Calgary Drag Racing Association

I'm planning on attending tonight to get some more track time for tuning. Since nobody has mentioned anything all week, I'm hoping the issue with the timing sensors has been fixed.

Well fix one thing and another screws up, as you are aware there were no timeslips printed as the printer was messed and the displays were not working either. Man I sure hope they look at this before next weekend.

To get a timeslip, we had to go up into the tower and get a hand written one but at least the timers were working. Most of the street racers simply wanted 60' and 1/4 mile times. Since I was testing, I wanted all the information of the run. Wish I could have made more passes but the late start prevented that. By the time the sun sets, I'm ready to call it a day. Although I have mufflers and everyone says it sounds great going down the track, I don't know if it's too loud to run later into the night.

The worst part was the scoreboards not working. I had a lot of people coming up to me after a run just to ask how fast I was running. They were quite impressed when I said "Only ran a 9.5 and 142 mph". On my second run when I launched, I saw a lot of camera flashes going off in the grandstands. Must have something to do with carrying the front wheels about 2 cars lengths.

The track was noticeably slippery even for me. I made both passes in the right lane and somewhere between the 100-200' mark, the car gets a little squirrely. Because I came up in lane 4, it was hard to get a left lane pass to see what kind of condition that lane was in.

What was the car count? I'm guessing around 150 cars were there last night and at least a couple hundred spectators.

I know there were hand written slips available last night which created a traffic jam on the return road. I have bad arthritis in my left knee so the guy I raced in my first run kindly collected my time slip which was without a 60' time which is what I really wanted (new stall converter and tires) so I made one more run and pissed off out of there with some disappointment I may add.

My concern is that the shit that was wrong at the track yesterday is going to remain broken till say Friday afternoon when some of the CDRA guys sit there scratching their heads saying "I don't know what the hell is wrong with this damn printer, hell I deliver pop for a living, maybe we should get Joe's kid to look at it he has a computer".

Now obviously I am exaggerating, I don't want the pop delivery guy or Joe to put me on their hit list (in case they actually exist) but what I am saying is if somebody is not working on these issues today and beyond (yes I mean today Saturday July 25th) and are waiting till this next Friday then it will be a disaster again next week as well and in all likelihood the stuff will remain broken through the weekend.

First identify the problem (this may take some time) then fix it (this will probably take less time but will require some money or a donation) and if a permanent fix isn't available take steps to create a workable temporary fix.

As for the printer it is a 25 pin RS232 serial printer, first thing I do in this case is make sure signal is making it out of the serial port of the computer then down the line to the outlet outside and if good signal is making it that far then the printer is suspect, if it is in the line then replace/repair it or get some cable you can run loose to the outside. When I raced Fridays last year there was an Airdrie Computer car racing in Calgary so I am thinking they may be a candidate to help with this and they may have some RS232 testing gear if their business is old school enough and they didn't dispose of it.

I know it is hard to expect too much from a volunteer organization like the CDRA especially when the track owner seems happy to let the place crumble to the ground in it's final days (and I can't really blame him either) but their must be a way to get some solution to the issues plaguing the drag strip.

Feel free to call on me for anything I may be able to provide in assistance just don't wait until Friday night.

we did everything we could, we changed cords, we took the printer apart, tried everything we could think and instead of holding you guys up we went forward, the night could have been called but we went throught it the best we could. Problems happen thats true with secret street and actual cdra events and we do the best to resolve them but we don't all have the skills to fix an issue like the printer let say or the scoreboards not reading but if you have this knowledge how about trying to help us fix the situation instead of bitching about it we would all welcome that more. Second the track being slippery again we don't have the man power and the friday night guys do not want to pay for an actual full track prep, so again why not come help us out ill give you a broom we can sweep the track and try to lay a little vht down but again its easier to complain then to help with a solution. If every friday you guys want to pay 50+ dollars to run then we could prep the track but most of the racers out there don;t require it and would not want to pay that much just to race.

All im trying to say is we do the best we can week in and week out with what we have and the time limits we have to do it, if more people would step up and help out we would have a better track and maybe things would go smoother.

Boy where does it end? Used to be 20 bucks and pitch in a buck for VHT then 25 bucks and no VHT now it would take 50 bucks (I guess VHT got real expensive real fast) to get VHT, well you know those issues are minor to me and many others for that matter and the printer is a new and unforeseen issue as well, so too bad for and about that too, but the damn timing equipment is always an issue this time it is the scoreboards.

I am not bitching about anyone's effort at raceday, what I am saying though (read my post again) is lets not let the printer issue be an issue that gets dealt with only next Friday late afternoon because that means that several days will have passed between now and then and the solutions are now closed for the weekend thus ruining the secret street weekend event.

It ends right here. Thanks for your support.

Sonic Mustang wrote:

QUOTE:
Boy where does it end? Used to be 20 bucks and pitch in a buck for VHT then 25 bucks and no VHT now it would take 50 bucks (I guess VHT got real expensive real fast) to get VHT, well you know those issues are minor to me and many others for that matter and the printer is a new and unforeseen issue as well, so too bad for and about that too, but the damn timing equipment is always an issue this time it is the scoreboards.

I am not bitching about anyone's effort at raceday, what I am saying though (read my post again) is lets not let the printer issue be an issue that gets dealt with only next Friday late afternoon because that means that several days will have passed between now and then and the solutions are now closed for the weekend thus ruining the secret street weekend event.

Printer is not RS232 it is RS485. 2 pin.
VHT is $1200 a barrell or $27 a gallon
Insurance costs skyrocketed after 911 which includes the track insurance for Friday's Secret Street.
Most of us have full time jobs and families so perhaps if there was more help other that the same 1/2 dozen or so, things might get fixed in your timetable.

