too.) I can't imagine they'd let you drag without a helmet

Took a bit of gettin used to not hearin the shift points as you would without a helmet. But not a prob to look at the tacho on the strait (tacho is well placed in the 350). Mainly a difficulty when comin off the 200 kph main strait and braking hard into the hairpin. Difficult to judge the downshift point. Was ok for the auto as it won't downshift until it's in the "won't over-rev and blow up" range. But I found the helmet wasn't as big of a restriction in the car as I expected. I ride a bike as well so I'm sure that helps to get used to it.

 

Which adds to the difficulty, your not used to driving your car with a helmet on and you cant hear your engine reving to find the correct shift points or launch point.

hehe, here comes my 1st 'advatage' ;-) I'm pretty used to wearing a helmet. Also, I have a spare, so I can bring that if needed.

ps. I'm checink up on the helmet thing.

 

ok ok i'll do it see if i can get a good timing from mod

cheers

 

GO YPWPAT!!! GO YPWPAT!!! GO YPWPAT!!!

 

I find that I can hear the engine revving wearing a helmet, so shifting is easy. However, I rely a lot on the tacho for precise shifting - shift at 6500rpm exactly. Of course the first few runs at the drags, I hit the limiter, probably more due to nerves than anything else. After a few runs though, I got into the practice of looking at the tacho as the revs approached 6000rpm and was prepared for the gearchange. As you're only going straight, you can afford to look at the tacho for 1-2 sec for the gearchange, without the fear of putting the car into the wall.

BTW, be prepared to not be able to hear your engine revs at the start line, as the 350Z is very quite (especially mine in stock mode). Nearly every other car at the drags is highly moddified and boy are they loud!!! So most of the time, I was up against louder V8's and rotaries and all I could hear was their engines.

I launch with about 2300 - 2500rpm on the tacho and because I cannot hear the engine, I am constantly flicking my eyes between the tacho and christmas tree to get an immediate launch as the lights go green with the right amount of revs.

Finally, here are a couple of simple tips for first timers - they are very obvious but caught me out more than once:

TURN OFF TC / VDC - otherwise it will kill your launch and you will be reaching for the TC VDC button between your 1-2 gearchange and you don't have a lot of time to do that!!! And your 1/4 time will be crap.

MAKE SURE YOU HAVE NO LOOSE ITEMS IN THE CAR - I carry my phone / wallet in the sat nav compartment and on one run I left the lid open. Needless to say that they both came flying out of the cubby hole on launch, which is very distracting to say the least, as they hit me in the left arm which is prepared for gear changes, causing loss of concentration and subsequent bad 1/4 times.
So I got smart and put my phone / wallet in the centre bin, but I left the timeslips in the open sat nav compartment for the next run and they flew out too (LOL).

Lastly, get into a routine before getting into the start lanes - after starting the engine, put on helmet / turn off TC/VDC / turn off aircon / close sat nav lid and wind up windows and finally mash the gas off the line!!!!

Wish I was in Melb to join you guys as I am waiting for new tyres and would love to waste the current rubber at the track.