Re: ET with and without wheelie.
 

No Ed, I've never raced anything faster than a 15 second car, I get nose bleeds.

Re: ET with and without wheelie.
 

Doug, the Brat has earned it's retirement. It's not going anywhere.

Re: ET with and without wheelie.
 

Strange thing, I can understand what Ed and everyone else is saying and I think both sides are right. If you pick up or lose 60ft you should pick up or lose incremental and total down track as long as everything else remains the same, such as tune up and weather.
I think Ed's version of changing 60ft times relates to his shock settings, other guys I'm not sure of?
I'll add my own experience from last weekend where a timing change picked up my 60ft from 1.40 to 1.37 but the finish line et and mph were slightly slower.

Re: ET with and without wheelie.
 

Dan, I'm not quite sure what you are disagreeing with. With "all things being equal", then the car "should" run the same 60', 330' and E.T.. If it doesn't then what changed?

Re: ET with and without wheelie.
 

You should see a doctor about that condition. :D

Re: ET with and without wheelie.
 

I could and should have been clearer. I quoted that statement to point out that some previous comments had brought up things that make runs NOT equal and it seemed like those were not being considered. Just like you described when things happen after the initial hit that will change what happens at the finish line.


Went back to find what you typed so as to avoid any further confusion.

" If you shift the car too high and the converter locks up OR you have too much low gear in the trans and you don't have enough wheel speed yet, it can "stagger" the car. Make it hesitate on the shift. A lot (not all) Racers with PGs try and shift the car low enough to "flash" the converter again. Especially in bad air.
In a Stocker with a PG, 60' times are irrelevant."

I got the idea that some might be ignoring the important issues you brought up.

Re: ET with and without wheelie.
 

60 foot times are NEVER irrelevant as it relates to ET!

Re: ET with and without wheelie.
 

Ed,
Please stop.
Frank

Re: ET with and without wheelie.
 

It is simple physics with a massive amount of variables. You have a stationary object that is being measured by time over a distance. Whether or not a wheelie adds or reduces that time isn't a cookie cutter answer.

There are so many variables which impact each and every car. Some examples are power band, gear ratios, aerodynamics, traction, suspension, and parasitic loss.

Take the last three and apply it to whether or not a wheelie will impact the 60' and eventual ET. A wheelie may aid in traction by the transfer of weight, but it also may be wasted motion to some degree or it may alter the suspension/pinion angle enough to create more parasitic HP loss. Too tight of a front end may keep the engine from reaching the ideal power curve thus negatively impacting the 60'/ET.

Experimenting with different settings and setups will get you closer to the optimum performance and it what makes all of this challenging. It is frustrating a lot, but also gratifying when you see the improvements. It can be binary to some degree if you make limited changes with each pass.

Edited to add: Wheelies are flipping fun.

Re: ET with and without wheelie.
 

How tight the frontend is can be very important to a lower-powered car that may just barely lift the front wheels or not lift them at all. Too tight and it can cause the car to struggle through low gear.

Yes, they are!