Drag racing experience - 15 or 17 inch rear wheels?

[Red-Candy-Metallic]

March 17, 2024 - car # 1113 (Time trial, first round, buy-back round)
The forecast for this day was very similar to the previous day, so I was hoping to more accurately predict how the car would perform and run closer to my dial-in. I ran a quicker time trial and once again lost in the first round, this time due to the car running slower than I thought it would (considering the previous days results). Consequently, I gave away time that I couldn't make up. On the buy-back round, I still missed my dial-in, but I was gifted a win, due to my opponent breaking out. DA was 1429, 1957, 2393 respectively. My RTs were still too high, unlike my opponents who seemed to have honed that aspect of things.

 

[Red-Candy-Metallic]

March 17, 2024 - Car # 1113 (third round, quarter (no dial, no slip), quarter "do over", semi)
Luck continued to carry me through three more rounds before I fouled out in the semi-final round. Going into the third round, I continued to adjust my dial-in, hoping to get that closer to the truth. This round was narrowly given to me as my opponent just missed catching me at the trap (MOV .0168), obviously trying to avoid breaking out. Although he lost, he sure as hell knew how to drive his car. What happened next was one of those WTF moments. I was now into the quarter finals and my opponent had a slightly quicker dial-in and lane choice (didn't really matter to me). To digress a little, one of the tips my buddy had given me was, "don't stage if your dial-in doesn't appear on the time board". That was sage advice given was happened. We stagged, he fouled out, and I got the win light on my board. When I got to the shack to pick up my time slip, the kid told me that because they never posted the dial-ins on the boards, we had to run the race again. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't thrilled with the situation, but I went back to the stagging lanes as instructed and we immediately ran again. It didn't occur to me to adjust my dial-in for the "hot lap", because the car has run within a few thousandths previously, hot lapping on Test & Tune nights. Getting lucky again, as my car waddled down the track and I ran a full tenth over my dial-in, my opponent broke-out. Now, much to my amazement, I was in the semi-finals. My semi-final opponent had been the runner-up on the day before and had gotten a buy into the semi-finals today based on the lowest RT. Given my lackluster RTs up to this point, I attempted to shave a little time off this one and fouled out. As the last slips shows, he knew how to work the tree. Even though I fouled out, it appears that he ran the race straight up as did I from that point on. I reached the trap first (1st .0456), breaking out by .002 and then he crossed after breaking out by .005. Given his RT, and my additional head-start from fouling out, it's obvious that's the only reason that I beat him to the trap. Regardless, aside from me red lighting, it looks like a great race on the slip. BMP's next bracket event isn't until May 4, but I will attempt to improve my own performance prior to that, by attending as many Test & Tune events as I can get to in the meantime.

 

[Midlife Crises]

Great weekend of racing. I might have chewed my fingernails to nubs before the end of the second day.

 

[Red-Candy-Metallic]

Great weekend of racing. I might have chewed my fingernails to nubs before the end of the second day.

The weather was nice, even though the DA was a little high. It was definitely a learning experience for me. Although I try to be stoic and matter of fact, I certainly got anxious between rounds. While they assigned the pairing in the quarters and semis, up to that point it was happenstance, and you could get the two best guys in your first two rounds. I was definitely fortunate to make it to the semi-finals on the second day, as that wasn't the result of stellar driving on my part.

 

[429244]

I'm glad to see that you are racing. Test and tune is fun but at some point, you have to prove it. Well done.
DA change is part of racing. There are a few ways to monitor it. I use https://airdensityonline.com/tracks/ . If the weather at your track changes rapidly, you will find that good records and weather monitoring matters.
On another note, you 60' times are not as consistent as I would expect with a stock vehicle. That could be a few things. If you are getting good traction, make you you are staging consistently. Try shallow staging until you get the hang of it with consistent 60' times.
Have fun with it!

 

[Red-Candy-Metallic]

I'm glad to see that you are racing. Test and tune is fun but at some point, you have to prove it. Well done.
DA change is part of racing. There are a few ways to monitor it. I use https://airdensityonline.com/tracks/ . If the weather at your track changes rapidly, you will find that good records and weather monitoring matters.
On another note, you 60' times are not as consistent as I would expect with a stock vehicle. That could be a few things. If you are getting good traction, make you you are staging consistently. Try shallow staging until you get the hang of it with consistent 60' times.
Have fun with it!

Thanks for commenting and offering advice. I have been keeping a detailed spreadsheet of how the car (and I) perform. I have been recording the DA and I am monitoring it as you have suggested, but obviously, I still misjudged the effect on ET. I do believe that the car is hooking fine, so I am fairly sure that the variable 60' times are due to my inconsistent staging, which probably includes varying launch rpm. As always, knowing what needs to be done and getting it done are two different things. I have also been data logging quite a bit at Test & Tune events, trying to illuminate things that are otherwise are hard to know (knock, etc.). However, I was afraid that it would be too distracting in a competitive setting, so unfortunately I don't have that level of data for this event.
Thanks for the encouragement!