Not with the car, but me as a driver, I STINK. I made 5 passes last night and while I lowered my best time on each pass for some reason I just can't seem to mat it when I engage the transbrake :confused:
David, the guy helping me thru the learning process to his credit has the patience of Job, but to prove a point he ran the car ONCE to show me what happens when you do it right and proceeds to ripoff a 5.97 with a 1.28 -60ft with a .525 rt.
My best was a 6.08 but here is what's killin me...a .887 rt...now this is probably gonna sound stupid, but I think the only reason this pass was as good as it was is because it was the only time I lined up on another car...a 70 Chevy Nova whick I proceeded to take to the woodshed and spank like a redheaded stepchild...I got a video of of that:)
But the video also shows my inability to lock my leg down on the pedal after engaging the transbrake :90:

it all comes with practice. i'm strictly a footbraker but i think you just need to have more practice and confidence in both the car and the driver. good luck.:)

No, no, I'm the king of inconsistency. :)

I too am going to have to learn how to use the T'brake. It will not be the same as your POWERFUL setup I'm sure.

Here's the way my buddy explained it to me: (again, this is on an engine with MUCH LOWER TORQUE THAN YOURS so I'm sure the rules do not apply. I'm guessing you're using a two-step??)

Once the brake is engaged, put the accelerator to the floor. The torque converter will only allow the engine rpms to rev up to the converter's stall rpm. The engine has only so much torque (of which the converter magnifies to the nth factor) but the engines torque cannot overcome the stall of the converter. And since the tranny is literally in BOTH Forward and Reverse, it's in a Chinese Finger Cuff and can't go anywhere - until you let off that adrenaline button. :eek:

(I'm sure I'm gonna be nervous as a you-know-what in church on my first couple of runs. I'll report the findings of my buddy's scenario when I return from that maiden voyage.)

BTW, going that quick MUST BE A BLAST!! I have yet to drive a car that was quicker than a 7.0 1/8th and that was fa-uuuuun! I can't imagine a 1.28 60' feels like. Jeez, Louise.

Grats on the"W" against brand "x" ! Can't wait to see the video!

patience grosshoppa

Jegs sells those handheld practive trees for about $99!

I think you are doing great, Rick! Keep working on it.

Seth

Hang In Ther Rick You Will Get It, When I Got My Super Comp License In Fla. We Had Dragsters And The Trans Button Was On The Side By My Knee So When I Let Go I Had To Bring My Hand To The Steering Wheel, It Was Weird Because I Never Really Knew When My Hand Got To The Wheel, It Happens So Fast, Those Cars Were Limited So No One Crashes But I Remember My Times Were 8.90 And Below At About 160mph In The 1/4, Mucho Fun!!!!we Made 6 Full Passes.

We got rained out tonight:bawling:
Don sometimes I feel like I'd be better off footbraking it...I've got every confidence in the car...I'm the one with the problem...I just can't bring myself to stand on the pedal when I engage the T-brake.
If I don't lock my leg down at the knee the force of the launch will pull my foot off the pedal.
Now I understand why we had to remove the seat that came with the car and put a new seat in, while I was comfortable in the car I couldn't straighten my right leg all the way out.
Rick you talk about nervous...I can be bone dry before gettin in the car and look like I just came out of a pool at the end of a pass...everytime I climb in and strap down the butterflies are incredible and the adrenaline rush as the lights start to drop...your eyes get as big around as saucers coming out of the hole.
What a rush...having never driven any other car at this speed I can't draw a comparison...so I asked David last night how smooth he thought the car was through an entire pass...he looks me dead in the eye and says, " I'd have no problem gettin in that car and runnin a 4.6 or 4.7, thats how smooth that car is."
I look at him and said, "Hey, it's a Maverick, did you expect anything less":)

...he looks me dead in the eye and says, " I'd have no problem gettin in that car and runnin a 4.6 or 4.7, thats how smooth that car is.

I was going to ask about how straight it goes. That's great news. I've seen low 6 cars look pretty unstable from the start (lot of chassis twist and rail hugging). :eek: I'm praying for the guy's life by mid-track (while thinking "LET OUT OF IT MAN, LET OUT!!").

But even with a car as fast as your's AND going straight, I can see where the pucker factor would still be significant.

Man, I'm very glad for you. :thumbsup:

I uploaded the video...maybe Stefan can get it posted soon...it's a good pass but you can tell by listening I'm not doing what I should be doing.


"PUCKER FACTOR" ahahahahaha ....I've got "Buns of Steel" now:dance:
Rick all I have to do is hold on and keep the wheel straight, she pulls ever so slightly to the left coming out of the hole but somehow manages to correct itself. That is probably just gettin a little air on launch and straightens back out when the front comes back down.
I'll tell ya one thing...I'm damn happy it has wheelie bars on it...:D

"PUCKER FACTOR" ahahahahaha ....I've got "Buns of Steel" now:dance:


Hmmm....what about this quote from the thread about your shakedown passes?

" The seat has a permanent crease in it now cuz my butt was clenched so tightimages/smilies/biggrin.gif"

Just a buddy giving a buddy a hard time. Not something I do very often.:162::rolleyes:

...the guy driving this car. He told me once that he zones himself out mentally,
kind of like meditation prior to a race.

It must work, he does well.

Hmmm....what about this quote from the thread about your shakedown passes?

" The seat has a permanent crease in it now cuz my butt was clenched so tightimages/smilies/biggrin.gif"

Just a buddy giving a buddy a hard time. Not something I do very often.:162::rolleyes:

Exactly the reason I got buns of steel...anytime I'm in that seat they stay clenched...just more or less.

