Friday Night Secret Street

[gregh]

After talking to the CDRA & the Calgary Motorsport Council, there is a fair bit of discussion going on about not doing prep on the track for the Friday night Secret Street events.
Apparently, the general feeling is that there is no need for prep other than sweeping.

The track is normally sprayed with a VHT/ Methanol mix to improve traction but apparently, they don't want to spend the money for it(about $100/night). Last year I was spraying it out about 80-100ft.

I'm starting this poll so that the results can be shown to the Race City management so they can see what their customers want.

[Sorath]

what the fuck.... prep the whole track

[Mr_ET]

No need for VHT, it should be just like the street

I find that this poll option is not even accurate as I have always felt like a normal street offered better traction than the pad at RaceCity.

I can't imagine it being even worse with no prep.

[Tik-Tok]

Originally posted by gregh
but apparently, they don't want to spend the money for it(about $100/night). Last year I was spraying it out about 80-100ft

$100/night compared to the $20/person charge to race, kind of seems like a drop in the bucket, but then, I don't know what (if any) the profit is like for Secret Street.

I can't answer the poll really, as I've never tried a track with it, and without it, to tell the difference.

edit: Maybe the first 3 Fridays it's open, you can do the whole track, half the track, and none at all, but don't tell people which night was which, and then after the 3 weeks ask again?

[Sorath]

Originally posted by Mr_ET
No need for VHT, it should be just like the street

I find that this poll option is not even accurate as I have always felt like a normal street offered better traction than the pad at RaceCity.

I can't imagine it being even worse with no prep.

i couldnt hook on slicks last year. but i do agree that i get better traction on the street than at the track

[blackpeople]

Prep half the track as good as they do for the weekend evens would be a great option

[gregh]

I have always felt like a normal street offered better traction than the pad at RaceCity.

i couldnt hook on slicks last year. but i do agree that i get better traction on the street than at the track

My car last year on a Friday night, traction was actually too good & I got into tireshake. I had to raise the pressure a bit & put up with a little spin after this.

[bituerbo]

What percentage of cars that show up for secret street actually benefit from VHT? Now of those, how many actually realize the benefit? I also get better hookup on the street, but that's understandable as the first 60ft are getting 'polished' a few hundred times a week.

Save yourself the money, and more importantly time/effort. I'm sure the guys over at p-s have an entirely different opinion.

[gregh]

Any car with drag radials, slicks or any form or "racing tire" will benefit from VHT & without it, there is no point in any car capable of running faster than a high 13 even showing up.

I'll bet that 60% of the cars on the fastest import list from the last few years wouldn't have been capable of running within 2 seconds of their best times without VHT.

[Tik-Tok]

Originally posted by gregh

I'll bet that 60% of the cars on the fastest import list from the last few years wouldn't have been capable of running within 2 seconds of their best times without VHT.

Isn't that kind of answering your own question then?

[gregh]

Originally posted by Tik-Tok


Isn't that kind of answering your own question then?

What question? Should the track get prepped?

I already have my opinion but the purpose of this poll is to show the owner of Race City what the Friday night racers want.

[Ekliptix]

200 people x $25 = $5k per Secret Street. I don't think $100 out of $5,000 is significant. But, they could spend only $50 on VHT by preping only 1 lane. Cars with slicks/drag radials could use that lane. My 2c.

[Darell_n]

On a side note, wasn't trackbite supposed to be banned in Canada?

[97luder]

when are they opening for the 2010 season ?

[DubSport]

VHT + Rain water = zero traction for the road course. A little bit of rain won't stop us from road course racing, but that VHT section is part of the road course and when it is wet LOOK OUT!!! It truly responds like driving on ice when wet...

I vote for no VHT. (Sorry drag people)

[gregh]

To answer a few questions:
No Track Bite has not been banned in Canada.

No one seems to know when the opening night will be, mid May is my guess.

as far as VHT affecting the road course people, that's only on a full drag race prep, the Friday night prep doesn't go that far down the track. We could spray almost 150ft before it would reach the area road race cars would cross onto the straightaway.

As far as after a full drag race weekend, too bad, the full 1320ft of the track will be getting sprayed.

[Toma]

Spray at least half.

Jesus Christ. They rake in huge cash every Friday night... spectators, cars, and food.... and they are bitchhin about $100 to $200 $ and run off of vulanteer staff??

What the FUCK?!?!?!

So if we want track prep, then what? We have to come waste a whole day racing with the bracket crap?

[epp01]

Originally posted by Toma
Spray at least half.

Jesus Christ. They rake in huge cash every Friday night... spectators, cars, and food.... and they are bitchhin about $100 to $200 $ and run off of vulanteer staff??

What the FUCK?!?!?!

So if we want track prep, then what? We have to come waste a whole day racing with the bracket crap?

^ This.

[DarrinGTA]

I work at Race City on the drag strip. Let me answer a few questions points that I have seen so far.

ANY "Z" rated tires will benefit from a prepped track. Without prep, I spin until after 60', with prep I have pulled a 1.99 60' time.
VHT does nothing for your average "street tire". Most of us that have any pride in our rides, have some type of performance tire on our cars. As for those that say they get better hook on the street.... I don't see you breaking your cars in the first 10' of launching, but I do see that at the track.
VHT DOES turn to a grease like substance when it gets wet/moist. The road course is rented daily (almost) and Art has expressed major concerns about that fact and no VHT on Fridays. I spent many hours discussing that with him about Friday nights and I was able to convince him to allow us to spray out to about 100' on Fridays. I want to see some prep on Fridays (I'd actually like to see prep to the 1/8th on Fridays), but there is another issue with prepping like that on Fridays.
First; the cost of VHT is not cheap. In order to keep optimal traction on a Friday, we'd have to respray/groom the track about every 1.5-2 hr's. You guys want to race, not sit and wait for us to groom the track. Spraying the track 2x every night is time consuming and expensive.
Secondly. (NO offense to all the guys who come out on Fridays... we love having all you guys/girls at the track) STREET TIRES. These tires carry very small amounts of sand to the track everytime and they tear the VHT off the track very quick. There's nothing that can be done about that. Cleaning your tires in the water box helps extend the life of the VHT sprayed, but all spinning street tires does is wear off your tread and cost YOU $$$.
Then, we have the occasional bucket-head that comes to the track and has been driving around in mud and it's caked under the car in spots we can't see without putting the car on a lift. He launches, mud and shit goes flying out onto the track and destroys any traction that we had in that area.

As for the CDRA and those others saying they will not be spraying, trust me, I will be lobbying LARGELY for spraying to at least 100' every Friday night as we have been. Even if that means that I put a bucket at the gate and everyone drops a Loonie in to it and Greg and I go get a barrell of VHT just for Friday nights.

(edit A barrell of VHT is about $800)

[carmag99]

Just my 2 cents worth here.
As the guy who preps the track, I spray a coat of VHT/Lane Choice on the entire 1320' at the larger events (When we have cars capable of running 9's or faster)
If we want some friday night glue, as someone said earlier, Charge $1 more at the gate and buy a couple of barrels of lane choice, Spray and groom the first 60 to 80 feet and see what happens.
Does that work for you guys?