dang this is one scarry topic but like lugnuts said whats an optimal location to mount the chute? higher on the car lower on the car? And how far out from the trunk.thnx guys Ive got a 94 civic natchback-pdang


[Modified by bambooluv, 5:57 PM 2/4/2003]

 

well, the chute is your best friend at the end of the track no matter if your going straight or not. the chute will pretty much correct all and bring you back to a straight position. the call for at least all the front wheel drive cars to pull the chute is more so for at high speeds where 80% of all the braking is in the front of the car and on the fwd cars so is the weight. use your imagination....

 

I think the most dangerous thing that could happen when I pull the chute for the first time would be my glasses flying off my face and blowing out through the windshield. haha Joel thats why I got that 1/2" thick aluminum windshield brace.

 

you draw an imaginary X down the side of your car and mount the bar right in the middle. You do throw the chute at WOT cause it helps deploy it. If the pilot chute doesnt catch wind, its not going anywhere. Also got to be carful it does get sucked back under the car. Close up all air port holes under the car and make sure wheelie bars are out of the way.

 

Gonna take the other side one more time...
I understand this rule happend because of Lisa Kubo setting her car up on the front wheels. To do what she did is impossible. As I heard it, they had front end fiberglass damage and had it duct taped up. It was actually the front end collapsing at speed that dug into a tire that caused the problem. Even with the chute out, I don't think that would have helped. I don't believe that using the brakes too hard caused her accident. I think the wheels would just lock up first. Someone correct me if I have this story wrong.

 

(ninesecrx) what do you mean by air port holes? I think all FWD got air port holes in the ***, to let the air out. any other opinions on how to set this chute deal up?

 

the rear of lisa's car did not lift because of the front end! The tires did not lock up on the frame or tube of the car. the run before that last pass, the rear of the car started to skate on the top end because of air travel under the car. the duck tape on the front end was there from races before this one. we had gone to a larger tire like 3 races before the ndra finals and that is where the tirre was touching the front end. if she would have pulled the chute it "WOULD HAVE HELPED"..... it would have brought the rear end back down. please get the facts straight before bringing issues up and making yourself look foolish.


[Modified by tractionbar2nr, 10:55 PM 2/4/2003]

 

I don't think he meant any harm....if you read carefully, he said "As I heard it"...so I'm pretty sure he was jsut assumming

 

Well, I knew if my story was not correct someone would set me straight. However I don't feel foolish at all. I've been around drag strips for 30 plus years including working as a tech inspector at a strip for 8 years. I've seen the very first funny cars run and nothing could have been more aerodynamically wrong as them. In all my years I've never heard of a car do what Lisa's did. It is very hard for me to believe that aerodynamics could do that at only 165 mph. No matter which story you believe, the chute in this case may have helped or perhaps not. On an average run with adequate stopping area, I feel a controlled stop to be more safe than a chute pull. To me, making a rule requiring chute use for every one is wrong and to disqualify someone for not using it is ridiculous. However, I could be wrong

 

the aerodynamics is to blame for lisa's car skating on the top end and her turning sharply to the left to avoid hitting kenny and the other wall is to partly blame for the rear of the car coming up off the grand. when gary took the car apart, he found that the tie rod was bent from the force of the tire turning. there are no signs of the tire hitting the front end.
higher the speeds the car travels and more air under the car, the more unstable the car becomes.... or is that just implied in all other forms of racing and not drag racing? so am i wrong on aerodynamics? i guess i just have a lot to learn... sorry, i'm just a YOUNG newbe.



[Modified by tractionbar2nr, 6:08 AM 2/5/2003]

 

I didn't know she hit the wall. If you hit an object, of course the back end will come up. That would make sense. I wasn't there so really can't talk about what I saw only the stories I hear.
BTW, I would trade anything for your youth so don't be sorry for being a young newbie

 

Not to start an arguement, but she hit the wall after the front came up. I saw it in person and on video and it literally came right up like god was pulling it with a chain. It really doesn't surprise me too much with as light as these cars are in the rear. By using the chute to slow down you won't have that force coming from the wheels to lift the rear. The chute is a good idea in more situations than not.

