if drag racing is getting old then, you arent doing it right?? these cars are very capable of going really fast with minor things done to them.

drag racing is a spectator sports and going through turns is all about making yourself happy. i love doing both, i am just saying that these cars are very capable of being drag racing cars with minor minor things done to them...


the best thing is to have a car capable of both.... which the Z is perfect!!

 

+1 on Audible's opinion. I think the better you are at anything the more you enjoy it-makes sense no? I loved running my car stock even (all 3 passes) and with bolt-ons, and now with the TN kit. Many people knock the straight line racing, they say "go to the turns", funny thing is I dont want to see 1/2 of these guys that cant even get 80% of their cars potential out at the drag strip go to the road course. If you cant even launch decent and shift better than grandma why move on to turns

 

Well, with all the Honda's I've owned and now the Z, I have never had anyone on the streets ask me if I wanted to race in the twisties. Thats why I have always geared my cars up for drag! As far as cams, would dropping more than a 1/4 second be realistic?

 

More than .25 seconds? I dunno...this is hard to answer depends on the driver and how much he can extract with the added power. Id say with cams .25 seconds is possible with a tune to go along.

 

Its all a matter of how much hp the cams will add. But it is also dependent on the driver. This is why i like drag racing so much. It is a really tough thing to master.

Drag racing, to me, is just a better way to show your cars true performance. Its also a lot easier for me to go race at a dragstrip, then it is to find an autocross or something of that nature. And ya, on the street nobody ever races through twisties, cause it just doesnt work.

 

Agreed. The amount of hp they add can vary by the aggressiveness of the cams and other supporting mods.

bad driver before = bad driver afterward... an improvement could still be realized regardless.

This is a joke, right?

Given the environmental variables. I agree!

Why is that? Is it because no turns are involved, or do you already know where a drag strip is and don't want to find out where your local groups autoX/road race at? You should try it some time. You might reconsider calling drag racing difficult.

Sure it does. I've played cat and mouse with other drivers through the twisties on public roads. Given both drivers are good it's not a testicular fortitude match up type of thing like a typical street/drag race, it's more about having a blast through the twisties while keeping things respectable.

 

I think bracket drag racing is very difficult and so do the road racing guys out here that try it. 100% have gained a new respect for this form of racing after trying it. Being competitive they keep coming back trying to do better. No big winners from the road racers yet.

 

see on the street... i dont mess around with corners and push the full potential of what my car will do. i like to really really push cars and if you push it too hard on one corner (i push it max 75-80% on the street through corners), well you may total your car. thats why i like street cars that go fast in a straight line. i love taking corners really fast too, but only on a closed course so i am not risking hurting my car or anyone else. you can push your car 100% in a straight line on the street...

one the street, i have never been asked to do time trials through corners or anything, but i get tried daily on a nice open 4 lane highway with no one in front of me.....

 

no its not a joke at all. Between launching, shifting and guessing your ET, i do think its difficult to master.

It is easier for me to go to the drag strip then to find an autocross. I have considered doing an autocross but usually they are on Saturdays, and that is a very difficult day for me to get off of work. But i really do want to atleast try it.
Cat and mouse is an option, but there just arent many roads that are even good for this type of driving, in my area atleast. There are however plenty of straight empty roads.

 

Agreed with audible, its a lot easier to find a drag race on the street also. I guess the only time i got a chance to play cat an mouse was with an S2000, but it was short lived due to traffic ahead.

In a kinda dumb way, its actually safer to drag race on the street, then to go around blind turns and even open twisites with another car. I know this is a pretty interesting statement, and will warrant the whole "No street racing is safe," but lets be honest. It still is very prominent and isnt going anywhere anytime soon.

 

Actually there are some cars that will do fairly well on various tracks.

The fwd cars are least likely candidate for drag racing, if you want to go fast. But, I agree with you, no car is manufactured to be a drag car, the owners of a car makes that decision.

 

The first two things you listed are elementary driving tasks. If someone cannot get moving and shift gears(if the car is even a manual), it would be reasonable to assume they have no business racing in the first place.

The only time fast launch/shifts would even matter is if the drag race was heads up, and even then driver "skill" can only make a car go so fast in a straight line before there is nothing any driver in the world could do to make the car go any faster. I often hear people trying to perpetuate the myth that driving a car to its maximum potential(or very close to it) in a straight line is such a colossal feat. It really is nothing even remotely close to that, not IMO at least.

