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Dec 11, 2006 17:38:40 GMT
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In a conversation with a mate last night the subject of running a car on a drag strip came up. "Run what ya brung". I had to admit it was something I know very little about. While the possibility of my taking any car to the 'Pod is non-existent I'm curious enough to ask what it involves just to satisfy that curiosity. So, how do you take your road car to Santa Pod and run it? For instance, what form does scrutineering take? And what do you need to pass it? What safety kit do you need? And what form of licence do you need? How much does it all cost? Gratuitous pictures of drag racing purely for illustrative purposes are of course necessary to bring meaning to this thread.  |
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"Jeremy Clarkson, a man we motor enthusiasts need on our side like Lewis Hamilton's F1 car needs a towing ball and a Sprite Musketeer" My motor |
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Dec 11, 2006 17:43:03 GMT
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We did a Run What Ya Brung in September in our 2CVs. Pay £10 to get on site and then £20 more to get the drivers wristband. There is no scrutineering but for open cars you will need a crash helmet and suitable wrist restraints (usually string!). You will need to take your driving licence to register. Mine was in the wrong name and address (changed it over the summer!) but no probs.  Great fun, even with feeble power. We joined the Renault 4 owners under the guise of the Slow Car Club but there was everything from mental bikes to proper (and very fast!) dragsters. |
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1986 Citroen 2CV Dolly Other things. Check out my Blog for the latest! www.hubnut.org |
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Dec 11, 2006 18:10:26 GMT
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wrist restraints???
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bryn
Posted a lot
Posts: 3,913
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Dec 11, 2006 19:53:53 GMT
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You can run anything at usual RWYB days, if you've driven it there you should be fine. Although as I recall anything slower than a 28 sec quarter mile time won't be recorded as that's when the timer stops (I think...)
All you need is a drivers license and a signing on fee, scrutineering consists of the start line marshalls making sure there's no fluid leaking from your car with a cursory visual check. They pretty much rely on you having checked your own motor already...
Give it a go, it's great no matter what you do it in and you'll finish a run and instantly want to go faster. Throughout the day you'll see little piles of spare wheels and tools slowly getting bigger as back seats get ripped out and other needless parts.
Wrist restraints are a very good idea in any open top road car, they are usually secured to a roll cage or a multipoint harness to stop your arms flailing around should you roll over. It's quite common without them for people to have arms/hands ground away or ripped off when they've moved outside of the cars protective shell/roll cage area. May sound grim, but there's always a simple solution. If you roll in a normal car it's always worth crossing your chest and holding onto the seat belt or harness to stop your limbs punching out windows etc.
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Volvo, Buggy, Discovery and an old tractor.
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Snoozin
Posted a lot
Toyophile
Posts: 1,557
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Dec 11, 2006 20:00:29 GMT
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Drag racing is addictive!!! I initially wrote it off, as I come from a more circuit oriented background, but once I had a whirl, I loved it! Kept on lining up for run after run after run. I can't speak for how things are run in your neck of the woods, but here, our street car drag days involve a basic scrutineering to check fluids, battery secure etc. and away you go after paying your entry fee. Obligatory pic: (note retro tow truck)  |
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Last Edit: Dec 11, 2006 20:01:08 GMT by Snoozin
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Dec 11, 2006 20:11:59 GMT
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Dec 11, 2006 20:14:15 GMT
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Dec 11, 2006 20:40:52 GMT
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I'll be dooone 'pod soon so will do a little writeup when I get back Expect HILLARIOUS onboard footage  |
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Dec 11, 2006 21:25:54 GMT
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i thought wrist restraints was a typo, learn something new everyday
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Dec 11, 2006 21:35:47 GMT
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I've done RWYB quite a few times, can only agree that its cracking fun and VERY addictive. Make sure you launch off the line properly though, don't try and wheelspin away like a " dave " - not on a prepped track anyway......  |
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Dec 11, 2006 22:05:59 GMT
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Bizzarely, the fastest run I ever got out of my 510 at the Pod was the run with the most wheelspin. Go figure. My 610...now that's a different story. That'd probably keep spinning them the length of the quarter if you didn't go easy on the go pedal. Hopefully I'll have that little problem cured soon.
I don't think I like drag racing enough to build a car dedicated to it as it would limit what else i could do with it but I'll agree it's very addictive and damned good fun.
