All this talk about drag racing

[lundgren]

gsr98: Drag racing isn't easy. I thought it was very hard to control the car just right to get the best times. The part I didn't like, and this is my personal preference for me, was it was all in controlling the launch, that's it... after that it really didn't matter.

But that really wasn't my point. If people like drag racing that's fine, but a fast drag car isn't a fast street car.

[gsr98]

i think this is a kinda no win situation, hey if ur winning races over where u live thats a good setup, with my basic mods, im winning some here. it depends on where ur racing. But most people don't daily drive drag suspension cars on the road, they might stiffin up their rear suspension, but when its time to go home, most of them change itback. So at the least, most drag racer will handle like stock. also, in freeway driving most drag racers tune their cars to get maximum power at high end, and high end is pretty much all there is in freeway racing. i understand ur point fully though.

[Silvino]

Call me a barbarian but I dig street racing even if it illegal and doesn't mean my car is fast or I'm a good driver. I get off on racing someone and blowing them away. I'm sure AutoX is fun as hell and I'll probably get into it but the rush from blowing someone from the street away is sweet.


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Silvino Orozco
'97 Integra GS-R w/JRSC,JR Fuel pump, AEM Cold Air Intake, Powerstop rotors/Axxis Metal Master brake pads, A'PEXi Dunk Exhaust, J&S Safeguard unit

[lundgren]

I totally agree. Hey! It's all good!

Don't race where you can hurt others though please. And please don't hurt yourself.

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Lundgren
Lundgren's Integra Site
My AllAdvantage Page

[Bryan-96'GSR]

As for dyno, yea it shows nothing, even with corrected conditions still shows nothing, autocross shows nothing as it's on a good surface, not real world conditions just as drag racing is. If you run on street tires at a drag strip you will get more accurate times than a autocross, if this was not true than why would manufactors even bother to post quarter mile times 60 ft. times etc.. You can not say a autocross car will perform better on street than a drag race car as in both situations they are setup for specific applications, you wont see a first place autocrosser in the higher classes driving her or his car around with the same setup on the street or even on the street at all. So what you say is completely flawed, as to a cars straight line performance, a run at the drag strip will show more accurate estimations of how it would do in a street race, as most if not all are straight line, some from a dead stop, etc.. big picture of it all is it's stupid to try and compare anything to street other than how it performs on a street.

bryan

[VTeCno Geek]

Sorry, but a couple of points:

Drag Racing has not been around longer than Autocross. Autocross in it's current form can be traced back to the earliest forms of Performance Driving Tests and Exhibitions from the early 1900's. The 1320 is younger by almost 40 years.

As for Drag Racing meaning all things else being equal. UNNHHH...WRONG...PLAY AGAIN... Who can say that the track surface, temp, humidity, barametric pressure, all of these things don't affect the times. Sure, if you are all at the strip at the same day, but then the same could be said for AutoX. And actually, even then you should get rid of the driver, cqause I might only be able to get a 14 out of a car where someone else could get a 13.5

I know what Lundgren is getting at. It seems we have had more and more people disappointed and looking elsewhere just cause they couldn't hit some magical number in a contest that really isn't ideal for FF cars. Sure, it may be a challenge to run a FF in the 1/4, but it shouldn't surprise people if they can't get it into the 12's with a few thousand dollars in mods.

I love autox, I am a vicous street racer (and not just stoplights, I like 145mph on the freeway), but I only like Drag racing. I am sorry, but I agree with Lundgren that the AutoX and the Street Racer tell more about the car and the driver than a trip down the strip!

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[GSRDPM]

Whew! We have some pretty passionate feelings on both ends of the debate. One thing that we all can probably agree on is that one of the most significant performance upgrades for any car in any event is the driver.

I have never been to a drag strip, but I have autocrossed regularly and I LOVE it. The only bigger thrill was the 2 day driving school, but doing that regularly would be too expensive and I fear, too hard on my daily driver.

I can't wait for this weekend's BMWCCA autocross. I plan on eating some M3s for lunch - Gsrev, ya gonna be there!?!

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Tom

1996 Cypress Green Pearl Acura Integra 4 DR
JRSC with JR fuel pump upgrade
J&S Safeguard
Tokico Illumina Shocks & Eibach Pro-kit Springs
Dunlop D60/A2 JLBs (205 50 15) on stock 15 x 6 wheels (street)
Kumho V700 Victoracers (205 50 15) on 15x7 rims (autocross)
Century infant and booster child seats in back!

[Kevin]

Sorry Geek, but I think drag racing is probably the oldest form of auto racing there is. Drag racing dates back to the first time two guys got their horseless carriages together and thought, "hey lets see which one is faster!"

Hence, drag racing is born....

Usually, the people who talk crap about drag racing are usually fit into the following categories:

A)Have never tried it.

B)Tried it and sucked at it. Then try to play it off as being beneath them and not worth their time.

Im proud to say that i have done both. Both are more fun than a barrel of monkeys. But to say one is better than the other is rediculous. They are both fun in their own way, and most guys i know do both. Come spring, I will be doing both as well.

Honestly, the setups I see some of these guys running in autox wouldn't be advisable on the street, unless of course you have the spare duckets to buy new tires every other week.