 

i totally agree w/ ya tony...

 

Tony, I know I'm talking out the side of my *** as I wasn't there and have not seen the video, but if this is a reality, then some changes should be made to all our cars. If you were on a 170mph run right before the lights and the same affect were to happen as happened to Lisa, you could not get the chute out fast enough to help yourself. Large rear wings or something similar should be mandatory if this is a reoccuring affect. I hope that this is not true and that it really was a mechanical problem and not aerodynamic.

 

9 out of 10 Hondas running 150+ through the traps will be 9 secs or better. Correct me if I am wrond, but don't all NHRA certified tracks mandate that you have a 9 sec license if you run in the 9's or better? I would think that anyone with a 9 sec license would have enough experience and understand the basic fundamentals of physics so as to maintain control of their car.

 

go ahead and get into one of our race cars and see how it feels when going that fast...like when your going straight but the steering wheel is cocked sideways. If your in trouble, I dont think human nature is to take a hand of the steering wheel and pull the chute...its to hold on both hands and steer for your life of your body and car.

 

Which is why some drivers think it is a good idea to pull the chute every run, whether you need to or not. Helps to make the act more instinctive, habitual, so in an emergency it might be a little easier to pull/push the lever. Maybe move the lever around inside the car to find a spot that makes it most convenient.

Or so I've been told. I haven't used the chute on my desk in a long time.

 

finally... someone that makes sense. thanks jim.

-mike

 

I can only speak for our team. Physically, Mike has all the skills and courage of a great driver. Let me tell you about our licensing passes. We made 5 passes in Las Vegas at the NHRA warm up test session. One pass left and it was the last pass of the night. The tree went down and Mike made the run but the clocks were not reset. No time given and we are screwed. Drove it back to the starting line and convinced officials of how badly we needed another pass. They said ok and gave us 10 minutes to gas up and cool off etc. Did it in 5 minutes. Staged the car, tree came down and run started. At the 1/8 mile all the lights on the whole strip went out. It was pitch black. Could not see 10 feet ahead of you. Mike never got out of the run. He couldn't see the finish line so stayed on it to the the revlimiter in 4th gear and figured it must be over. We ran a 9.99 at barely 150 so got the license. It actually took him 10 minutes to find his way back to the starting line as he was lost in the moonless desert night. Physical courage and skills..yes Did he make the right mental decision..no Would he do that again..probably. Just cuz you got the piece of paper does not necessisarily mean you make the right choice.

 

Earl, I hope you have Mike standing at the blackboard today, writing 100 times "I WILL lift if the lights go out. I WILL lift if the lights go out. I WILL........." Glad he survived it. Will make a great bench racing story when HE's an old guy. But point well taken. The license gives you the opportunity, it doesn't give you any more brain cells.

 

No days we have dry erase boards. black boards havent been around since the late 80's.

 

Yeah, I wrote it a bunch of times in my power point presentation. Id still do it again...but thats just cause I know my own car and when its out of shape. That was one of the longest days of my life and would never want to do that again or put that kind of abuse on the car again.

 

I guess you have never run at moroso down here. rated 2nd worst track in the country. i read that somewhere. it gets better, one lane has a dip, the other a hump in the first 60ft, and it has lake at the end not a sand pit or anything else. nothing better than a lake at the end of a drag strip. i cant believe moroso got NHRA down here this year. I know IDRC said they are not coming back after last year.

 

No, we have crappy tracks out here too and Carlsbad is one of them. The return road is full of dips and pot hose not to mention its basicly dirst and gravel. Its also designed for a V8 in the water box. You have to back up into it and there is a fence right behind it. If your a honda with wheeliebars, you have to do the burnout outside the water box. I dont think they have preped the track since the mid 80's either. Its kinda like one of those tracks that if you can hook up there, you know once you get to a good track ur gonna be ok.

 

****, my street car did that. now that was fun.