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1962 Datsun Bluebird Estate - 1971 Datsun 510 SSS - 1976 Datsun 710 SSS - 1981 Dodge van - 1985 Nissan Cherry Europe GTi - 1988 Nissan Prairie - 1990 Hyundai Pony Pickup - 1992 Mazda MX5
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Dec 11, 2006 23:45:07 GMT
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seems to be very different at diff strips.
up in scotland they let you have passengers, don't bother to check your wearing seatbelts or got your windows cloed
the pod it seems a lil strikter think you need a helmet if your cars breaking 100mph, ive also seen people in kit cars with straps round thier arms to stop them getting caught up in the event of a roll
ive ran my fiesta all the checked was my driving licence
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 once again rocking with 1117cc and 4 gears! |
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don't try and wheelspin away like a " dave " I take offence at this comment sir!!! ;D check these pics out.  brown pants at 200mph for the uninitiated, this is a blowover. |
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All very illuminating I see I'll have to toddle up to the Pod and spectate. |
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"Jeremy Clarkson, a man we motor enthusiasts need on our side like Lewis Hamilton's F1 car needs a towing ball and a Sprite Musketeer" My motor |
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Drag racing is FUN! Even in a dog-slow car it's brilliant, more so if you're alongside something of about the same capabilities. Don't think much has been missed out above, there's plenty of 'slower' classes to race in if you get the bug of the RWYB and want to do something more structured. For example the VWDRC that Dolby mentioned for VW-based cars is 'ET' racing so you're racing against your own estimated time - you can win every round in a stock 1200cc bug if you want! I'll be RWYB'ing in the T3 this year and might save up to get my MSA licence etc for the VWDRC but hey, who knows. If anyone has the Bug Jam 17 video, I'm racing on there..... two blue fastbacks, I'm in the left-hand lane. Slowest race I've ever seen but also the closest, both cars were pretty much the same spc and I won with a 21.60, my mate to the right got 21.61. It was that pathetic the video changes to another clip at the 1/8th mile mark Slow enough to fish in the glovebox, find a camera and take a photo of him alongside. |
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Never trust a man
Who names himself Trevor.
Or one day you might find
He's not a real drug dealer.
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for ET racing you need a competition licence I think. Only RWYB is done without it. This is because you are not racing at RWYB. Notice its always billed as a "test and tune day" in the listings... Yup, you are just testing your car, not racing it... This is how come you can race in UK-SRS without a comp licence. Its done by comparing your "test run" time slips, not side by side racing...
Santa Pod and Avon/Shakey/whateveritscalledthesedays will occasionally check under the bonnet at sign on, they want to see a catch can for the radiator overflow and that the battery is strapped in and thats about it. Sometime they say that open oil breathers are naughty. Basically they just wnat to keep wet stuff off the track for obvious reasons.
Also also also be careful when turning into the return road. They generally try to avoid fast/slow cars running together but if you just ran a 15 or whatever and there was a fuel car or something trying some different lauch techniques or whatever, you think theres nothing in the other lane and pull across and whack get broadsided by him at 200 MPH... he left 10 sec after you but ran a 6!
Outside lane should take the second return road but even thats not a guarantee. And sometime the marshals get upset if you don't take the first one. If the fireup line is busy they want you off the top end quick sticks to get the next cars underway...
Thats about all there is to it.
