Evo Forum

[Warrtalon]

Sure, Larry, this is my stomping grounds:

1) First, learn to stage and how the lights work. It's important that you get this down pat so that you can never think about it again. If you are worried about staging and hitting the lights perfectly, you will not get your best run. There is a pre-stage and full-stage. You will roll slowly across the line and see the first set of small yellow bulbs light up - this is pre-stage. The common courtesy here is to wait for your opponent to also pre-stage before you do your full-stage, but in a test'n'tune situation, it's not important. When ready, roll forward SLOWLY until the 2nd set of yellow bulbs lights up and then stop immediately. This is the full-stage, and when your opponent is also full-staged, the timers will start. Shortly after, the red bulbs will light up followed by the 3 sets of large yellow bulbs and then green, which means go. These large bulbs are .5s apart, and when the green bulbs light, the drag timer begins. If you are still at the line when the green light hits, you are half a second late. You are supposed to leave on the 3rd yellow so that you cut the laser right about when the green hits. For now, this is not important, because this only affects your reaction time, and the reaction time does NOT affect your ET - it only matters in an actual competition.

2) The 60' time is the most important part of drag racing. This is basically your launch. If you are cutting 2.0 60's, then you will never get a good time. If you can get down to 1.7 60's, then you'll pull some very good times relative to your trap speeds. The mph you see on the timeslips is called your "trap speed." If you trap 105, that sucks. If you trap 110, that's pretty good. Trap speed is more of an indication of your car's actual power, whereas the ET (estimated time) is an indication of your driving ability. For instance, a 12.8@105 is great driving with a fairly weak Evo, whereas 12.8@110 is crappy driving in a strong Evo. Trap speeds can still be affected negatively by poor driving, such as slow shifts and/or poor shift points, but IN GENERAL, the trap speed is a good indicator of horsepower.

3) Start with your tires at 32psi all around, and try to launch with the quick slip method. This method entails you sitting at the lights with the rpms around 5500-6000, and when the lights come down, you slowly start to let out the clutch until you feel it grab. When it grabs, it will pull out the drivetrain slack and start to roll you forwrad. When you feel this forward motion and that the clutch has grabbed, then you hammer the throttle and let out the rest of the clutch quickly. This is going to give you a nice launch without shocking the drivetrain. Just don't ride the clutch too long, or you will burn the hell out of it and bounce off your rev limiter all the way through 1st while barely moving.