Bracket Racing Consistency

[conexion914]

I've searched this site and have googled quite a bit, but can't find the solid answers I'm looking for.

Basically, I know there are some of you here who bracket race your cars. While I don't know how successful you are I was wondering what it is you do to keep the car consistent from round to round.

Being fuel injected I know the closer to operating temp the more consistent it should be, but I haven't been able to determine that myself.

I've only started bracket racing since November and since then have a runner-up and have made it to the semis in one other race. I've gone a few rounds, but I've been burned by the car in later rounds. I may dial a number and then run .04-.05 over it and have no chance at winning.

I know there are different strategies, but to get to the question: what do you guys do to keep your car as consistent as possible between rounds?

Bonus question: Any of you N/A guys think about water/meth injection to help control IATs to keep the car as close to consistent as possible?

Thanks in advance for your replies!

 

[casper gt]

theres a little more to it than consistancy between rounds, you need to be on top of the whole picture & know the car (knowing your competition helps too, always pay attention) & never be afraid to change your dial as needed (I don't even put the tenths on the car till they are ready to start pulling us out).

theres no real excuse for a .04-.05 break out, your dailing the car too agressive for your abilities for now.

as to the meth, tricks like that can bite you in the long run, the more complicated you make the car, the more trouble you'll have, keep it simple.

 

[Doug1227]

Not sure what the class rules are, but a 2-step that allows you to leave at the exact same rpm might help....

 

[Mike K]

Subd.

 

[Simon]

NA
Automatic
Good tires.
Two step maybe

I see guys when with this combo a lot. If you really want to be successful you need to practice and keep track of your cars passes.

 

[casper gt]

personally I find 2-steps get in the way, plus it's another thing to fail.

with an automatic car it's easier to just leave against the converter, as long as the converter is in good shape, you'll leave at the same time/rpms everytime anyway.

they can be usefull on a stick car, but at a compeditive track a stick car doesn't have much of a chance anyway.

 

[NitroPsycho]

@ casper, the way I read that it looked like he said he ran .04-.05 over... over usually means slower right? Like couldn't run the number. Not trying to be a dick, just making sure for clarity. As those are two entirely different issues, at least in my opinion.

@ Conexion, do you have someone that is showing you the ropes? What are your lights like? Those are all super important to the end goal of having a better package then the guy in the other lane.

The main thing I would say is, get a log book,gather data, and see what the common denominator is for when the car does run slow for some reason. Did you spin? Did you dead hook and have the motor bog for some reason? Where are you losing the time? You should be able to figure that out through deciphering the timeslip.

I don't know about you Casper but I always throw away timeslips that are total garbage, like if I was being dumb and had traction control on or something happened that made that run totally different than any other. Does that make sense?

Speaking of which, what is your pre-stage routine Conexion?

Remember to factor in if you had to scrub mile an hour at the top end because you had the guy covered. There are mathematical equations that you can use to figure out what your ET would have been had you ran all out, but I think you at least need to have a 330 time for that to work at an 1/8 mile track.


Good Luck and have fun.

Nitro

 

[86GT351]

To be consistent you just need seat time. Bracket racing is based on 2 key elements. Reaction Time and Dial in. If you can learn to "hit" the tree with consitent lights it makes you a harder driver to beat. Bracket Racers are a rare breed. A good bracket racer pays attention to his competition. If I am dialing a specific number and I know I can cut a light, but the guy I am racing is on street tires and Nitrous it allows me to be a little safer. Very good chance he is not going to be close to his dial in at that point.


Overall, I would say just keep going to the track and practice. Keep a log book of every run also. Track conditions, Temp, etc. Once you have all this info you can go back and see how the car ran. Don't make major changes in the car. If temp drops, you have to assume you might go faster.

 

[conexion914]

theres a little more to it than consistancy between rounds, you need to be on top of the whole picture & know the car (knowing your competition helps too, always pay attention) & never be afraid to change your dial as needed (I don't even put the tenths on the car till they are ready to start pulling us out).

theres no real excuse for a .04-.05 break out, your dailing the car too agressive for your abilities for now.

as to the meth, tricks like that can bite you in the long run, the more complicated you make the car, the more trouble you'll have, keep it simple.

Not breaking out. I've broke out before, but that has only happened a few times. Most of the time I think I dial the car too quick and run slower. Maybe that's my problem? Thanks for the insight.

Good thinking on the meth.

 

[conexion914]

Not sure what the class rules are, but a 2-step that allows you to leave at the exact same rpm might help....

I've contemplated a 2-step, but with my converter and the skinnies up front I can only stall the car to about 1700-1800 rpms consistenly and the MSD unit only goes down to 2000rpm.

Before the skinnies I would leave at 2100-2200. When I first went out with the skinnies I tried that and pushed right through the beams with the front brakes locked up lol.

 

[conexion914]

NA
Automatic
Good tires.
Two step maybe

I see guys when with this combo a lot. If you really want to be successful you need to practice and keep track of your cars passes.

I've got all that less the 2-step.

I keep all of my slips and make notes on them.

I'm going to order a logbook.

 

[conexion914]

@ casper, the way I read that it looked like he said he ran .04-.05 over... over usually means slower right? Like couldn't run the number. Not trying to be a dick, just making sure for clarity. As those are two entirely different issues, at least in my opinion.

@ Conexion, do you have someone that is showing you the ropes? What are your lights like? Those are all super important to the end goal of having a better package then the guy in the other lane.

The main thing I would say is, get a log book,gather data, and see what the common denominator is for when the car does run slow for some reason. Did you spin? Did you dead hook and have the motor bog for some reason? Where are you losing the time? You should be able to figure that out through deciphering the timeslip.

