Figuring a lot of yall saw it or heard about it, that may not frequent my build thread.
Other than being a tad sore, shoulders, neck on sunday i am fine. Hoping yall can learn from what i did right (safety gear) and what i did wrong (thats a longer list).
In reply to Go_Gators (Forum Supporter) :
Glad you're ok.
You should have given up the fight before that it already was a bad pass. I don't see where you did anything else all that wrong. I'm glad you're okay, I'm glad you're willing to share your story for the benefit of the group.
Had a long phone call with our resident drag racing expert last night and I think I understand what happened at the drags.
Lots of rubber and glue from FL2K, the track pretty clearly wasn't scraped just more glue sprayed down, we were squirming around like a full tread tire at an autox. The dew point and general dampness/coolness of the surface didn't help.
The reality is trying to drag race on autox tires in a powerful or aggressively setup autox car is always going to be about one step away from dangerous
Byrneon27 said:Had a long phone call with our resident drag racing expert last night and I think I understand what happened at the drags.
Lots of rubber and glue from FL2K, the track pretty clearly wasn't scraped just more glue sprayed down, we were squirming around like a full tread tire at an autox. The dew point and general dampness/coolness of the surface didn't help.
The reality is trying to drag race on autox tires in a powerful or aggressively setup autox car is always going to be about one step away from dangerous
It wasn't just powerful cars. Jeremy's BRZ squirmed the whole way down the strip. We had problems with tire spin and the far end of the strip in 2015 with an ~160whp miata.
If you watched GoGators vid there is a section at 37 seconds where he is pointed straight in the autocross and full throttle at 60mph=no tire spin. On the strip at the 3:32 mark you see him roll into the throttle at ~65mph-instant loss of traction ending up into a spin into the wall. The strip had significantly less grip than the parking lot.
I don't know much about drag racing. Is that within the normal range of variability of grip you can expect at a dragstrip? Is that the worst? Is it similar to what you get at any strip? Is it something we can change or know ahead of time?
In reply to MrJoshua :
Yeah, i've never been drag racing, but I share being a bit mystified at losing traction repeatedly without it being a clutch dump at 60-ish mph.
I mean, some factors worth thinking about. Tires, was this A6's or similar? most of those dont grip hardly AT ALL when cold. For reference, my F500 at the DC Tour this year, 45* temps and at an autocross I couldnt get them more than luke warm. I was wayyy down the timesheets because I had no grip from the cold tires, pretty much most of the race tire cars were handicapped compared to street tire cars. So, if you couldnt get any heat in them, they were probably worse off than all-seasons for what you were doing.
In reply to Go_Gators (Forum Supporter) :
I'm really glad you are ok.
Another thing I learned from your video, is to practice exiting the vehicle. That took a long time.
In 2015 the Texas A&M team and I sparred all night with each other. We were both in turbo Miatas. They had more power, but I had more drag racing experience.
After their first run, they came back to the pits white faced. They said the car was scary squirrelly, and asked my team for some advice. We offered some alignment change tips, but the main thing was we noticed they were running on autocross tires. I asked what else they had in the trailer, and they said only the street tires that came with the car. I told them to put them on. That solved the problem.
Autocross tires are not made for the drag strip. (Although it sounds like there were some other issues too)
we were spinning on actual Mickey thompson drag radials. and the car was turned all the way down power-wise. have never had a traction issue otherwise with this car before this weekend, in fact broke a axle off the line in testing the weekend before at OSW
That being said if you spin 30 ft off the line the pass is already junk. if you spin again on a 2-3 shift at 50mph that is a sign to not accelerate to 80mph. Glad you weren't injured, hopefully nothing comes up later on.
SV reX said:In 2015 the Texas A&M team and I sparred all night with each other. We were both in turbo Miatas. They had more power, but I had more drag racing experience.
After their first run, they came back to the pits white faced. They said the car was scary squirrelly, and asked my team for some advice. We offered some alignment change tips, but the main thing was we noticed they were running on autocross tires. I asked what else they had in the trailer, and they said only the street tires that came with the car. I told them to put them on. That solved the problem.
