So our local track had its annual "Stick-Shift Shootout" last night. 1/8 mile bracket racing for anything with a clutch pedal. ANYTHING, as in full out tube chassis cars that run low 6's in the 1/8. Had to dial in at least a 9.0, $50 entry fee, $25 buy back in 1st or 2nd round. $750 winner pay out and $250 runner up.

I purposely put the 2-step about 400-600rpm lower than it should have been because I was hoping it would cause me to bog. Why would i want to bog? Simple, bogging is way more predictable as opposed to being right on the point of adhesion, and then smoking the tires off one round. It worked like a charm and I was ON tonight. I guess me really concentrating on the tree helped me out because I have never been this consistent or good on the tree.

Here are a few runs while i was trying to dial her in-

r/t- .0012
60- 2.34
330- 6.05
1/8- 9.03
1/8- 83.19

r/t- (-).0073
60- 2.34
330- 6.06
1/8- 9.07
1/8- 81.92

r/t- .092
60- 2.27
330- 5.99
1/8- 9.08
1/8- 78.56 (missed 2-3 right before line)

Dialed in a 8.95 first round, and beat a camaro pretty handily. I lifted because he wasnt even close-

r/t- .099
60- 2.36
330- 6.08
1/8- 9.40
1/8- 60.31

Another couple practice run between rounds-

r/t- .44 (he put a freaking pro tree up for some reason)
60- 2.26
330- 5.96
1/8- 9.07
1/8- 76.82 (again, missed 2-3 and have no clue why)

r/t- .1336 (slowest on sportsman for the night)
60- 2.32
330- 6.05
1/8- 9.06
1/8- 82.42

2nd round, got beat by a car dialed in 6.29 (full ******* race car), because i redlit. I ran closer to my dial and he didnt even have a good reaction time, so i beat myself this race. Bought back in.

r/t- (-).04
60- 2.4
330- 6.10
1/8- 9.09
1/8- 82.71

3rd round, 90's model stang, again, i killed him on the tree and ran my dial

r/t- .0188
60- 2.35
330- 6.066
1/8- 9.06
1/8- 82.12

Now, here is the 4th round, and ill explain why this pissed me off so bad. I red lit, and ran ******* terrible-

r/t- (-).08
60- 2.5
330- 6.33
1/8- 9.37
1/8- 81.77

Look at how far off that last run is from EVERY single one of the others. I pre-staged first, he pre-staged, I stage, he staged. SO, obviously the tree is about to drop, so I put the 2-step on, thinking the tree will drop in literally a second or two. NOPE, he held us on the line for 20-30 ******* SECONDS. Now I dont know if its because I was running a someone that is married into the family or what, but obviously this fucked me up bad, not only on reaction, but look how bad the car ran that round. I was carrying a bye into the next round because there was an even number of cars this round. That means I would have had a bye into the damn finals had I won this round...

Needless to say, me and my buddy finished in the top 6 out of 18 cars. I was the only FWD car, and one of maybe three not on slicks

 

Sounds like you had fun Stu. Too bad they screwed you up the last round or you would have had a chance to walk away with some money.

I did bracket racing twice so far. First time I got a trophy (just had to beat one person) and the 2nd time I lost the first round. I raced an auto that was off .00X. Kinda hard to beat that...

 

yea, i was happy this was a pure stick thing.

 

he he.

 

damn, ******* trashy way to go out. Similar things have happened to me on bracket nights. But it is TONS of fun isn't it? Good runs though, very consistent for the most part, and that's what it is all about.

 

holy shitty 60 foot times batman!! seriously though, I'm kinda scared to bring my cobalt near the 1/4 mile after reading people's 60 ft times.................I was pulling 1.6 and 1.7s in my mustang a few months ago

Do these cars really suck that bad off the line??

 

read....

i said i was purposely bogging the car. it usally goes 2.0's and dips into the 1.9's occasionally

 

Sounds like a fun time man. Good job.

 

sounds like a lot of fun

they are fwd lol...

 

all about consistency, including the guy handling the tree. Tough break......

 

Nice runs overall though man. Shame the end went down like that, but you did damn well! Now for the real question... how the hell are you running slicks a two-step and not breaking the tranny at all? What clutch do you have as well man? PM me if you don't want to post in here.

 

im running dr's which are actually probably harder on the tranny. stock clutch i think is the reason i am not breaking them.

 

Nice runs! You should've dialed in a 9.00 and you would've been even closer to your dial in. 5/100ths really does make a difference in bracket racing as I'm sure you know.

 

Good job. If you run into the same situation again and you feel its not right, back out of the lights, roll down the window and tell the official why.

 

You are gonna have to explain this two step thing and bogging down.

So were you like sitting there with the car revving for a good 20 seconds? sucks.