While the transmission for my drag car is out being serviced, I decided to hit up Import Wars at Great Lakes Dragaway with some of the other guys at the shop. I decided to run a bracket class with my daily driver. It is a 97 240sx with intake and exhaust, suspension, wheels and a Stg 4 clutch. Its nothing special really. The event (race portion) ended up getting rescheduled due to poor turn out due to impending rain. I got to basically hot lap for free and work on my consistency.

After playing around with different launching styles and different shift points, I ended up getting my car to run consistent 16.0s. Check these out.

R/T 60ft 1/4 MPH
.010 2.397 16.019 85.59
.009 2.367 16.012 85.64
-.066 2.485 16.081 85.56 Red light
.063 2.462 16.026 87.95
-.019 2.371 16.027 85.39 Red light
.139 2.410 16.020 87.00

I was really trying hard on the tree and in competition, I would probably tone it down just a bit. I feel that these times will get me far in the race that is rescheduled for next week.

I got to make 14 passes in all. Playing with shift points the runs ranged from low 16.4s to high 16.2s. Not shifting to 4th gear at the 1000 ft mark dropped almost .3 seconds off my time and got me in the 16.0s.

I had a great time and just wanted to share. Thanks for reading.

 

 

Bracket racing ftl. I have to say your consistency is pretty dead on though. While I am saving up for a roll bar I should take my corolla out and run some 17s. It has an auto so I can't even screw up.

 

While bracket racing does not have the "cool factor" that heads up, ***** to the wall racing does, it is a LOT more complicated and is entirely up to driver skill. Trying to perfect your reaction time is a huge key in bracket racing. Being consistent with your times is next. Without consistency, you can not be accurate with your dial in. Too much cushion in the dial in and you will be beat. Not enough and you will break out. Keeping tabs on your competitor to know when you need to go all out or if you can slow down a bit is also important. It is not as easy as you might think.

Despite how easy you think it would be to go rounds in your Corolla, you might find out something different when trying to get your RT down and launch the exact same way every time. In my case, I have a 5 speed car with an open diff and a road racing alignment making things more complicated.

I find that bracket racing makes me a better racer in heads up classes. Any chance you get to practice on the tree is a good idea. Playing with deep and shallow staging can teach you a lot. My experiments with changing shift points showed me a quicker way down the track. While these runs were not done in my 8 sec drag car, I know that I can be just as consistent in it.

 

thats a real good light maybe u can win next weekend if u come .maybe if i take my civic i can hit 17flat all day

 

I know how to backet race I was first in points for pro import before I got kicked off my track for not having a roll bar and that was with a much more complicated car to be consistent in. I was hitting .1-.2 second reactions and hitting 11.5x on a 11.50 dial in. Much harder than being consistent in my auto corolla in my opinion.

As far as being consistent in my corolla, I would just roll out on the auto every time. It doesn't have enough power to spin so I would expect it to run the same pretty much every pass. I haven't actually raced it so I can't be 100%, but I am guessing it would be quite easy.

This doesn't change the fact that I still don't like bracket racing, I would rather just test and tune. I am not saying it doesn't take skill, but it's just not my style.

Edit: Don't get the idea I am anti AMS either because I have one of your guy's first 35r kits on my car. Got it back in January of 05 and the car is still running strong.

 

Blah i want to see AMS Hit 180 of Race Gas!!!! Doo It

 

Christ, my dodge colt 60's 2.1s on street tires!

 

Bracket Racing Suxs. I Hate When I Pull Up To An Automatic Pos And It Can Beat Me Runnin 15"s. Fuc Bracket Racing Build A Real Car. Go Heads Up Or Go Home. ( Sorry For The Hostility Im Havin A Bad Day)

 

Good driving haha.

I once did:

14.005
14.009
14.002

This was done in my all motor MX-6 and were 3 passes in a row.

 

 

bracket racing is tough...when my evo was down, i used to go to enterprise and pick up whatever they had and spend the night bombing down the track with it working on my r/t and staging and what not...it takes a lot of practice...

 

You forgot ...

I had a great time and just wanted to share. Thanks for reading.

 

o yea its a blast being out at the track, doesn't matter what your driving...

 

well what a night last night so much stuff going on and happened and congrats on your win well six of u. i was in the back of u in my friends red gsr if thats was u.and well in the imports vs domestic the imports had the fastest car there a 8sec flat mazda and the honda were fast too