How much human reaction in reaction time?
 

Just curious on what drivers think or know the amount of time in reaction times are human and how much is car reaction. Foot brake or trans brake. So if. 500 is perfect. What if you were averaging .540 how much is human and how much car. Just curious if anyone knows.

Re: How much human reaction in reaction time?
 

I think Frank Hawley did some exclusive testing on this a few years ago. See if you can find his numbers.

Re: How much human reaction in reaction time?
 

Jeff, Sometime ago Frank Hawley did a story, I think was published in National Dragster. He studied and verified the difference between Driver and Car reaction time. He had actually set up a pretty cool device that separated the driver and car response. With that being said, I'm too old to remember the final details of the study, ( I'm lucky I even remember the study) , but car set up had a significant role in the true reaction time. Maybe somebody with access to the ND archives or Frank Hawley could help us out.

Re: How much human reaction in reaction time?
 

Re: How much human reaction in reaction time?
 

Thanks for the replies. I read the info from Frank Hawley. The Biondo story was very informative. I was asking because I raced on instant green. No yellows and was .506,.516,.540. Which made me think about what the car wad doing and what I was doing. I've run the same car at events with. 5 pro tree and had the same numbers with. 500 being perfect.

Re: How much human reaction in reaction time?
 

Test your reaction time:

http://www.humanbenchmark.com/tests/reactiontime

Re: How much human reaction in reaction time?
 

I downloaded the practice tree from jegs. After 15 minutes of practice this morning I gained. 020 consistently. So tonight I'll practice as I'm the slowest in this heads up instant green race. So I need all the advantages I can. get

Re: How much human reaction in reaction time?
 

Reaction time training is like sniper training.

It's the first cold shot that counts.

You don't get five shots at the tree. You stage, and take that one cold shot.

I suppose if you used the app or a mini tree to take 5 hits before you pulled into the water.....

Re: How much human reaction in reaction time?
 

That's what I'm going to try and experiment with. In lanes il hit the practice tree and see if it helps.

Re: How much human reaction in reaction time?
 

Some Delay boxes have a RT practice feature. It is just a good way to practice the motion. Biondo also sells a shirt pocket hand held practice tree. I've seen people using occasionaly. You usually get one good hit for practice while waiting in the water. That's your best practice swing right there. Two cars staging in front of you and you get a perfect look at the tree...

Re: How much human reaction in reaction time?
 

On my practice tree I need .320 roll out.

I guess that means I am around ...... .180

Of Course................I am OLD!

Re: How much human reaction in reaction time?
 

Human reaction time, of course, varies from person to person and tends to drop off in both speed and consistency with age. Significant age related reaction time loss tends to happen in the mid-sixties, though that does not seem to be the case with Jim Boudreau :D.

Human reaction to visual stimulus (bulb) averages around .180. It's faster in response to touch (.155) and sound (.140). It's considered impossible for the human to react faster than .100. in modern track and field, it's considered a foul if someone moves faster than .100 from the gun.

I expect it's fair to estimate the human contribution to the overall reaction time (car plus driver) to be about .200.

How to improve it, well, is another story.

Bruce Deveau

Re: How much human reaction in reaction time?
 

Thanks Bruce, very useful information.

I believe I attended one of your seminars at PRI a few years back. That, too, was very informative.

Re: How much human reaction in reaction time?
 

Maybe 20 years ago, weren't there special sunglasses being marketed that would improve your response time to certain color frequencies?

Re: How much human reaction in reaction time?
 

I've found that there are certain hi vis yellow glasses that do affect how you see certain colors.

Re: How much human reaction in reaction time?
 

You can zero-out the rollout on your practice tree, to test pure human reaction time. I would do that at times, just messing around. My human reaction time (over ten years ago, when I used to race) was in the .175-.180 range. This should give you a close figure. Things vary, of course. But it should be pretty ballpark.

Re: How much human reaction in reaction time?
 

The best glasses are sold by Enchroma and they are not cheap.
They are made mostly for people suffering color blindness. For those that do not have color blindness, you can still use them and it will enhance the colors.

