Nitromater
This is a sample guest message. Register a free account today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members through your own private inbox!
Wow, NHRA made Yahoo
- Thread starter stinky
- Start date
none
Nitro Member
After 7 PM EST tomorrow, click on WFORadio.com and hear what Jeff Foster has to say about that.
Alan
Bill
Nitro Member
I've always thought that NHRA had it backwards by awarding the win to the car with the higher MPH in cases of exactly equal E.T.'s.
Seems to me that the whole idea of drag racing, from the bottom to the top, is to get your car to hook.
If your car can turn an identical E.T. to another car, and your car gets that done with a lower MPH than your competitor's, then your car hooked better than the other car. Otherwise, THE OTHER CAR would have gotten there first; more terminal MPH.
It didn't
You're the better racer; you did more with less (MPH is the most accurate indicator of HP, in a drag race.)
So, he made more power? It becomes a moot point when he can't get it hooked up.
But, this skewed situation has existed for many, many years, and I wouldn't expect any of the suits at NHRA to apply LOGIC to such a situation, even IF they could comprehend it. LOL! Fat chance...
Seems to me that the whole idea of drag racing, from the bottom to the top, is to get your car to hook.
If your car can turn an identical E.T. to another car, and your car gets that done with a lower MPH than your competitor's, then your car hooked better than the other car. Otherwise, THE OTHER CAR would have gotten there first; more terminal MPH.
It didn't
You're the better racer; you did more with less (MPH is the most accurate indicator of HP, in a drag race.)
So, he made more power? It becomes a moot point when he can't get it hooked up.
But, this skewed situation has existed for many, many years, and I wouldn't expect any of the suits at NHRA to apply LOGIC to such a situation, even IF they could comprehend it. LOL! Fat chance...
Last edited:
I get what you are saying Bill, but that philosophy is far from the only logical conclusion. I've got a bunch of friends who are in love with 60' times .... and if you wanted that as the tie breaker, I can understand. But at this point you don't seem to be calling for segment national records ... so it seems we are going to have to live with ET and speed.
We all know that our fastest runs (and I'm talking non-nitro) have slower MPH .... we got to the end too quick to make the MPH!
We all know that our fastest runs (and I'm talking non-nitro) have slower MPH .... we got to the end too quick to make the MPH!
Bill you really show your ignorance on the situation with that comment. MPH has no bearing on the win indicator. Never has with Compulink system and never will.
In qualifying if multiple cars have same ET to 3 places they are then ranked using MPH as tie breaker, but never in eliminations.
The computer calculates more number past the decimal than are shown and points the win accordingly. Also in heads up racing the first to break the beam if hes green on start line is winner, numbers used to validate the first to cross.
If you look at the freeze frame photo and take a straight edge and line it up on the center of the hole in the left wall through the center of the reflectors on the timing block, you will see Edwards is right at the line and AJ is just back from the line, maybe an inch. Also remember the beam is 5" off ground at that point. The Pontiac has a very flat nose bumper and the Mopar a sloped back bumper.
I believe the number goes out six or eight past the decimal.
clwill
Nitro Member
I am not familiar with the internals of the CompuLink system, but electronically, determining a winner is a pretty simple task, with just a gate waiting for the first of two inputs to trip. The resolution of such a thing could be incredibly good -- to many decimal places of a second.
It's converting that into a "time" that is difficult and relies on the resolution of the native clock to convert it into a given fraction of a second. That's why (I believe) that NHRA has decided to call four decimal places the reasonable limit.
It's converting that into a "time" that is difficult and relies on the resolution of the native clock to convert it into a given fraction of a second. That's why (I believe) that NHRA has decided to call four decimal places the reasonable limit.
The article said NHRA's clocks measure ETs to the millionth of a second.
That's to six zeroes to the right of the decimal point.
I wonder what their clocks showed in the tower.
jackass
Nitro Member
Our r/c timing system goes out to .000000.. i would say the NHRA's program and system its self should go even farther...
Bob
Nitro Member
The "clocks" in the tower showed the same thing - MOV .0000 seconds. A margin of victory of less than .0000 does not "show" anywhere. The timing system can detect those margins and award the win correctly, but I think trying to have the computer software "show" ET's to 5 or 6 decimal places would complicate the data acquisition aspect way beyond reasonable expectations.The article said NHRA's clocks measure ETs to the millionth of a second.
That's to six zeroes to the right of the decimal point.
I wonder what their clocks showed in the tower.
none
Nitro Member
Comprehesion: The ability to grasp the facts presented
Edwards: 6.674 206.16
Johnson: 6.661 207.05
What say you now?
Alan
todays computers can execute an instruction in about one billionth of a second, so figuring out who won a race like that, should be a piece of cake, even for a middle of the road microprocessor !
FC138fan
Nitro Member
Good point, I didn't think of that.
Bob
Nitro Member
Agreed, but it isn't a matter of the amount of time needed to process the info. That is already built into the system.
Bill
Nitro Member
What you say is true, Jeff; I AM ignorant of the facts you have presented here regrding MPH being not ever a factor in determining the winner of an elimination heat.
I'd like to know how many participants on this board were also "ignorant" of the methods available to NHRA's tech/timing crew whose job it is to make sure the "right" car gets the win on close race like the Edwards/Johnson race.
NHRA makes little or NO effort to disseminate the information to the fans, regarding how winners are decided in close races like that. If there is a place in the rulebook where the facts on the "millionth of a second" or just how many decimal places are available to break a near-tie in close race, I haven't seen it.
Has there ever been an article in National Dragster on this subject? I have subscribed as long as its been published, and I have't seen one.
Maybe I missed it???
If NHRA did a better job of getting this information out to the fans, maybe we would be so "ignorant."
I'm not going to hold my breath...
Ahhhh, the typical response when someone is wrong.....keep blaming someone else instead of taking accoutability.
So Bill, if you did not know the answer like you say, then why come flying out of the gate posting something like it is fact? If I didn't know, I think I would just ask the question to someone who did.
Got to love it, LOL!
Bullet
Nitro Member
Bill, you made the statement that the NHRA decided the winner by MPH.....
I have heard the announcers on TV and at the track address how winners are determined many many times in situations with identical ET, holeshots, etc.... I even remember a segment on one of the race shows where they demonstrated with toy dragters...
