Radials vs Slicks

so if you have a car dead hooking maybe due to not enough power on slicks , do you think the car would get on top of the tire better with radials ? why are do some of these radial cars work better then a slick tire car ?

I was once told if you are going to run a radial your car has to be built [Chassis and Suspension] for that radial.

it seems like most of the guys that run TT5 have bars and the guys that run the 275 radial don run bars ....... seems like the radial is giving them more wheel speed ...... just curious

If you are worried about at/near 100% dead-hooking possibly costing some 60ft from a drop in initial wheel speed, a wheelie bar is one of many tools that can add in some tire rotation at the initial hit. But like most chassis adjusting it is of course a balancing act as too much initial rotation/wheel speed can easily grow into a flat-out spin and wasted energy.

Depending on how close to 100% dead-hooked you are, some other possible ways of adding some more initial tire rotation/wheel speed are increasing slick air pressure, tighter rear shock extension, tighter front shock extension, tighter front travel, adjusting at launch power numbers, etc,etc.

I'm a little confused here....not sure why dead-hookin' a car is a bad thing.
Wouldn't it be safe to say, if the car is hooked every time, the changes needed to pick up 60' time would be done with the converter and/or gear?
I guess I'm looking at this from an ET bracket racer point of view...consistancy rules.
Is there ET to be gained from a little wheel-slip at the starting line?
I know this is OT but, I had to ask.

Jeff

when i had orginally showed the video of my car to several chassis guys (not DILLIGAS) had mentioned i was dead hooking and underpowering the chassis ..... and that i need to get " on top of the tire " so throw more power at her or cause more wheel speed from the launch ie my question about radials ..... if i were to throw on radial without changing a thing would it acomplish that hypothesis ................ just curious

Bruno, your car is making plenty of steam for your size of tire...and to be hooked up that well with a smaller tire is a good thing. I would think a little harder hit or a shorter gear would be in order, to squeeze out some more short time...jmo.

Treeyasoon wrote:I'm a little confused here....not sure why dead-hookin' a car is a bad thing.

Even though viewed at full speed any number of drag cars might appear to be 100% dead hooked, when viewed in slo-mo they might not really be. A surprising low number of drag cars with decent power really truely achieve a true 100% dead hook launch, there's usually some given amount (large or small) of initial rotation. It might be a very, very small amount that's hard to see (say as little a an 1/8 of a turn) or a ton that's damn easy to spot (say 3/4 to 1-1/2 of a turn).


But a true 100% dead hook is only really a problem if............

(A) If it does in fact lug the car down, causing the car to in effect "fall on it's face" to some degree where lugging it slows initial wheelspeed. Slower wheelspeed can mean a slower 60ft & longer time to get up-on the tire. In effect wasting some time.

Or (B) If it causes an excessively large wheelstand, which again can be cause for more wasted time.


It's no surprise that the more & more volent a wheeliebar drag car might be (that actually really, really needs the bars to get down the track) it might also be a car that has more & more inital tire rotation caused by said wheelie bars (since unloading the slicks a given amount & causing some tire rotation is how they do their job).

bruno wrote: i was dead hooking and underpowering the chassis ..... and that i need to get " on top of the tire " so throw more power at her or cause more wheel speed from the launch

Are you sure your actually dead-hooking the slicks, or does it just appear that you are cuz they might look to be really, really wadded-up?

Some times if your running lower than "optimum" air pressure numbers, a good hooking car might "over wind" the sidewalls a bunch and take longer to get up-on the tire as the pass progresses. Like anything else you adjust on a car, air pressure is a balancing act. Not enough air pressure is just as bad as too much.

Any links to the launch videos?

here are some horrible video Dave

after looking at the first video on the spray it is definetly spining the tire