Seriously though, if we are talkin street cars here, the only classes I can visualize a street car being competitive in autox is either stock or street prepared. Even then, i think street prep would be a stretch for a daily driver. In either case, you are limited in what you can do to your car. You can of course compete in one of those mod classes, but I don't think getting my butt kicked week after week would be very fun. You could of course run in a class where you have no competition, but I'd think that would be kinda lame too, don't ya think? Having no competition, or being totally uncompetitive kinda degrades the spirit of the activity if you ask me.

Drag racing however is an entirely different proposition. Basically you can do whatever you want and drive whatever you want and still be competitive in drag racing. That is the beauty of bracket racing. Hell, you could race a moped and still be competitive. You just need to be consistent and aware of what you and your vehicle are capable of.

By the way, drag racing involves a little more than just "hooking up". That statement is one of pure ignorance, definately words of a man that fits in category A.

Case in point, last Saturday I was out a the street races in south Vegas. Some dude came out with a Saleen mustang that night. This beast was sporting a blown 351 (and a host of other undisclosed mods I'm sure) One thing was for sure, this car was no where near stock. I also spied a pair of ET streets as well. Whelp, after a smoke show that would've made cheech and chong proud, the saleen lines up against some sort of Mopar (not sure what it was, it was dark and it was in the other lane across from the stang) it was a fast car, but nowhere near the same league as the stang. Especially considering the Mopar was on street tires.

They line up, and the flag man drops his arms. The Saleen absolutely DEMOLISHES the Mopar out of the hole. According to you guys, the race is over right? WRONG, Captain America not only misses his 1-2 shift, he blew his 2-3 as well! the Mopar makes up the difference and wins!

Looks like someone forgot that shifting technique is everybit as important as launch technique. How about this, two of the exact same cars pull the exact same 60ft time, but one powershifts while the other grannyshifts. Who's going to win? I thought drag racing was all about launching?

Guess again.

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1998 GSR(sold)
14.059 @ 99.37
2000 LS1 Z28
-dynoed(stock) 296.3hp & 314.3ft/lbs to the wheels
www.geocities.com/motorcity/lane/4603

[Holden]

Just adding my two cents.

I haven't dragged yet, but will try it this summer. I love autocrossing and imagine that dragging will not replace autocrossing as my motorsport of choice.

A note about street racing: Go ahead and race, but if other civilians pop into the scene, be the bigger man and give up the race. Look what happened the other day with those NBA players in their Porsches. I'm glad the drag racer is the dead one and the two innocent civilians only ended up in serious condition at the hospital. If it were the other way around, he'd be facing (and deserving) some serious time in prison.

Later,

Greg Holden
96 GSR, JRSC...

p.s. JRSC 6PSI basic kit starting/running great in 0 degree farenheit weather.

[4doorGSR]

I apologize in advance the long and and only somehat related subject matter, but as long as we're venting.

Street racing is for fools with no respect for their own safety or that of other's. The following story could be you. Either as the racer or an innocent victim. How would your family feel if you were the racer? How would you feel if someone in your family was the victim? How could you explain this to a small child who will never see their father again? Something to think about before your next street race.

CHARLOTTE - Charlotte Hornets guard Bobby Phills, a team leader and community benefactor, was killed Wednesday in a traffic accident while speeding in his Porsche from a practice at the team's arena,
police said. Witnesses said teammate David Wesley also may have been driving too fast in another car, police said. Wesley's vehicle wasn't involved in the accident.

Phills, 30, was traveling at ""a very high rate of speed'' after a team shootaround at the Charlotte Coliseum before Wednesday night's scheduled game with Chicago when he collided with a car headed toward the coliseum, Charlotte-Mecklenburg police spokesman Keith Bridges said. A minivan rearended the other car. Phills was killed
instantly, and two people in the other vehicles were hospitalized.

Capt. L.E. Blydenburgh, the police crash investigator, said Phills lost control of his Porsche on a hilly curve where the posted speed was 45 mph. ""The skid marks indicate he was not going in a straight
line,'' he said.

Bridges said Phills' 1997 convertible, with the vanity plate ""SLAMN,''left skid marks several hundred feet long and came to rest in one of the opposite lanes. Firefighters had to cut his body from the wreckage.

Listed in stable condition at Presbyterian Hospital were Robert Woolard Jr., 31, of Cornelius, the driver of the other car; and Yao Agbegbon, 33, of Charlotte, who was driving a minivan taxi, Bridges said.

Wesley, the Hornets' starting point guard, was listed on the accident report and questioned at the scene in a white Porsche. Bridges said it appeared from witness accounts that he was driving fast, too.

""We had some witness statements that his car may have been going at a high rate of speed also,'' Bridges said. He said it will be at least several days before investigators reconstruct what happened.

""This is the ultimate tragedy, and our immediate thoughts and prayers are with his wife, Kendall, children and family,'' Hornets owner George Shinn said in a statement. ""Not only was Bobby a tremendous person, but a great husband, father and role model that everyone respected and admired. He was someone that you would want your children to be like.''

Phills and his wife have two children - Bobby Ray III, 3, and Kerstie, 1.

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"A reasonable man adapts himself to the world around him. An unreasonable man expects the world to adapt to him. Therefore, all progress is achieved by unreasonable men"

[This message has been edited by 4doorGSR (edited January 14, 2000).]