Enchroma has an eye test in their website that will test your eyes for color blindness.

http://enchroma.com/

Your other option would be sunglasses with Polarized lenses that have an UltraViolet light absorption coating.

Re: How much human reaction in reaction time?
 

Another area that many don't address is their state of mind and health during the race.

Throughout the years, I have followed what successful drivers do to win and nobody is born with the gifts to win. I have learned it is dedication, state of mind and your health.

Many years ago, in the mid-80's, I recall reading an article about many of the things Jackie Stewart did to prepare himself to win a race. As many can recall, Jackie Stewart is dyslexic, which is considered a disability.

One of the examples was his diet. He didn't consume any alcohol, fats, sugars or carbs at least two weeks prior to the race. His diet was baked fish, legumes, fruits, vegetables, freshly squeezed juice and lots of seaweed. He also abstained eating such things during the event too, until the race was over.

He also had his own way to prepare when he got in the race car; he practiced mind imagery. He would sit in the car prior to starting the car, close his eyes and imagine his body inflating like a balloon. Then he would release all the air out and feel himself relaxed. Taking in to account all the championships he won, it appears it worked for him.

Re: How much human reaction in reaction time?
 

I have found that human reaction should be classified as "individual human reaction". I think when you find your comfortable spot on the third yellow the practice will tighten your reaction range. Then the winning comes from building your car around that.

Re: How much human reaction in reaction time?
 

Think that is the easiest, fastest, best way rather than attempting to change the driver!

Re: How much human reaction in reaction time?
 

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out the car has to be consistent FIRST. Then you dial in the car to the driver , front end travel , shock tuning etc etc. Then work on your own consistency.....
BUT , no where in this post does any reply apply to stick racers.
It appears as if all replies "imply" the driver is using a trans brake.
I've always wondered , no make that ASSUMED cutting decent consistent lights is not at all difficult with trans brakes and esp . delay boxes..............which it IS and leaves wins and losses at the stripe.

Re: How much human reaction in reaction time?
 

First and foremost this post is about human reaction, it sort of took a turn to the cars reaction but I didn't feel it was a button only conversation. Human reaction pretty much covers a button or a clutch pedal IMO.

Re: How much human reaction in reaction time?
 

Now try analyzing the differences between your left foot and your right thumb..........

Re: How much human reaction in reaction time?
 

This is what I did to see what my human reaction was. I ended up being around .190. I did practice in lanes before my passes Saturday night and with the instant green event I was .520, .521,.520. The average was actually slower by.002 from the night before which was .540,.503,.516 but the consistency was improved. So now using the practice tree and averaging .190 in human the car was is around .330 in reaction. The car is a Monte Carlo with 29 tall tire, 2.48 400 trans w/trans brake and all travel removed from button, 4.88 gear and shallow staging. Don't know what if anything come's from this experiment other then practice on practice tree helped me be consistent on human reaction.

Re: How much human reaction in reaction time?
 

I do, hahaha. linkage setup is your friend.

Re: How much human reaction in reaction time?
 

Here is a time ticket from back many moon ago .. I was racing Superstreet at the time .I took one of Hawley's classes, and they hooked a system into the car to measure driver time, verses car time ...This should answer some of these questions

Re: How much human reaction in reaction time?
 

At Lebanon Valley Dragway, they have rollout sensors for test and tune days. You put the module on your car and it prints the vehicle roll out and driver reaction time on the time slip. That way you can see if you're staging consistently/car is consistent and if your reaction is consistent. Since the sensor is actually part of the track it is true rollout/driver reaction. You have to be careful with some of the rollout modules that use g-force chips because they are not very accurate.

Re: How much human reaction in reaction time?
 

Thats pretty neat Jeff. Why did you then decide to use those slips as BB gun targets??:D

Re: How much human reaction in reaction time?
 

I was thinkin' he has one of those old time spindles from the "Don't fold, spindle or mutilate" days:-)