The 1/4 mile track is about 1 1/2 hours from the house. The 1/8 mile track is about 20 minutes. Finally made it out to HOuston Raceway Park 1/4 mile track in Baytown. It is supposed to be one of the fastest tracks around. Here are my times

60' 1/8 1/4 MPh
1.92 8.57 13.43 99.5
1.96 8.62 13.46 99.6
1.94 8.63 13.48 101.1

Pretty consistent. Would be good for bracket racing. REactin times were weird. REdl lighted the first two runs. Coulndt see the lights to well until dark. Las run was .089 or .589, depending on how you look at it. All these times are close to my best ever 1/8 mile time of 8.56 and that was in 50 degree weather and this in 90 degree. I was expecting low 13s, so not to bad i guess. The 1.92 60' time was best ever.

I was crossing the finish line at about 4500 rpm, so I guess I need lower gears, Ive got 3.23 to IM thinking 3.73. MIght be much for now but 3.42 is sucha a small difference, and once I do more to the motor I would need 3.73 anyway.

Im just about maxed out on boltons, Next step, 383 stoker, cam and heads, woowoo.

Its funny the 1/4 is a lot different, but not that muchi, It doesn't feel like twice as far. I think the poeple that spurn the 1/8 mile are missing a lot.

 

1/8 mile is still popular because it takes less land to set one up. All racing is really just an 1/8 mile race. Everything happens in that first 1/8 mile. From the launch to shifting through all the gears all happens in that first 1/8 mile. That's what's going to win or lose the race. After the 1/8 mile you should be in high gear and it's just a brute HP pull to the 1/4. Very little driver input will change the last 1/8 mile except playing the top and if you have to lift or brake to try and win the race. At least a 1/4 mile race you can see how well the car runs at the top end. Going through the gears doesn't give the same feel because you're not in each gear for very long plus the low gears are multiplying torque too much.

 

You are exactly right. I enjoy the 1/8 mile a lot because, like you say thats where everything happens. The only thing different is I am shifting into third gear on my TH350 now. in the 1/8 was either shifting right at the finish line or not, it didn't seem to make any difference. NOw im into third,. I have the Superram intake which is supposed to help on the top end so it is interesting. Funny, why do you think I saw such a big diffference on the MPH from the first two runs to the last one.? More that 1 mph. The times are very similar.

Like I say, some guiys I talk to act like the 1/8 is just for ******* or something, like it is below them, That seems stupid to me. Whats so hard about just mashing your foot to the floor for the last 1/8 mile?

 

Could have been just about anything. A gust of tail wind, a brief lack of head wind. If it's not completely out to lunch, take it for what it's worth. We had some timing faults a couple of years ago. I had a timeslip for an 11 second run at over 400 mph.

Personally I'd say that since the last run was at night, the cooler air probably was the reason the HP was higher creating more HP. More HP doesn't always mean a faster ET.

 

Hey Larry, those are respectable numbers for a street car. I'll chime in with my own opinons on the 1/8-1/4 mi. thing. I've always raced 1/4mi. since I have 2 tracks 1 20 min and the other 50 minutes from home. At nationals we have to race 1/8 once every 6 years since we have 1 1/8thmi.; track in Div 5 to keep it fair.

Alot of the faster guys love the 1/8th mile for the simple fact it's much easier on parts, basically a hop, skip, and jump away from where they started so instead of running you stuff full out for 10.7 seconds and faster it's only 6.8 seconds and faster and 4 seconds in our case is a long time.


Racing 1/8th mi. is also a littel harder since you basically have no room for error. You have to be on the tree and be dailed daamn close since there's not enough room to play the game as with the 1/4mi. I know it took alot of by surprise that first year we raced 1/8th at divisionals. We were all used to dailing .01 faster than expected run for a cushion, the 1/8 mile guys knew better obviously and dailed for kill and got'er done that year. Alot happens alot quicker. The nice thing was back then my car had the 3.42's so I could just make one shift and let it go past the shift point through the traps which helped consistency. Not saying I'm a fan of 1/8mi. racing since I'm so accustomed to 1/4mi. and usually when guys are talking shop they refer to 1/4mi. times as a national standard as opposed to 1/8th mi., but for parts longevity 1/8mi. is the king.

I do know the truck is really boring to drive until the 1000' mark during elimns since once I let go of the transbrake I'm just steerin since we installed the electric shift solenoid, but it does seem to help keep it really consistent, good enough to go to the final round of mod/no box tonight and the semi of the box/no box combo....new slicks area great!!!

The rpm difference you will see between the 3.42 and the 3.73 with your combo will be 500 rpm more through the traps. I used to trap 5000 with my old stuff and the 3.42 and it went to 5500 with the 3.73's.

 

I agree with Larry. From a competition standpoint, 1/8 th mile is tougher. Zero margin of error. The 1/4 mile is just high gear pull unless your driving a pro category car. It is also harder to sandbag.

The 1/8th mile is also easier on the car. Less total heat buildup, fuel used and less total run time at high RPM. All this combines to be an advantage.

My son first squawked about running 1/8th, too slow. Now we have car that picks up wheels and needs to be controlled, he loves it. He is shifting into 3rd just before finish and finds third gear dull when he runs it out.