wilburfierce

Came down out of the mountains and took the old girl to the 1/8 mile bracket races in Greenville SC Sat 4/8. 2012 C-63AMG, dead stock w/ nearly new Mich Pilot Sports. Man was I clueless on the first few practice runs. As in real estate, its all about The launch, the launch, the launch. My initial reaction to the lights was either so slow you could time it with a sun dial or a red. So I parked the car and watched a lot of starts by the pros. By chance I noticed the 3 amber lights clicked down at the exact natural cadence I could recite 1,2,3. I found that by just catching the 1st yellow, I could look down the track,count and launch on 3 . This improved my RT and allowed me to focus on the next challenge, wheel spin and accelerator finesse. Could have been the rubber laid down on the track but wheel spin was crazy. As recommended in almost all drag threads here I ran my fronts at 45 psi and the rear at 20. ( After the race I borrowed air from a pro in the pits with a good gauge and found I was actually running 30psi rear. Using a cheap gauge, another dumb mistake : I had the chance to do a lot of runs and experiment w/ traction ctrl off, and in sport, as well as shifting via sport and M. Wheel spin was like being on ice w/o traction control, but I believe with enough practice I could run faster with it off. But, this being bracket racing I went with the most predictable launch in S with sport handling. My 600' times were better and consistent but still pathetic compared to the big boys. My best practice run was about 8.54 so I conservatively set my target ( bracket ) at 8.50. Of course I won the first race with a 8.40/86mph, hence lost by breaking out faster than my bracket. Adjusted down for the 2nd run and started "handicapped" a bit over 1 sec. against a Corvette. Felt sure I'd caught him at the line but the tape said he had .06 sec edge! ( I am car 23 in attachment ). I felt pretty good about my times for a first try knowing there is a lot of room for improvement. I also felt good about having the 2 fastest times in the street cat. race.:zoom So I actually lost per the arcane stratagems of bracket racing. But I went mainly to see what we could do and find a place to begin just for competing against myself in the future. I will probably go back again this year. It was really a blast, but bracket racing seems a bit tedious to me so I doubt I'll make a career out of it. BTW. I had plenty of run out room so in practice I held out to 100 to see what we could do. 9 sec flat. Seemed pretty good to me.

VR38DETT

Awesome. I wanted to take mine to 1/4 myself for the first time soon!

Savage-wp

Racing is always lots of fun.

todthedod

Nice. You must have been at Greer dragway. I live in Greenville. I will probably take mine to Atlanta dragway soon.

wilburfierce

. Why haven't you tried Greer ? Nice track, cheap entry $, lots of practice time, well run. Is Atlanta bracket racing? Link ?

todthedod

I ran Greer back in my Mustang days but honestly I kind of forgot about it. It does sound fun. I'm more partial to quarter mile though. Here's the link.. It's a pro track so it's ran very well. Sometimes it can get crowded but they have test and tune days.. bracket races and a lot of other events.



http://www.atlantadragway.com/

Even though it says Atlanta, it's really Commerce, Ga which is about an hour east of ATL.

Have you ever hear of Shadyside raceway? It's in NC kind of near Tryon I think. I remember seeing some unbelievable cars there and it's pretty much run whatever you want. Let's just say there's not many rules there but it sure is fun. I've seen nitrous mopeds..atvs..cars running 5s in the 1/8th scrubbing the guard rail the entire run.