In the world of drag racing, there is an important distinction between quicker and faster. Quicker basically means that the car gets through the quarter,eighth, or other distance in less time than another car. While faster means that they get there with more speed than another car. Here’s an example of that. I recently raced a newer Chrysler 300 that was dialed at a 13.20. My El Camino was dialed at a 12.80. In this case, my El Camino is the quicker car. It covers the same distance in less time. Now, here’s where things got interesting. On paper I would be chasing my opponent the whole way. That didn’t actually happen. Here’s a video of how that race occurred.
Now we can see that I caught them very early in the race and they were behind me until about the 1000’ mark where they really started to make their move. Now here is where they showed their muscle. Their top end charge was about 3 mph faster than me and ultimately crossed the finish line stripe at 107 mph compared to my 104 mph.
Why does this happen? No car really has a linear rate of acceleration and are optimized differently. My El Camino makes a small mountain of torque, has a loose torque converter and a deep rear gear. It tends to make for a very aggressive rate of acceleration in the beginning of the track. A similar car that has a lower numerical gear, isn’t likely to accelerate as quickly unless it makes more power. That much newer Hemi makes more power at high RPM than my torquey 383” small block Chevy. When a higher RPM power output is coupled to a more street friendly combination, that makes for a car that accelerates more at higher speed. In this case, at the finish line.
Here’s some links to stuff I like to use! These are affiliate links and I may receive a small commission at no additional cost to you.
PWRCORE 12 Brushless 12V 3/8” Impact Wrench Kit
WavWatch – Use Discount Code ERIC100 for $100 off at checkout – https://www.wavwatch.com/
Recent Comments