I don't know about you Casper but I always throw away timeslips that are total garbage, like if I was being dumb and had traction control on or something happened that made that run totally different than any other. Does that make sense?

Speaking of which, what is your pre-stage routine Conexion?

Remember to factor in if you had to scrub mile an hour at the top end because you had the guy covered. There are mathematical equations that you can use to figure out what your ET would have been had you ran all out, but I think you at least need to have a 330 time for that to work at an 1/8 mile track.


Good Luck and have fun.

Nitro

You are correct. I've run slower than my dial. This plus having a not so stellar light will really just take you right out of a race I've learned.

I have a few people who are quite good showing me the ropes and giving me tips. They help me out here and there, but they are also my competitors and I've won some and lost some races to them. It's good competition for sure. As for my lights they're pretty good most of the time. I'm much better in time runs, or on practice nights. I've had the bye run a few rounds. I aim to be between .020-.040. I've had quite a few .00 lights both green and red.

Like I said, I write notes on the slips, but I'm going to order a log book. The car is dead on in the 1/8th mile, but those are only every other points race and most of the other races are 1/4 where the car has a tendency to be off a bit. I recently had an epiphany after getting owned a few times. I'm going to try holding a few numbers and either spot dropping or just taking the stripe by as little as possible. This should give me some wiggle room. I told the guys showing me the ropes this and they smiled and said now you're getting it.

As for my pre-stage routine. I roll through the waterbox in 1st gear. Start my burnout out in 1st, click to 2nd, wait for smoke, roll out of the brake and stab the gas. I then stop. Put the car in drive. Make sure I have TC and OD off. I check my dial on the board. I make sure I'm in the groove and adjust if I'm not. I roll into pre-stage and light the top bulb. I then bring the car up on the converter assuming the other person is prestaged. I then start bumping in. I barely light the bottom bulb. I shallow stage. At this point all bets are off and it's time to go.

I've found some of those formulas for calculating when you scrub. I'm going out to the track tonight and will be spot dropping to find out where I need to lift or brake to scrub x amount of time.

Thanks for the tips and insight.

 

[casper gt]

Not breaking out. I've broke out before, but that has only happened a few times. Most of the time I think I dial the car too quick and run slower. Maybe that's my problem? Thanks for the insight.

Good thinking on the meth.

I got what your saying now, I was guessing, based on your experiance that you were going under by that amount.

dialing the car quicker than you should to cover not breaking out (some guys do that sub-conciously) is typical also.

one thing that might help is one of these, http://www.summitracing.com/parts/ALT-PA2/

expensive but they come in handy.

 

[casper gt]

another thing to watch is bringing the car up on the converter to bump in.

not only does that put un-nessisary heat in the trans & has the potential to effect consistancy, it just gives your compeditor another tool if your track doesn't use auto start (if the auto start is off or they don't use it, your compeditor may well leave you sit there as long as they can heating up your trans before they stage, then when you realize whats happening & let off the gas, they stage quick & your not ready)

a much better way IMO is to just roll in & stage, then bring the car up against the converter when ness. (prefferably when both cars are completely staged)

 

[conexion914]

another thing to watch is bringing the car up on the converter to bump in.

not only does that put un-nessisary heat in the trans & has the potential to effect consistancy, it just gives your compeditor another tool if your track doesn't use auto start (if the auto start is off or they don't use it, your compeditor may well leave you sit there as long as they can heating up your trans before they stage, then when you realize whats happening & let off the gas, they stage quick & your not ready)

a much better way IMO is to just roll in & stage, then bring the car up against the converter when ness. (prefferably when both cars are completely staged)

I gotcha. I sit in pre stage until the other guy pre-stages. We have auto start at my track, so they usually follow right in, or I'll wait until they fully stage to start bumping.

The only I reason I bump on the converter is to try and be as consistent as possible with my staging depth. If I waited until they staged to bring the converter up while already staged I would be in a rush to make sure I get to 1700 rpms steady distracting me from the tree and giving me a bad light.

I usually am the first to leave being that I dial 12.90-13.00, so I have to be ready to go once I stage.

Good tips for sure.

 

[jodadejss06gt]

Who said a stick car couldn't be competitive? On Friday, I had an 11.111, 11.113, & a 11.116. I also had my pb 11.071, but I slightly turned the boost up on that run.

 

[fdjizm]

^awesome, another stick car beasting bracket I use a two step (5k now) and I shift at exactly the same rpm (6500) every time, it's something you will get used to, but hand eye coordination helps lol I also have the car warmed up the same time each time (if possible) if not I know I will run a tenth slower or so.

I'm pretty damn snazzy... screw your automatics!

 

[cm581978]

I think Fdjzim and Joda need to battle in a bracket racing competition lol

 

[conexion914]

^awesome, another stick car beasting bracket I use a two step (5k now) and I shift at exactly the same rpm (6500) every time, it's something you will get used to, but hand eye coordination helps lol I also have the car warmed up the same time each time (if possible) if not I know I will run a tenth slower or so.

I'm pretty damn snazzy... screw your automatics!

Nice work. Why not dial a 12.67, or 12.68?

 

[NitroPsycho]

@ fdjizm.... now do that while fully turned around so you can judge the other guy... makes it kinda difficult trying to nail every gear and have the situational awareness to know what's going on with the dude next to you.


I'll keep my automatic, haven't seen a whole lot of stick cars win bracket races in my day. (I am young so bare with me)

(Helluva job driving though, props to you for knowing how to row em right every time)

To each there own!

Nitro