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1941 Wolseley Not Rod - 1956 Humber Hawk - 1957 Daimler Conquest - 1966 Buick LeSabre - 1968 Plymouth Sport Fury - 1968 Ford Galaxie - 1969 Ford Country Squire - 1969 Mercury Marquis - 1970 Morris Minor - 1970 Buick Skylark - 1970 Ford Galaxie - 1971 Ford Galaxie - 1976 Continental Mark IV - 1976 Ford Capri - 1994 Ford Fiesta
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Dec 12, 2006 12:51:52 GMT
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If anyone has the Bug Jam 17 video, I'm racing on there..... two blue fastbacks, I'm in the left-hand lane. Slowest race I've ever seen but also the closest, both cars were pretty much the same spc and I won with a 21.60, my mate to the right got 21.61. It was that pathetic the video changes to another clip at the 1/8th mile mark Slow enough to fish in the glovebox, find a camera and take a photo of him alongside. I remember that - fookin hysterical it was too ;D Not really a lot to add to what has already been posted in terms of what the pod do and don't allow. It's worth remembering that general RWYB days are not really representative of what the track can be like, for example, they don't put down the glue that they use for race cars so you end up wheel spinning a lot more (most would say this is preferable to breaking your gearbox on a prepped track!!) so if you want to watch some action, it's worth trying to get to an event where there's racing too. In terms of safety stuff, the pod just want people not to kill themselves so windows wound up, arms and legs covered (no so strictly enforced any more), arm restraints in an open topped (or ragtop) car, skid lid for faster cars. In terms of racing etiquette (AKA how not to look like a muppet) I would say my top tips are 1. Approach the start line slowly, the gap between 'pre stage' and 'stage' is a lot smaller than you think and you need to break both beams with your FRONT wheels (seen several people overshoot and stage with their back wheels before, makes the startline crew sob, I tell you) 2. There is very, very little point in using the bleach box to do a burnout if you are in your 1.2 corsa, you'll just wheel spin more off the start line. 3. RWYB lights are usually done on a "pro tree" which means once both cars are ready to leave the line, all the amber lights come on together. When you see them JUST start to go off again, GO!! If you wait until you've seen the green light, you've waited too long. 4. The finish line is NOT under the gantry, it is a few feet further on so don't take your foot off the gas until you see the win light on the concrete wall come on in one of the lanes 5. The turn off is 1/4 mile after the finish line on the LHS so you really don't have to hammer the brakes after you cross the finish line. 6. And finally, the staff at the pod are wonderful people who spend pretty much every weekend, rain or shine down there dealing with everything from street cars to top fuellers for absolutely terrible wages. They deserve HUGE amounts of respect which they often don't get from RWYBers so don't be upset if they seem a little prickly at first. And finally, enjoy, it's one helluva buzz!! Tash |
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Dec 12, 2006 13:11:07 GMT
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Hey, you don't have to go when the lights do though - only your reaction time is measured from the point, the rest of the timing only starts once you cross the breaker beam - at least, that was my impression. Hence you can avoid making a tart of yourself by getting all pent up for the go lights when you could just wait and take your time over it, provided you're not fussed over reaction times? |
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Dec 12, 2006 13:25:33 GMT
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We managed one side-by-side race with the 2CVs and were 0.3 secs apart by the end! Something around 25 secs total time...
What spoilt it for us was all the powerful people blowing their diffs and gearboxes which kept taking one of the lanes out! Our cars are rag tops but we didn't need helmets. High speeds not something we were going to reach!
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1986 Citroen 2CV Dolly Other things. Check out my Blog for the latest! www.hubnut.org |
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scimmie
Part of things
1969 Reliant Scimitar GTE
Posts: 223
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Dec 12, 2006 13:35:03 GMT
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;D I had a go last year on the drag strip at the Shakespeare Raceway. I was camping in stratford and I could hear lots of wonderful engine noises and guessed there might be some action at the Shakespeare Raceway. I drove the Scimitar there and parked up. There was a "Run what you brung" event on and I watched numerous car go up the strip. It was something that I always wanted a go at but had never got around to doing. My friend tried to talk me out of it as my Scimitar engine was already on its last legs, it had hardly any oil pressure, the clutch was worn and it kept jumping out of 4th gear, but I thought what the hell, I'm here now  I asked a few people and they said get the car checked and pay £15 and off you go. So a guy checked my car over. He checked my engine bay, made sure there were no huge oil leaks etc and told me to remove all the junk from the back of my car (I always carry too many tools!!) I payed my money and joined the queue. Soon I found my self at the start of the strip. I was sh***ing myself! The lights changed and the car in the next lane took off and I thought perhaps I had better go! It was certainly an adrenaline rush! I never did get the hang of the lights  Later a car dropped all its engine oil on the nearside strip, so they closed one lane off. It wasn't the same racing on your own  I was pleased that the car stayed in one piece and I could now tow my caravan home without calling the AA.       It wasn't a spectacular time, but I was quite pleased. I now have a new slightly modded engine, new clutch and rebuilt gearbox, so maybe in the new year, I'll have another go Scimmie ;D |
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In 2005 to "race" properly (rather than RWYB) you needed an MSA competition licence, a single layer fire suit, crash helmet to required spec (a cheap one - can't remember the specification now) and extinguishers for the car and your pit. It costs about £120 for a weekend racing including entry for 4 people. There's more to it than that but that's about as short as I can make it ;D RWYB is just turn up and go 
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