Last Sunday, I went to my first drag race at Clay City, KY and had a lot of fun.
As some background info, my car is stock and the dyno results are here: https://my350z.com/forum/showthread....threadid=49139
Please note that the dyno was done on Mustang Dyno, which is an EDDY current, which produces more accurate but much smaller figures than do inertial dynos.
Anyway...

I did 3 runs.
The timeslips are here in order from left to right:
http://www.automotiveforums.com/dps/...lips110903.jpg (I am car #81)

1st run: Horrible wheel spin and 3rd gear grind. Time - 15.3
2nd run: Still bad wheel spin off the launch and I hesitated into switching into 3rd to prevent the grind. No grind, but not great time either - 14.4
3rd run: I was slowly rolling at the launch, which caused the foul as you see in the video below. The launch itself though, seemed as perfect as I could get it. So, I got a 1.589 60' time and 13.691 1/4.

(Videos in DivX format - please right click and save target as..)
Full 1/4 mile video -> http://files.automotiveforums.com/vi...50z1369run.avi
Launch in slow motion -> http://files.automotiveforums.com/vi...slowmotion.avi
Things to note:
-The tire pressure in the back was 23psi.
-The filter was removed.
-DPS was installed.

Now, for my theory on my unbelievably quick 60' time:

As I was approaching the 3rd sensor when the yellow lights lit up (pro tree), I was very slowly moving while keeping my clutch engaged and maintaining the revs at around 2000RPM. The 3rd sensor is 6 inches away from the 2nd sensor, so it looks like on the video (although not a perfect angle), that I went just a tad over 6 inches after the 2nd sensor to cause my foul.
I think I got lucky as hell in getting this 60' time - the timing of the 1/4 begins when the car passes the 3rd sensor; if I had fouled way earlier than the green light lit up, I would have kept on rolling at turtle speed for a longer time, which would have counted toward my 1/4. This means that for me to produce the 1.589 60' that I did, the timing had to be extremely close to perfect - I probably passed the 3rd sensor a few tens of a second before it turned green. I hope I am making sense here still Again, if I had fouled too early and my time began ticking while I was still scratching myself and waiting to go, there is no way I would have gotten in the 13s at all.

As the slow motion video (length = original / 0.30) of the launch shows, both cars launched pretty much at the same time, which I think only goes to support my assumptions that I stated above.

The reason that the 60' time was so quick for a stock car with stock tires can be explained with physics I believe -
Due to the fact that I was rolling very slowly before flooring it, my car already had some momentum and the car did not have to overcome the great inertia of an object being at rest.

However, I believe that although I fouled this time, it is very possible to use this technique to achieve a quicker 1/4 mile, so long as pro tree is used and you turtle your way through between the 2nd and 3rd sensors slow enough to not travel the entire 6 inches in the span of time between both cars being lined up at 2nd sensor and the green light going off. Whether this is an ethical or an acceptable way to drag race, I do not know as I am totally knew to this sport, but I think that the fact that there is a 6 inch space between the 2nd and 3rd sensors would mean that it's fair game for the drag racers.

Finally, the timer being 'messed up' has been offered to me as a simple explanation for this unbelievable 60' time. But, I doubt this very much as there were literary over a hundred cars there and I saw many timeslips throughout the day, and none looked out of whack.

I would really love to hear everyone's thoughts on how correct you believe my theory to be as well as whether using such technique (if the theory is indeed valid) is an acceptable way to behave yourself at the strip.

 

The best 60' I've cut on SLICKS was 1.83 with only a few runs though...so I assume your theory is correct. It can't be an equipment malfunction because all your times the rest of the way down the track jive with a 1.6 second 60' and 13.69@ only 98mph is really getting out of the hole.

I'm guessing by the vid that you ran around a 2.0 60' time and you probably caught the sensors right at the right as to get a lag before the timing started.

Nice run nonetheless

 

ok for here is what a 1.5 60' looks like

http://www.anythingcars.com/users/jlynch/wall1017.mpg

no this bs

http://files.automotiveforums.com/vi...50z1369run.avi

 

If you read his whole post he knows he didn't actually pull a 1.59 60' time....he is simply trying to figure out how he "fooled" the timing lights.

 

something was wrong(sensor f'ed up, he staged with his rears). he didnt fool any sensors, it's one of those runs you just disregard. Plus he thinks he cut that 60' and ran that time, read his other posts in the 1/4 thread. he ran a 14.3 or so on that pass

 

jackie chan, I keep on sensing your aggression toward me.. did I unknowingly hurt your feelings?

The pass before this one was 14.4, with lots of wheels spin off the line and a conervatively timed 3rd gear shift to prevent grinding.

On the other hand, the run in question here had a perfect launch and a somewhat quicker 3rd gear shift.

I am simply trying to figure out how this happened.

Somehow I don't find it realistic to assume that a sensor was messed ONLY for my run, where there were hundreds of runs done on that day. And no, I didn't stage with my rears.

 

its more of a frustration thing, sorry. There is no trick that you learned or anything like that, it was simply a fluke timer issue. keep the car the same way and run it 1000 more times and you wont even see a 1.8 60'. it just seems you cant comprehend, you did not cut a 1.5 60'. just keep racing and havving fun, thats what its all about

 

hehe ...

I am really looking forward to drag racing again - I'd love to see my jaw drop if I get another mid 1 second 60' time (we can dream can't we?)

 

you can:

you need to spray a 100shot out of the hole on slicks