Learn me dirt drag racing - county fair style!

I bet a friend I would beat him in the dirt drags event at the local county fair tonight. From what I can tell it's just a few hundred feet, so the launch seems really important. Think rally-cross without any turns. It's held on the dirt track and hasn't rained in 3 days.

He's in a beater 91 Civic hatch, I'm in an 08 Saturn Astra hatch. Both racing in 4-cyl FWD stock class, both are 5-speeds, both FWD, both stock, both on stock-sized all seasons.

What tips can the hive share? Launch technique, tire pressures, etc I'm open to anything there's a round of beers at stake here!

Lower tires pressures, don't spin!

How hard is the dirt? When I launched my Honda Rally Car hard at a recent event on a well packed road, all I got for my troubles was a couple of deep trenches. Had to let off to let the car roll up on to the road bed again.

A soft launch that stays on top and doesn't produce wheelspin is likely to get you going faster than spinning.

Get as much weight out of there as you can, and don't break traction if possible. Look hard at the surface and try to get both tires on a part without much loose dirt when staging. Air the rear tires WAY up to reduce the rolling resistance.

Does the 08 Saturn have traction control? I know the 91 Civic does not.
If you have traction control I would leave it on and launch reasonably hard but let the computer modulate the acceleration.

Some launches on grass with traction control on might help you realize if the traction control on this car is actually helpful or mot.

Also, this helpful article on zero-budget drag racing might be worth reading.

Paging Big Daddy Don Stampie....

If you think you'll be changing into 2nd gear beforehand the end of the course, you may want to start there. You'll put less power dowon on the launch, so be less likely to spin the wheels, and you won't lose time shifting. If you'll still be in 1st gear at the end of the course, never mind.

I do have traction control, and an awfully short 1st gear. Maybe I'll just gun it in 2nd and let the computers carry me to victory. Unless the track is shorter than I think it'll be.

Are there any dirt roads near you? Seems you need some practice time. For science.

Sorry I'm late. What I found was lowering the pressure was the best. That and try and get into their head.

A couple months ago somebody was on here that was going to do this with pickup trucks. Anybody have a link to that thread? I may not be helpful, but i cant remember reading how that ended and now i need closure.

To the op, my best guess for you would be snow tires if you have them, and weight loss.

In reply to gearheadmb:

That was Stampie, who I believe won at least one round by tricking the other driver into leaving his truck in reverse

So that was really...something! To our surprise, the rules were double-elimination and there was a 3rd car in our class, a brand new Dodge Dart. The track was 180 feet long, with 180 feet to slow down before a wall of hay rolls. 4/10ths's tree with pre-stage was also a nice surprising feature. There was only one car class, and that was us, so they let us run first. Apparently the trucks dig trenches by end of the night which could be problematic for our little commuter mobiles.

1st round: Saturn vs Honda. I lowered tire pressure to 25 psi on the fronts and turned TC off, dropping the clutch on 1st. Lots of wheel spin, but we left the line at the same time. Pretty much neck-and-neck the whole way, but I had the edge with power at the end. We both shifted to 2nd before the end. I was going past redline a tad...

2nd round: Saturn vs Dodge. This time I kept TC on, but decided to launch in 2nd. That didn't go well. I totally stalled the engine on green like a rookie.

3rd round: Saturn vs Honda again. Launched in first with TC on. Less wheelspin, still hitting redline, but a noticeably larger gap than the 1st round. 2nd loss for Honda means my buddy is eliminated and owes me a beer

4th round: Saturn vs Dodge, for all the marbles. I realized I was spinning through the finish on all my passes, even after shifting to 2nd, so I decided to stay in 1st and just keep it below redline with TC doing the work. The little Dart had me the whole time, besting me by half a car length. I think the automatic trans and 10 years of better developed traction control technology had something to do with it. But 180 feet of driving has never been that fun!

We stuck around after to watch the trucks. Most of these looked like mug-boggers or drag trucks with different rear tires. All V8's, open heads, including some on methanol judging by the smell. We were definitely out of place. It was only the 3rd or 4th round of truck drags before it all came to a halt. One of the 2wd V8 trucks throttle stuck at the finish, sending him past the run-out and into the hay rolls, over the hay rolls through the air, crashing through the chain link fence, and wrecking 3 different cars in the parking lot. Luckily no one was in that area of the lot and the driver was okay. But they called off the rest of the event for safety. Clearly the hay rolls were not enough to stop a runaway truck.

Just another Monday in rural Indiana

Hmmmm, looks a lot grassroots motor sports!

Here hold my beer and watch this Rickie......

That's why you never park on the outside of a turn or at the end of an impromptu drag strip. Glad everyone walked away. Sounds like fun.

Just saw pictures of the carnage in the parking area on Facebook. Dang.

I'm gonna guess the Civic is totaled. I then wonder if the race truck bothers to carry street insurance (but it's not on the street.) Additionally, what responsibilities of this falls onto the venue?

Sticky situation.

Race truck's insurance will most likely say "too bad, we're not responsible for any of this" unless he specifically has coverage for racing related damage. Civic's insurance will probably pay out for the damage to the Civic though.

A true Patriot, beating up an innocent immigrant. LOL, sorry, couldn't resist.

Congrats on beating your buddy. That looks like a ton of fun.

sounds like some fun for your guys. to bad about the truck loosing control like that and hitting some cars. but that is part of racing like that though. at least no one was hurt.