Rick F.

QUOTE:
Boy where does it end? Used to be 20 bucks and pitch in a buck for VHT then 25 bucks and no VHT now it would take 50 bucks (I guess VHT got real expensive real fast) to get VHT, well you know those issues are minor to me and many others for that matter and the printer is a new and unforeseen issue as well, so too bad for and about that too, but the damn timing equipment is always an issue this time it is the scoreboards.

I am not bitching about anyone's effort at raceday, what I am saying though (read my post again) is lets not let the printer issue be an issue that gets dealt with only next Friday late afternoon because that means that several days will have passed between now and then and the solutions are now closed for the weekend thus ruining the secret street weekend event.



We seem to have a lot of "Arm Chair" coaches lurking around.

Why don't you pick up the phone and make arrangements with Al Bailey to get in there and physically help.

To assist you, here's his phone # 403-689-7053. I'm sure that Al would appreciate your help more than he would your criticism

George

Out of curiosity, how much VHT/alcohol is required to do minimal track prep?

I usually do the Friday prep so:

I use about 3/4 of a canister of VHT/methanol mix & I believe the canisters are 5 US gallons. I eyeball the mix to be about 2/3 VHT & 1/3 methanol as that's what I was told to use at the start of the season. That does 2 light passes over both lanes out about 80-90 ft.

So figure about $90 of VHT(at $27/gal) & what ever 1 1/3 of a gal of methanol is worth. It's a tiny expense when compared to what a typical Secret Street brings in in cash.

Agreed. It's not like you can just buy a small amount but a barrel isn't used for one day. Quoting the total cost needs to be broken down to a minimal prep cost.

With the income from the car and spectator count last Friday night, the cost of track prep material is really minimal.

Methanol costs fluctuate but my last quote from Greggs Distributing was around $330/barrel so around $1.61/liter. 3.73 liters per US gallon = $6/gallon so $8 worth of methanol.

One good Friday night can easily cover the cost of Friday night prep material for a whole season with more than minimal prep. Sure it takes time to apply the VHT and the street tires rip it off but cost isn't the issue for at least some track prep. Although I still had a bit of traction with my big tires, the street cars were having some difficulty.

VHT or any other traction compound can reduce the traction for normal street tires as they simply peel it off. Traction compounds are only good for soft compound tires such as slicks or street legal slicks. The main thing is to clean the tires and the track of any debris or dust which street cars bring to the track.

Considering most hotlap, after they get teched, they never see gravel again until they leave the front gate.

I try to stay on the pavement as much as I can by parking along the south side of the staging lanes. Too many spectator cars seem to park right along the staging lanes also.

Just a little more clarifying here. We do not use VHT anymore as I think you are not able to purchase it. (Enviromental issue's) We are now using Lane Choice and it's pretty much the same as VHT. I was told not to dilute the LC as it doesn't work as well when diluted with methanol. Friday Nights, there is only 100-120 feet of prepped track, not because of the cost but 2 other reason's.......
First, I have talked to Art about this and it is because of me that there is ANY LC sprayed at all. I talked to him about the "fast" street cars that I know will be there, the lack of drag racing/driving skills of some which the LC will help keep under control. Art didn't want any LC sprayed as he has rented to bikes a lot this year and as we all know, when LC or VHT gets moist, it becomes like grease.
Secondly.... Andy hit it on the head.... "street" tires peel the LC off the lanes very quickly because of the small tread patterns and the amounts of sand like dirt that gets trapped in them. It is a waste of LC to prep the track past the 1/8 mile to have it all peeled off within an hour of all the street tires on it. We would only get half the passes in if we were to try and keep the lanes as clean on a Friday night as we do during a drag weekend.

In the past, I have seen Vern use near a full barrel of VHT for two days of racing when we were on a big weekend. So you can use a fair bit a day and that does get expensive.

Alchy... that's why yer car got squirley just out past 100 or so feet on Friday night.

I can see an excessive amount being used on the big weekends, that's to be expected, but we're just dealing with the Friday night crowd who are always seeking better traction. The issue with the road course bikes has been around for many years. Unfortunately, having the dragstrip as the front straight wasn't the best design especially with the transition so close to the start.

Getting squirrely wasn't as bad as I thought. I could feel the car getting loose. My in car video showed a bit of jumping around and you could hear the engine rpm change as it unloaded the tires in that 100-200' mark in the right lane. I swear there's a dip in that area.

This is the in car video of my second and last pass last Friday night. Since I can't afford a nice data recorder like the funny cars and promods have to record what happens down the track, this is the best I can do and it's better than nothing.
http://user.streetfire.net/video/Camaro-drag-racing-in-car_697769.htm

Darrin is correct, I spray Lane Choice 6 on Fridays not VHT but I used the term VHT to avoid confusing people & opening a whole other line of questions. VP Racing Fuel(The manufacturer of Lane Choice 6) says while LC6 can be applied right out of the barrel it can be cut with methanol to aid in spraying it. The methanol is just used to thin the mixture down to avoid clogging the sprayer & to assure an even, fine coating of the track. The methanol evaporates within minutes leaving just the LC6 behind. I've tried using just LC6 & it seem to come out of the sprayer in globs instead of a mist as VP recommends.

http://vpracingfuels.com/DOCS/tractioncompound.doc

With our weather & average temps, perhaps the next batch of LC6 should be the LC6-Cold version which is designed to work as low as 30 degrees F as opposed to regular LC6 which is only recommended to 60F.