Thank you for the enlightening analysis.
Sean
----- Original Message -----
From: Steven T. Ekstrand <cyberlaw@earthlink.net>
To: <dakota-truck@buffnet.net>
Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2000 12:57 PM
Subject: DML: RE: Man I sucked!!!!-The long explanation of reaction times!
> | If the reaction time related to when he pushed the pedal to metal when
> the
> | light turns green? Then if this is so, his true correction for the 1/4
> mile
> | is 15.3.
>
> Reaction time is a separate clocking. There is no effect on ET.
>
> The reaction timer is keyed to the last amber light (.000).
> On a Pro-Tree all ambers light at once and the green lights .400 sec
later.
> Thus, .400 is a perfect light on a Pro-Tree. A.399 or lower would be a
> redlight. A lot of tracks run Pro-trees for their brackets because it
> virtually eliminates redlights. However for street vehicles it is very
> difficult to cut a decent Pro-Tree light because the vehicle reacts too
> slowly to your stomping the gas.
>
> On a Sportsman tree there are generally three ambers that light in
sequence
> one half second apart. The last amber lights at time .000. The green
> lights at time +.500 second. Thus, a perfect light on a Sportsman tree is
> .500. A .499 or lower would be a redlight.
>
> When your car leaves the staging beams the reaction timer is stopped and
> the track timer is started. There is no connection between the track
timer
> and the green light. This allows a holeshot win. Lets say Warren
Johnson
> is racing Allen Johnson's Dodge in Pro Stock. WJ cuts a .495 light and
> runs 6.80 in the 1/4. If Allen runs 6.85 (.050 slower) in the 1/4, he can
> still win if his reaction time is .444 (.051 quicker reaction). So in the
> race both times are in effect added together to determine a winner, but
the
> two numbers do not affect each other.
>
> There is one additional area that gets confusing. This is advanced stuff
> for people running brackets and such. When you stage, there is a certain
> amount of distance that your car can go before it actually trips the
> clocks. This is called rollout, and is a function of tire diameter. When
> staging, drivers talk about being staged shallow or deep. If you are
> staged shallow you have driven into the beams just barely activating the
> staged bulb. I typically come into the lights with and automatic trans
veh
> icle with some stall. That is to say my foot is on the brake and the gas
> and I have the rpm's raised. I am normally so shallow in the beams that I
> can flicker the bulb by raising and lowering the rpms. As I do so the car
> pushes forward or falls back just a fraction of an inch and that is enough
> to trigger or not trigger the staged beam.
>
> Now if I am shallow staged, I will in effect have a running start on the
> 1/4 mile. It may be only a couple of inches but that will lower my times!
> It will increase my reaction time however. If I'm on a Sportsman light I
> have to leave slightly earlier. If I was mashing the gas as the last
amber
> lights now I may have to go to leaving between the 2nd and third (last)
> amber. If I deep stage (still with both staging bulbs lit) I will have
the
> opposite problem.
>
> Now sometimes you're are forced to run your street car on a Pro-Tree which
> I think is really stupid, but they didn't ask me! If you're racing
against
> somebody in brackets, you need to find out if they allow Deep Staging. In
> this context, Deep Staging means you drive so deep into the staging beams
> that the pre-stage bulb turns off. If you do this, they will ask to write
> with shoe polish "DEEP" under your dial-in. That way the starter will
know
> when to activate the tree. When you are this deep, the slightest movement
> forward will stop the reaction clock and start the track timer. You ET
> will be slower by a tenth or more, but your Pro-Tree reaction times will
> improve by a tenth or more.
>
> In any case, with a Pro-Tree you see any light at all, you hammer it! It
> is a pure reaction to firing of the amber lights. In no case do you ever
> wait for Green. I never see the green. I'm leaving on ambers and then
its
> all a blur!
>
> On a Sportsman light, it's a little different, because you can anticipate
> the tree. Since there is a sequence of three ambers a half second apart,
> it is possible to red light now regardless of how slow your vehicle is
(yes
> even if its a Chevy!).
>
> You have to pick a "spot" on the tree to leave and that's based on
> practice. Usually on a 15 second vehicle its going to be in the .500
> second gap between the second and last ambers. Thats pretty hard to judge
> without a lot of practice. Sportsman drivers refer to the lights like
they
> were flowers blossoming. They will leave at the first "budding" of the
> light or at full blossom. A lot of the faster bracket cars have
electronic
> delay boxes so they can leave on the precise firing of say the first or
> second amber and then the electronics "delay" the release of the
transbrake
> until the proper time to get a near perfect light. You have to set this
> delay based on lots and lots of practice.
>
> In categories like Stock and Super Stock where most of my experience is,
> electronics of this sort are strictly banned. Still, the performances
some
> of these drivers turn in are astounding. I once watched my dad run 3
> consecutive .501 Sportsman lights during elimination's. Across 7 rounds
> that day his reaction times ranged from .501 to .511. On another occasion
> he ran 4 consecutive .507's. Almost scary to think about.
>
> Steve Ekstrand, Pasadena, CA Driver: '00 Dakota CC SLT+ 4.7L 3.92SG 255's
> Stacey's Driver: '00 Inferno Red Intrepid ES-3.2L-24V Autostick w/Leather
> Race Car: 69 1/2 Road Runner 440-6 (ex-NHRA SS/GA future B or C/SA???)
> Project Car: 69 Barracuda Notchback (Orig. 318, now 360w/Edelbrock Heads)
> Homepage: http://sites.netscape.net/professormopar/homepage
>
>
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