For reference, every class in Australia - from Junior Dragsters and Super Street to Top Fuel - have a four tenths tree. Obviously still a full tree for sportsman and heads-up for pros.
That is very interesting Luke, I did not know that. How long has this been in play? Is there a dragracecentral.com type website where I could look at round by round results from different events? (I tried the link in your signature by the way, not the round by round info I'm looking for, but definitely worth a further look). I would love to see the reaction times and 60' foot times of the different classes and compare them to the racers/cars here (assuming the incrementals have been "Americanized"). I know there is a similar class to Comp Eliminator there as I've seen some of the Aussie guys on Insidecompracing.com bouncing off ideas with the Comp racers here in the states.
I got a full "PortaTree" some years ago for the kids we had running Jr. Dragsters. Although they are using LED lights now which changes everything he sent me a ton of information. One thing was why there was 4 tenths for "Heads Up" and five tenths for the full tree. It was decided by "THEY or THEM" that some motorskills tests showed that was the Median time for everyone showed that to be best for some one to react using hands - legs - eyes etc. The problem as you said there are some drawbacks here. Now days everyone younger than Me does games and has practice trees as well as the LED lights. Tie that to every thing available now it is easier for you to do the same thing the same way every time and adjust your vehicle to give you the best result. This tree has a way to hook up the throttle linkage or the trans brake to tell the cars reaction as well as the drivers (riders) reaction. I agree that things should be re analized because everything has evolved including the drivers. It is great but most people don't have a rural area to do launches and see which is which.
I wonder who THEY and THEM are, lol? And what kind of motor skills tests were used? Hmm. And you're right Roger, not only the cars and the technology associated with them, the drivers have continued to evolve as well.
A few years back I got a chance to run a Stocker at the Vegas Regional, all three qualifying runs I was red. My car owner Tom Gaynor said: "Don't worry, I can fix the car." I was consistently .030 something red so he adjusted the front shocks, tire pressure and dropped the starting line RPM then he told me to do the same thing I had been doing and I would be good. Next run I was .015 green. I think someone who knows their car that well and has put in the work to be that good is doing it right.
Now hop out of Tom Gaynor's car and jump into Tom Snyder's Pappy's Pride. A car in the vicinity of having Pro Stock level horsepower, yet 300 or so pounds lighter than a Pro Stocker and see what your lights will be if you react the instant the bottom bulb comes on just like you did in the stocker. If you're going .030 red in a mid 10 second stocker before fine tuning, what are you going to cut in a mid 6 second altered that also has smaller front wheels/tires than the full body stocker? (Props to Gaynor though for being able to twist a few knobs and dial it in. I definitely have respect for that ability, though it does help to have your baseline + or - a few hundredths from green.)
Explain something to me - if TruStart causes the worst-red to automatically lose, isn't that what's supposed to happen?
Right Carl? When you think about it, and after you've raced with TruStart for a while, you wonder why it was ever the other way to begin with. At the finish line, the driver who makes the bigger mistake by breaking out the worst, loses. It does not matter who breaks out first in a double breakout situation, it only matters who does it worst. But for some reason, before the advent of TruStart (and the way the races are currently run today at all NHRA national/divisional events), the driver who makes the bigger mistake on the starting line doesn't matter, it only matters who makes the mistake first. So to recap. Finish line = bigger mistake loses, first driver to make the mistake irrelevant. Starting line = bigger mistake irrelevant, first driver to make the mistake loses. It just seems to me, these two parts of bracket racing should be in alignment, which I believe TruStart accomplishes.
I gotta hand it to you people, every once in a while you can knock it out of the park with an awesome discussion! I am officially voting for Frank as president.....not sure of what but his ideas are great.
Thanks Joe, if I get elected to whatever position is being voted on, I'll do my best.
When I ran TA/FC you let the clutch out when you see yellow and you will rarely ever redlight. With a .5 tree you see yellow and leave...forget it. You will go red every time in this car. There has to be a mental time clock as to when the clutch is released after the last yellow flashes. Can you do it? yes, you can get in a zone some days and it seems like your brain is wired to the tree some how. Can you do it consistently week in and week out? Fat chance.
Thanks for sharing this. Hearing this from someone who has a super fast car, without a delay box, really illustrates how difficult it is to try and make the 5 tenths tree work. By the way, how many of your buddies brought their delay box with them, for the following year's pig roast?
