School Drag Racing Programs

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Slicks

Slicks

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My school is part of a high school drag racing program. We have a drag car that is modified and maintained solely by the mechanics class, mainly those in the drag racing program. We race every 2nd weekend during the racing season when school is in, so during April, May, June, and September. There are 6 (I think) schools on the area that participate, including us.
We participate with the school drag car in a High School Trophy class, where you can either race the school's car or bring your own. I will be the principal driver for the school's car this year.
The car:
-1978 Chevy Camaro, gutted and stripped of all unnecessary parts. Racing seats and a rollcage have been equipped.
-350cu. in. Chevy V8. Edelbrock intake and carb, unknown make camshaft, unknown make headers with no exhaust. Freshly rebuilt Turbo 350 transmission with a B&M shift kit. 2500RPM stall torque convertor, new about 4 months ago.
- Battery in the trunk, minitubbed, and all new wiring/electrics done last year.
- It is a slicks car, with traction bars, 4.xx (high 4's) rear end ratio.

We race on a 1/8 mile track about 40 minutes away. I don't have any timeslips on hand, but it is a low-6 second car at 60(ish) mph.

Here are a couple photos taken during late May and June of last season.




Is there anyone else here who's high school has a program like this?
I love it, because not only do you get to drive and be around fast cars, but it also gives students a chance to race legally and with minimal risks.


PS - Not me driving in these pictures.
 
Thing is, we're getting a new mechanics teacher this school year since the old one left. We're not sure (but sure hoping) that he continues to participate. 'Cuz we need the mechanics teacher to be able to participate.
 
Slicks
I don't have any timeslips on hand, but it is a low-6 second car at 60(ish) mph.
Click to expand...

You might want to rethink your numbers because those don't match for a 1/8. Or perhaps it's on a 1/8 track but you don't race the entire distance.
 
Only picture I could find:
sports1.jpg

And info:
http://www.chilliwacktimes.com/issues03/061103/sports/061103sp1.html
I wasn't in autoshop, but Williams was my homeroom teacher. Scary guy.
I never saw it race, but they did some test launching in the parking lot once. The car is very ugly and extremely loud.
 
The Monza doesn't look thaaat bad...
I will admit that we aren't that comprehensive (referring to the resto of the truck), we do all the work we can ourselves. Our school is only about 850 kids, so we have less money to work with.

Edit - I just talked to one of my friends who was the principal driver. The faster runs were in the area of 6.29@67mph. Approximately.
 
Slicks
The Monza doesn't look thaaat bad...
I will admit that we aren't that comprehensive (referring to the resto of the truck), we do all the work we can ourselves. Our school is only about 850 kids, so we have less money to work with.

Edit - I just talked to one of my friends who was the principal driver. The faster runs were in the area of 6.29@67mph. Approximately.
Click to expand...

Ok, so they don't race the entire 1/8 for sure. Still a very good program to learn the basics of driving a car to the limit while still been in a total control. It can make you a better driver once you buy your first car and start to drive on the streets. You'll have more experience and know how to react in diverse situations.
 
Why do these numbers seem off? I don't see why you think this, because if the track were not a full 1/8 mile then they would tell us. And yes, we do race the whole track.
 
You... did read the first post, right??
This engine is making 325, mabye 350 horsepower hooked up to an automatic trans. This is in reality a 12-12.5 second car on the quarter mile only because it has slicks and is gutted.

I have driven this car in the 1/8 mile, and what I wrote is accurate. Period.
 
I wish my school's auto class had something like that. All I ever saw them work on were crappy, beat up American cars (I think they had like 2 or 3 Caprices; and the only Japanese car I ever saw them work on was a Mazda MX3 which was gutted and sat in the parking lot for a few months before it got picked up by a wrecker). But then again, the closest dragstrip to Toronto is around 1.5 hours away.

And besides, the teacher was a bit strange too.
 
Only drag racing we do is C02 dragsters, which I hope we start making after weve built our electric motors!
 
Slicks, the only thing I can tell you is that 6.29 on the 1/8 and 12 second car don't go together. So there's one value in those 2 that is wrong, either the time for the 1/8 is wrong or the distance is not a full 1/8 in reality.

Just trust me I'm not a bull****ter. :)
 
OK, you're not a BS'er. But you are wrong.