If you are just bracket racing then it doesn't even matter how fast you "could be". You can launch and shift like grandma. As long as you and your car are consistant you can win races left and right. I think perhaps where people go wrong in bracket racing (and make it out to be a lot harder than it really is) is that they stay locked into the mindset that they need to be as fast as possible rather than just trying to be as consistant as possible. An example of that would be shallow staging instead of deep staging.

Sure drag racing can be fun and competitive just like anything else, and to "master" anything takes practice. I'm not knocking drag racing at all. I just doubt most Z owners bought a Z to drag race, which I think is what mario was getting at. I know if I was a serious drag racer I wouldn't have bought a Z for that. Then again, just look at the srt-4 guys. To each their own.

 

It doesn't sound like you have done any drag racing, particularly bracket racing. Being consistant isn't all that easy. Putting on a dial in number, hitting it time and time again (whatever speed you go , but I recommend ***** to the wall since it is more consistant) You have traction issues, shifting rpm issues, lack of concentration, poor staging, poor reaction time, weather, gas, tires, tire pressure, you name it. There are a lot of variables. Even the guys who are champions don't say it is easy, so the run of the mill person is not going to be all that consistant. I might change my dial in several times during eliminations. You can lose by 1/1000 of a second. (1/10,000 in the pro series) That stat by itself makes it very difficult.

I had a SCCA comp lic and can go around corners, it is just a different kind o f racing. When the Z track guys come out to bracket race they keep coming back because as they say "what a rush!" this is coming form guys who are changing angles and etc during a track event or race. They seem to think it takes a fair amount of concentration and a whole lot of consistantcy.

A drag race car can be anything. I'm N/A and am not the fastest by any means, but it is rare that a 11-12 second car beats me because as the announcer at Infineon says "this guy is tough at the lights". I'm consistant and it isn't by accident. I can break a persons concentration by messing with them at the lights. sometimes I will roll back and forth over the staging lights during eliminations.

There is a lot more to it than pointing it towards the finish line and going WOT. I have seen John Force beat someone before the light goes green. He has won races with 2 cylinders out just by his great starting line know how.

 

roast, i know you're an intelligent person, but i think your underestimating how difficult it can be to drag race, and especially consistently. I suppose that shifting obviously is an easier skill to master but sh*t does happen and mis-shifts are not that uncommon.
I dont feel that launching is as easy as you feel. It takes a while to find that happy medium between bogging and spinning. Then learning to be consistent at it.
You sound as though you find it very easy, so how often do you happen to drag your car?

 

Guys and driving are like guys and sex, they all think they are good at it. Funny how Ive dealt with 1000's of people in person at tracks on these and other forums. They all think they can drive in reality I can count the drivers I respect with 1 hand, pretty sad. I agree it doesnt sound like to me Roast has much drag racing experience...

 

+1

audible. going to the track wed? i hooked up the kit and tested it out tonight. I dont think my clutch will hold but i might as well test it out

 

Racing in general is easy for me - I started racing motorcycles when I was 8 years old. The concept of drag racing is also a simple one. That's not to say a lot doesn't go into the sport. Like fowlman pointed out there are plenty of variables inolved. I also stated that to master anything takes practice and the sport is competitive.

I think it goes without saying that I do not drag race often by any means. I just recently took my Z to the strip for the first time - just to get a real world baseline on acceleration - not because I take drag racing seriously or wanted to compete against the amassed crowd of inbred rednecks. I ran in front of hundreds of people plus a few friends and had absolutely no problems whatsoever. Does that make me a drag racing pro? LOL....

I don't think I'm a good driver - I know I am. I would hope so considering I drive for a living.

Since everyone seems to be running with this obvious tidbit of information, I did not claim to be the most experienced drag racer on this site, nor was I pretending to be. Just because I'm well versed in drag racing and don't find it very entertaining doesn't mean I'm automatically claiming to have tons and tons of drag racing experience. Nor do I need or want it. Wouldn't you find it amusing if I said "I've been drag racing every weekend for 10 years, oh yeah, and I think it's boring and it sucks!!"

I have enough experience drag racing to know it does not float my boat. That does not mean I'm trying to belittle anyone who takes it seriously. If you like the sport then that's great, good for you. I was just supporting the fact that most of us who bought a Z didn't buy such a well rounded sports car to drive in straight lines. Well, I didn't at least.

Speaking of straight lines, one handed and holding a video camera.

http://videos.streetfire.net/search/...5127ea571c.htm

 

Dont get your panties in a bunch damn people are sensitive in this area of the boards. Curious what did you run in your Z?

 

right at 14@100mph... 2.2 60ft on stock potenzas@35psi.. the track is over 1000 feet above sea level. 83F 60%hum. 29.90 pres.

 

Right on given the conditions...