Tommorow I'm gonna go for my first drag at Mission. Just want to see what my car can do.
Any suggestions???

 

Have fun, Relax, have fun, pay attention, have fun.

its all trial and error trying to see what you best launch/shift at.

 

Pay attention to the other racers - you can see a lot just by looking. (How do they burnout/DO they burnout/watch them stage/watch when they take off/etc.) Oh yeah and if you shallow stage (pull forward JUST enough that the second staging light comes on, and no further) and then leave when you see the 3rd amber light come down, you'll cut killer lights. I do this and consistently cut reaction times in the mid-.500's, although my last time out I lost, redlighted - I did a .499 r/t, that really hurt! (Also by staging shallow, you get a slight head start on the timing clocks - it's worth a tenth or two) If you wait to see the green light, you're too late.

OK that's enough secrets for now... As for launching/when to shift, I really dunno, never drove an -SE before and still trying to figure mine out!

 

thanks guys, appreciate it, wish me luck

 

To add to Peejay...It is all trial and error. I think the first gens are one of the easiest cars to launch. A dump at about 3500-4000rpm gives a nice 5 foot patch and then you're off! I think just had problems with the 2-3 shift hitting the gate and getting nothing. I've only had an old 12A at the track. You never realize how much fun it is to run 17.3.

As for the burnout, it's not necessary on street tires, but if you want to for fun, go for it. I did. Put the rear tires in the water box. Rev to 4000rpm, dump clutch, floor gas and quickly move left foot to brake. Use only enough brake to keep the car still but not too much to conflict with keeping the rear wheels spinning. Modulate the gas to keep the revs in the 5000rpm area. If you then slowly let off the brake and accelerator to bring you up to the staging lights. Let out the clutch at the last yellow light, not the green. If you seen the green before letting out, you'll get about a 1.5s reaction time.

Have fun!

 

SOME street tires work pretty well with burnouts - some BFGs and Goodyears come to mine (Eagle ST = sleeper drag radial!)

Three-pedaling is actually a bit easier. If you can heel-toe downshift, you can three-pedal a burnout.

My burnout procedure: Roll thru burnout box to edge of water, stop, ball of right foot holding brake pedal just enough (takes practice), blip throttle to about 5k with other side of right foot, cump clutch in 1st, rev out to redline, QUICKLY shift to 2nd (if tires stop spinning you're screwed on the shift), and continue the burnout for a few seconds at 5k-8k depending on mood/track conditions/temperature. (Yeah, sometimes I do a big smokey just for the hell of it. Hey, racing's supposed to be FUN right? ) Roll forward a bit once in 2nd gear to get clear of the water, let off the brakes and power out a little.

Quicktime movie (Thanks Max7!): http://www.rx-7.org/events/Norwalk/2...s/p7220001.mov (check out the dudes plugging their ears... )

On my street Goodyears this will make a small cloud of smoke, on my road race tires it barely makes any smoke. Usually only the right tire will spin if I don't apply enough brake pressure, while the engine will bog out if I apply too much. My rear brakes are pretty much burned-out and useless after 60+ burnouts this year. But I did it perfectly the first time I ever tried a burnout so it's really not hard at all.

My best 60' has been a 2.15, on the STREET tires with a HUGE burnout - the tires gripped and the clutch slipped.

- PJ (drag racing withdrawal... test-n-tune was fained out tonite...)