Tell me why you think this is wrong, and post times/trap speeds that you think should be accurate. Then, tell me why you are so credible.
 
eatsviper4lunch
Why...because I tell you so.

6.29 ET on the 1/8 is a flat 10 car, that car won't trap a lousy 67mph but a 108-110mph in reality.
Click to expand...

MY friend I already told you right there. :)

6.26 on the 1/8 will get you about a 108-110mph trap speed on a good traction car (1.5 for your 60'). The car you are talking about right now that should net low-mid 12's would pull something in between 7.6 to 7.9 on the 1/8, that if it's really a 12 sec car.

I'm just telling the truth here, based on the experience of going at the racetrack almost every weekend and watching 100's of cars pulling those times. 6.29 ET on the 1/8 is a car running very high 9's (9.9x) to flat 10, something starting to be very serious. :)
 
Our car runs a 6.29@67mph. I'm going to say it again to let it sink in. Our car runs a 6.29@67mph.

We get excellent traction off the start thanks to traction bars and slicks. We get into 2nd gear about 3/4 way down the track, and finish at or around 67mph if all goes well. MAY I remind you of 2 things,
1. It is a 350 horsepower engine, being optimistic. It is hooked up to a run-of-the-mill Turbo 350 Automatic (read: Power-sucking) transmission. It does not have close gearing, hence the lower trap speeds.
2. We would not be allowed to race down the 1/8 mile at 110mph because the school would not allow it. Too much liability, especially with drivers who, at MOST have 2.5 years driving experience. The principal driver for this season had just over a year's driving experience at the start of the season.

You have obviously not driven a race-prepped car down a drag strip before. I am doubting that you've even been in the pits.
Also, out of interest so I can argue against you better, do you attend a 1/4 mile strip or an 1/8 mile strip?
 
This discussion is pointless so let's cut it right now. I was wrong since the start and you were dead on all the way. We never know, maybe in a couple of years and more experience you'll PM me back telling me it was the other way around. :)

Good luck with that program and the most important enjoy it.
 
Heh, my old auto shop class didn't build a drag car. We built a T-bucket with a warmed-over tunnel ram 350 Chevy and tons of fabrication.

I was charged with a lot of the frame and suspension. My crowning achievement (besides mapping the geometry for the front radius rods and fabbing their bracketry) was the front cycle fenders. I did all the fab work from tapping the spindles to creating the mounts to actually reshaping the fiberglass front fenders themselves.

I gave our bodywork guys fits with the cutting, glassing, and reshaping I did, but when those fenders turned with the front wheels, it was worth it.
 
eatsviper4lunch
This discussion is pointless so let's cut it right now. I was wrong since the start and you were dead on all the way. We never know, maybe in a couple of years and more experience you'll PM me back telling me it was the other way around. :)

Good luck with that program and the most important enjoy it.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I was actually going to say "I Quit" in the last post, but decided to take one last stab at it.
Just out of interest, I would like to ask 2 things. Do you attend a 1/4 or 1/8 mile track, and how old are you?

Anyway, it is a great program.

Layla, it sounds really cool that your class built a T-bucket. Did your class do the engine as well? And what did you do with it when you were done? Oh, and how long did it take?
 
TVR&Ferrari_Fan
Shame no british collages or schools have that.
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It is indeed a shame. In my high school (and in all that I've heard of, at least in Scotland), there is no car class, nevermind a drag racing class. The only time I've seen a car in a place of learning in Scotland is in the uni. They've usually got an old Granada in the Mech Eng area, up on the ramp or with the engine out. A mate of mine who's doing the Mech Eng course was saying they had to start of by stripping down and re-assembling a petrol engine from a strimmer/lawnmower before they got to go near the Granada. A fair way away from supercharging a V8 and running down the dragstrip.
 
Slicks
Thanks. I was actually going to say "I Quit" in the last post, but decided to take one last stab at it.
Just out of interest, I would like to ask 2 things. Do you attend a 1/4 or 1/8 mile track, and how old are you?

Anyway, it is a great program.
Click to expand...

St-Eustache 1/8
Napierville Dragway 1/4
Sanair 1/4

I'm 21

Check the website link in my profile if you want to see our cars, or check the bottom of this page for a couple of shots : https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/showthread.php?t=14747&page=60&pp=20
 

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