Banzai2.4

iTrader: (1)

u dont even need a helmet if you dont go faster then 11sec... rmbr steve

Pickles

iTrader: (1)

Ooga Booga

soundjunky

iTrader: (4)

here's the scoop;

1) you need to be wearing pants, shirt and shoes - no sandals, and no shorts. (sometimes they voice that they want you to wear a shirt with sleeves, but this one they are inconsistent on - if you bring a hoody ect., you'll be covered.)

2) if your car would pass a safety, you're good.

they are legally obligated to check for:

• battery hold down
• working lights
• working seat belt
• working clutch safety*
• anything that could cause your car to be a safety concern to either yourself or other participants/spectators

* = there is some flexibility on this one for JDM or other cars not originally equipped with one, but the check is to simply see if the car can be started w/o the clutch pedal pressed.

they may or may not check for:

• loose seats
• centercaps/trim rings/hubcaps that can fly off
• loose stuff in the interior/trunk**

** = if there's loose items inside the car the theory is that something could get under your feet or behind a pedal; if you have a folding rear seat, the theory against loose stuff in the trunk is that if something happens, items could come into the interior, and pose a safety issue.

According to NHRA & AHRA rules, you are not required to wear a helmet unless your (coupe/sedan) car goes 12.99 or faster in the quarter mile.
- Race City for the past couple years has not required participants in "slow" cars to wear a helmet, but they still encourage it*. (Where as Castrol requires it, just because.)

* on their SITE they say you need a helmet, but no one has updated that page in the last couple years - they no longer have helmets to lend out - which is the root reasoning behind no longer requiring them to be worn.

Essentially, if you bag on your car at all, and nothing has broken, odds are you're not going to break anything at the track;
You should be able to get a bit better traction at the track than on the average street (they rarely put down VHT specifically for friday nights) - but unless your car is putting down real power, you should be good;
The only cars that are liable to break CV's are ones running some good hp, full on slicks, and stock CV's.

After that, it's all fun - you may in fact find you will drive your car a bit harder at the track because there is zero fear of speed limits or any other source of inhibition...

There are a couple key things from getting a time slip at the track;
- will give you a quarter mile Elapsed Time and trap speed in MPH (hopefully no explanation req)
- will give you a 60' time; this tells you how good your car hooked up ~ realistically street cars try to hit a 2.0 second 60' or better, but for most, this is VERY tough; as a general rule of thumb for each 1/10th second you can drop your 60', you will drop (iirc)2/10th's on the top end.
- will give you a reaction time; this does not factor into your elapsed time, but will only matter if racing against someone.
- will give you 1/8th mile E/T & mph

The first time I took my GA to Race City I was hooked;
I also found out that night that I had an oil leak, which prevented my clutch from engaging right properly... but still pulled off a 16.6 ~ beating a WRX (solely because he had a terrible reaction time (iirc he had a 15.8))

EDIT:

HERE is a video of my first ever run at the track (taken by the WRX guys friend).

If anyone will need any pointers on running their car, or understand their time slip, I will be happy to help out.

bigrroberto

I`ve raced at both. I was 3 tenths slower on average on every single pass at RC. Yes the tracks do get the same prep on a Friday night and yes the tracks are both sanctioned, but Castrol is still heads above in quality over RC. Even though RC is within guidelines I found that it was ALOT rougher after the 1000` mark. The car would start to track all over the place and it would bounce a bunch at high speeds. As well the staging lanes at Castrol are ALL pavement with lines where as at Castrol (at least at the last time I was there) they were half gravel and on a busy night your tires got full of rocks.

I don`t mind the helmet policy at Castrol, better over safe then borderline when it comes to high speeds and racing. Tech at Castrol is mostly really good, however you can run into the odd retard that wants to inspect a DD like its a NHRA car. As well the only real negetive thing about Castrol is the return lane, it always seems to have invisible pot holes

For the newer guys... One of my many 13.8xx runs. Probably by far the closest race I`ve ever been in. I won of course.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bisYfbC1n0

jrmotosports 88

lets remember guys track night wont be this weekend most likely coz of the forcast of rain

tREBs

you mean 13.99 right??

if you arent running under 13.99 you do not need a helmet, and as steve said, long pant, long sleeves. Make sure your car is road worthy.

