Daft quarter mile question maybe.

[Andyman]

Soz in advance for the dumb ass question but does the time you go up a quarter mile only start when your wheels cross the start line??

for example; if you have a car that runs 12 second quarter miles all day long and sit on the line for say 10 seconds when its at green, would you still get a 12 second or would it be 22 seconds, ie your 12 second time plus your 10 second reaction time.

cheers

 

[black kro]

you'd get a 22 - your 'reaction' time is included in a genuine quarter.

 

[black kro]

but if it's a GPS quarter, it would be 12 cos measured by movement

 

[Matt X2C]

i think at Santa Pod there is a beem and the time only starts once you break the beam, which means that after the green light u can sit there for as long as u want prepring your launch and it wont affect your time. Once you launch and break the beam, then the time starts.

not sure about other places tho!

 

[Nyphur]

Yeah at santa pod your time only starts once you've moved from the staging position. However obviously your "reaction time" will be massive, but the actual 1/4 mile time will be a true reflection

 

[Chris n nic]

yep same at most places really.....best way as if you are queueing for hours then c**k the start up by trying to get a great reaction time then you `d be getting a bit pissed off after a couple of runs lol

Chris

 

[GordonD]

It works the same at ALL drag strips.

You first have to "stage" your car. There are two beams across the track close together at the start line. You have to move forward and break one, but not move forward enough to break the other. So you have to be in the right position. The top light on the christmas tree tells you when you're staged properly. The christmas tree starts going down through the lights when both cars are staged.

As soon as your car moves the second beam is broken The reaction time (RT) you get given is the time from when the light turns green to when your vehicle starts moving.

The elapsed time (ET) you get given is the time from when your car starts moving to when your wheel breaks the beam across the finish line.

But the car that wins is the one that gets to the finish first. So if you took 3 seconds to react, then the car took 15 seconds to get to the finish line, you'd get a lower ET but lose the race to someone else who only took 1 second to react but whose car took 16 seconds to do the quarter.

The fastest car gets the lowest ET, but its the combination of quickest reacting driver and fastest car that wins the race.