Autocross tires are not made for the drag strip. (Although it sounds like there were some other issues too)
And then they beat us soundly down the strip. 
Lol-even knowing it would help them beat us I would still give them the same advice. We should have borrowed their street tires. 
In reply to SV reX :
A6/7s have always been junk at the strip. Even the Federals I ran this year were better than the A7s we ran previously.
That said, I think more people need to learn to do burnouts. Even just clutch dumping and letting it roll a few seconds really helped clean off the tires. The dirt on return road and particularly the gravel that accumulates on the outside corners of the autoX course will make a home in your sticky autoX tires when you drive through it on the way back to the staging lanes, big time.
E36 M3 happens when driving fast cars on tracks, glad driver was ok and props on the safety gear. If I had done that in the Insight it probably would have been significantly more un fun.
I think weather was a big issue this year. Temperatures the previous few days were much cooler than normal, and humidity was high. As soon as the sun set, dew could have formed on the track.
I am very sorry to see this happen. I didn't watch it happen but when I heard I immediately understood how it happened. Glad you are ok.
MrJoshua said:Byrneon27 said:Had a long phone call with our resident drag racing expert last night and I think I understand what happened at the drags.
Lots of rubber and glue from FL2K, the track pretty clearly wasn't scraped just more glue sprayed down, we were squirming around like a full tread tire at an autox. The dew point and general dampness/coolness of the surface didn't help.
The reality is trying to drag race on autox tires in a powerful or aggressively setup autox car is always going to be about one step away from dangerous
It wasn't just powerful cars. Jeremy's BRZ squirmed the whole way down the strip. We had problems with tire spin and the far end of the strip in 2015 with an ~160whp miata.
If you watched GoGators vid there is a section at 37 seconds where he is pointed straight in the autocross and full throttle at 60mph=no tire spin. On the strip at the 3:32 mark you see him roll into the throttle at ~65mph-instant loss of traction ending up into a spin into the wall. The strip had significantly less grip than the parking lot.
I don't know much about drag racing. Is that within the normal range of variability of grip you can expect at a dragstrip? Is that the worst? Is it similar to what you get at any strip? Is it something we can change or know ahead of time?
I'm a pretty accomplished FWD drag racer and I have more passes in DC2/EG chassis Hondas than I can count I was less than a foot from the wall just before the 1000' mark in a 130hp FWD car I was in just as bad shape lifting at the finish. That same car left the autox start line at 4500rpm every run without wheel spin, the same launch on the drag strip was a burnout.
The track was absolute garbage, worse than usual for the challenge but apparently it's pretty well understood that RT660s hate dragstrip prep. There's chemical and mechanical properties at play that make drag tires work on drag strip prep. If this weekend was your first bite at the drag racing apple I promise it rarely sucks that bad.
Get your hands off the wheel and cover your chest if you're going to hit a wall. Don't hang onto the wheel. It could lead to serious hand and shoulder injury.
I think it's very humble to post that and further to ask for evaluations.
that just look like a super-slick track.
stuff happens fast at that speed!
I do have to post after totally missing the event this year even on here. One crash in 20 plus years of the event. I would say that is a very good record and you where where not hurt. Hope you can fix the car and it was not really badly damaged.
Did you get best fail award at least for wreaking your ride?
"t wasn't just powerful cars. Jeremy's BRZ squirmed the whole way down the strip."
I was having a terrible time with traction with the RT660's. On the way back after a particularly terrible drag run. I launched the car briefly on the return road. Despite being on crappy concrete with dirt covering it the car hooked up and launched far far better than was possible on the drag strip. I was super frustrated...
Glad you are OK Kyle I can only imagine trying to launch a car that weighs less than mine with easily double the horsepower...
I was lined up with the LS1 kart in a stripped out e46 with a stock engine...good thing i was still way back at the start searching for traction when the vette crashed
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