Banzai2.4

iTrader: (1)

its changed then, cuz it used to be int he 11-12 range last year??

tREBs

No sir! even last year it was 13.99

Banzai2.4

iTrader: (1)

hmm well, there you go guys..

no balt drivers will NEED a helmet..

CalgaryBalt

I guess Ill Need a helmet

tREBs

Gawd travis! with your thoughts there would be almost NO need for helmets at the track as very few cars will run 12.0 or faster!

soundjunky

iTrader: (4)

Let's stop your quote right there.

I do not have any issue with the above quote, and can better elaborate on E/T differnces this way;
using current NHRA elevation corrections (does not take into account Density altitude, only altitude) lets see some numbers:

Race City: 3280ft (rounding to 3300ft and using those correction numbers)
(sea level correction)
E/T x 0.9601
MPH x 1.0423

Castrol : 2192ft (rounding to 2200ft and using those numbers)
(sea level correction)
E/T x 0.9744
MPH x 1.0269

elevation difference between tracks: 1088ft (rounding up to 1200 ft as those are the lowest numbers on this chart)
E/T x 0.9874
MPH x 1.0129

Using your own ‘best stock’ I am going to attempt to show how this looks;
Best Stock Uncorrected: 14.929 @ 100.40mph
corrected for sea level as though it was run at Race City = 14.333 @ 104.647mph
corrected for sea level as though it was run at Castrol = 14.547 @ 103.101mph
So right there you can see that you have to run faster at Castrol (versus RC) to pull the exact same altitude corrected time.

Taking this the next step, lets try to correct between tracks, assuming that you first ran at Race City;
Race City 14.929 @100.40 = Castrol 14.741 @ 101.70mph

We’re seeing roughly 2/10ths only using elevation factors – if you factor in Density Altitude, it will often be even more extreme.

What am I trying to get at?
This elevation difference is almost entirely responsible for making your car seem to be faster at Castrol.

Ok, lets continue;

Lets stop there.

I haven’t a clue what you were experiencing, but I will ask around – I for one have never experienced anything of the sort, and I do not recall hearing any of my friends or acquaintances saying anything of the sort…
If his was for real, this would make the track plain old unsafe, and (I would hope) not allow them to be a sanctioned track.

Ok, continuing on…

The staging lanes at Race City are paved;
Race city needs the parking lot to be fully paved – I will give you that.
The fact that the parking lot is gravel is why you were getting gravel in your tires.
Unfortunately between the city council trying to shut it down (to use as a settling pond) and the owner not being interested in really bringing the facility up to the level that everyone would like to see it, I don’t think this is going to happen.
As it stands right now, to keep the staging lanes (ect) free of gravel is 100% up to people like you & me who are willing to volunteer to do sweep up ~ or what ever…

Although I agree safe is better, I also think that requiring use of a helmet on a DD on the track is flat out retarded.
I sign the insurance waiver upon entry, so I should be able to choose.
I’ve raced on what is arguably the premier track in North America (Norwalk Ohio), and even there I wasn’t required to wear a helmet unless I broke out of the 13’s…

kissrocker52

iTrader: (2)

ya i am pretty excited to put down a time at the track this year and then improve it throughout the summer

so i am installing my new header tomorrow do ineed any gaskets for the top of it i have the one for the downpipe but do i need one coming from the engine itself

soundjunky

iTrader: (4)

hmmm...

looks like i might have been mistaken ~ I could have sworn I read it was 12.99 or faster which mandated the helmets!?

http://www.nhra.org/2004/news/june/062202.html

---------

EDIT:

You should have a high temp gasket that fits in between the header & cylinder head...
Depending on the header design, it might be intended to be used with a stock style exhaust manifold gasket.
With my Grand Am, I use a stock exhaust manifold gasket.

jrmotosports 88

whatever happened to the days of line up beside someone, race, if you win you win. if you lose you lose. all this crap with formula's and math ruins racing. just my 2 cents. it ruins something that is intended to be fun. on another note much appreciate graham for saving me from cloraplast hell. i am looking forward to bring his car to another level. lol al bundy if you plan on revenge that lil loss you had there better start buying some parts lol. again my 2 cents.

hey i also noticed my good buddy pickles stop in there lol. how are you man long time no see. cant wait to catch up with you!!!!

soundjunky

iTrader: (4)

seriously?


