Drag times

[Sal Lubrano]

This might sound very amature to most of you and very embarrising for myself. Can some one explain to me why a perfect response time is .400. I'm sure my wording is wrong but I hope someone understands what I am asking. I have rebuilt engines and made many complicated repairs on the buick but never been on the track.
Thanks
Sal

 

[salvageV6]

Most likely due to perfect brain to foot coordination is .4 seconds.

You have to see the light(s) and then process it and do something.

I usually sit there and build some boost, gotta give the Ferds a headstart anyway.

 

[murphster]

Reaction time is measured from the time the last yellow light comes on, not when the green light comes on.

For a Pro Tree, the green light comes on exactly .400 seconds after the last yellow light comes on. Therefore, anything less than 0.400 means you started before the green light came on, thus you redlight.

Also, to answer some other common questions... The total ET (elapsed time) doesn't start clocking until the car starts moving. You can run a 10.00 sec ET with a perfect 0.400 sec reaction tme against someone with a 10.00 sec ET but with a 2.0 sec reaction time. Since the person with the 0.400 sec reaction time left sooner, he wins because he also finishes first.

To make it more complicated, the person who had the 2.0 sec reaction time could have a much faster car and almost catch the other car at the end of the quarter mile. So he could have a faster ET, say 9.9 sec, but lose since he had such a bad reaction time and started so much later.

Always, whoever reaches the finish line first wins. The total time to get to the finish line is the ET plus the reaction time. Most of us care just about the ET since that is a reflection of car performance. For competitive drag racing, reaction time is very important.

make sense?

 

[salvageV6]

That sucks!

Don't like Pro Trees anyway, or cars with electronics.

Guess I better start watching those yellow lights.

What's the number for a regular tree? .5?

 

[77tech9]

.500 is usually what they use on regular trees, but they are also starting to use this new thing called crosstalk and such.

With my NA race car I usually stomp the gas right when the 2nd yellow light turns off, and get some decient .002 times (well maybe not always) but with a blower it may be a little harder to get a good light.