I was demonstrating how if you do the exact same run at Castrol you will be faster purely because of elevation;

Nothing has changed, you still line up, race and see who wins.



But seriously;

Race City gets knocked around by people our age because of the misconception that there's something wrong with the track - which imho, there isn't.

I am probably one of very, very few people in our age group who has spoken up about this (I have never heard of anyone else);
if we don't support our track it will be gone, and never come back.
iirc the lease was extended two years, after which there is no plan for a replacement track;
The average age of a Calgary Drag Racing Association member is somewhere north of fifty (if you doubt me, go to a meeting) - and right now, they are pretty much the only people speaking up to try to keep our track going...

jrmotosports 88

ya seriously!!!!!! i support race city, and have for years. by buying tickets to events. not by all that. race city is going to close no matter what we do. your right there is no plans for something new. this is a fault of city council, not realizing the importance of the track. i have been a long time advocate, if they build it they will come. i have even lobbied some high up executives in big companies, with money. they dont care either. in short if race city wanted to be a staple in the comunity for a long time they should have invested money into the facility. coz of the fact they have lost most of thier major events it has been a down hill spiral for them. why they lose thier events was due to the fact thier facility does not meet most requirements. not every racing is in a straight line. the lack of attn to thier oval and road coarse has really put them behind the 8 ball. that simple man, it is far behind the facility in edm. it may compare in times however edm has attempted to attract some major events where rc has done nothing not even give a once quality facility a face lift. hell they put a proper pit area on the oval they could probally get the canadian tire series back. however they wont. unfortunately i see the importance of it, but honestly nobody with any pull in this city dont.

kissrocker52

iTrader: (2)

ok i will take a look on mine but the one i bought just has one for the attachment to the downpipe but nothing from the block to the header

Banzai2.4

iTrader: (1)

day cruise on saturday??

soundjunky

iTrader: (4)

From what I've understood, the condition of the track and mismanagement (which equates to it making less money) is soley the deal of the track proprietor; Art Mackenzie

Apparently the only guy on city council who has really lobbied to keep RC open is Ric McIver - if not for him, the track would be closed.

Here's some good info;
Ric McIver is a mayoral candidate, word in the CDRA, is that with him in the mayors seat, there will always be a track in this city...
AFAIK, the whole CDRA is trying to back Ric McIver ~ you might want to consider it too.

bigrroberto

My bad, I did I shitty job in my original post there. The post that I was replying to asked which track was better. I should have been more specific when I said that I ran 3 tenths faster at Castrol. You are right, the faster times are 100% the result of the altitude and DA, they had nothing to do with the quality of the prep or track in general.

The rest of my post was about how I thought the Castrol track had a better overall feel to it. The weekend before I came to RC I was at Castrol. When going down the lanes up there they feel almost like glass they're so smooth. The ones at RC are good, but they didnt feel AS good as Castrol. Are they unsafe, no probably not, will they effect times, I doubt it, but they just didnt feel as nice. I had the luxury of driving them back to back and that's what I remember them being like. I'd have to come down to RC again to be sure on this as its been 2 years since I was last there.

soundjunky

iTrader: (4)

Frankly, were I in your shoes, I'd only go to Castrol too.


EDIT:

@ Steve (aka:'outtamymind')

Considering that you were talking about building another engine, you might want to consider joining in, or at least following this thread;
https://www.cobaltss.net/forums/2-4l-le5-performance-tech-46/2-4-black-sheep-engines-216482/
Early on when I came here I posted up trying to see what kind of power the LE5 was able to make, and was (no offense) rather underwhelmed - I joined in on this discussion because it seemed legit, and I figured I could help continue it along.

outtamymind

Ya jon I've been following it for the past couple of days.

kissrocker52

iTrader: (2)

so who will be coming this saturday a buddy of mine will be coming with me

SylverSS/SC

iTrader: (3)

depending on if I can get some dry cleaning done in one day I might be around