Seth I'll have to reach some sort of comfort level to get in a zone...I'm still way too nervous to get in a zone...If I had to take the wheelie bars off and do stands like that Pony I'd have to put a bed pan under me.:49:
Not to mention the car sits way too low to be pulling wheelies...I could easily raise the ride height but I like the energy directed horizontally...not vertically.

All I can say is WOW Rick. You'll get the hang of the transbrake. I'm sure people get about eighty percent of any improvements in their runs from becoming comfortable and figuring out how to drive. Once you're not scared of the car, you'll become more and more likely to pour the coals to it with the brake on. A 1.28 60' time would apply a permanent grin to my face.

Here's the video...Thx alot Stefan..
I had no clue what the Nova would do...while I'm sittin over there waitin for him to finish his little show I'm thinkin thats nice...now light that second bulb and let's see what ya got...:D

http://mmb.maverick.to/gallery/misc.php?do=downloadfile&i=1042

This is where goin vertical will get you in trouble, there was no way he could make up the time he lost.

Ah Rick...it'll come. It's just not "normal" to put the pedal to the floor and hold it there when you're not moving! Especially if you've ever grenaded one! There's just a mental block imagining all those nice expensive parts laying underneath the car in an oily pile that makes it harder than it is. You might try one of the starting line controllers...the one I got is from Biondo. It allows the same thing, it just doesn't allow the throttle to go all the way open until the last minute. You don't sit on the line against the converter. It operates off of C0-2 and wires into the delay box. It's a little cylinder, and when the button is pushed, the "ram" extends, so the pedal is on the floor, but the revs are not up on the engine. When the delay activates, the ram is pulled shut with a c0-2 shot and off you go. There is a thumbscrew adjustment built into the cylinder so you can adjust how many RPM's you want when the pedal is all the way down. I got mine for around $250 I think, and that was with the controller, the bottle, clamp, everything needed to install.

You may also want to try not flooring it until you come off the button. I've tried it both ways (unfortunately not in the Mav for a while!) and really don't have a preference as to which works "better". I just never liked the idea of going up against the limiter for any extended period of time. I just can't help thinking that it has GOT to affect consistency by getting the trans fluid that hot.

Oh well, just a suggestion.

Later, and good luck.

Whoop that good for nothin' Chevy! You da' man Rick! :2thumbs:

Ford 1
Cheby 0



(That thing hauls it! Thanks for the video)

Lonnie the guy in the Nova fell asleep on the tree to...if he hadn't the outcome would have probably been different. What I meant was an .887 rt in competition aint gonna cut it.
I had a 1.31 60 ft on the pass with a 6.08 et, the et would sure be alot better with that 1.28 60ft.
Ya'll are right, it's a total mental block, the guy opening the door at the light is David, he built the motor, and he's tellin me, press the #%*^$ button and mat the #$!&* pedal. He knows the fear I have of grenading the motor, he told me don't worry about it, it aint gonna happen....of course I'm thinkin ANYTHING can happen.
I'll be damned if I don't sit right there and start to bring up the rpm's on the 3rd yellow and then only gradually.:90:

Not with the car, but me as a driver, I STINK. I made 5 passes last night and while I lowered my best time on each pass for some reason I just can't seem to mat it when I engage the transbrake :confused:
David, the guy helping me thru the learning process to his credit has the patience of Job, but to prove a point he ran the car ONCE to show me what happens when you do it right and proceeds to ripoff a 5.97 with a 1.28 -60ft with a .525 rt.
My best was a 6.08 but here is what's killin me...a .887 rt...now this is probably gonna sound stupid, but I think the only reason this pass was as good as it was is because it was the only time I lined up on another car...a 70 Chevy Nova whick I proceeded to take to the woodshed and spank like a redheaded stepchild...I got a video of of that:)
But the video also shows my inability to lock my leg down on the pedal after engaging the transbrake :90:

Patience, Grasshopper!!! Practice is the only way to get good at this kind of thing. You are doing well. Just keep at it!

Lonnie the guy in the Nova fell asleep on the tree to...if he hadn't the outcome would have probably been different. What I meant was an .887 rt in competition aint gonna cut it.
I had a 1.31 60 ft on the pass with a 6.08 et, the et would sure be alot better with that 1.28 60ft.
Ya'll are right, it's a total mental block, the guy opening the door at the light is David, he built the motor, and he's tellin me, press the #%*^$ button and mat the #$!&* pedal. He knows the fear I have of grenading the motor, he told me don't worry about it, it aint gonna happen....of course I'm thinkin ANYTHING can happen.
I'll be damned if I don't sit right there and start to bring up the rpm's on the 3rd yellow and then only gradually.:90:


It don't matter whether you have a $10,000 race engine or a daily stocker...you cannot be afraid to hurt it if you're going to race. Best advice I can give is take 'er out the the bleachbox, put 'er in high gear and mat the throttle...and when it hits 10,000 RPM let off. That way you will teach yourself confidence in your equipment...which is a big key to success in drag racing. If you're afraid to hurt it, you ain't got any business in behind the wheel.

You think John Force cringes when the thing goes up in smoke and the tach is buried past 10,000? I seriously doubt it myself. If it blows, it was going to do it anyway whether it was 20,000 RPM or 2,000. You'll also have to consider that no matter how fast you're going, something will break...just a matter of time. Some can go years without touching anything, and some of use can't go one round without tearing something up. Luck plays a big role.

No offense meant to anyone....just speaking my mind after a hard day's racing!

No offense meant to anyone....just speaking my mind after a hard day's racing!

None taken...I wouldn't post in the forum if I was afraid of being offended...any and all advice is greatly appreciated.
I'm a rookie when it comes to Bracket Racing so it's a learning process for me.
Conventional wisdom will tell you that you can't stand on an accelerator with a car in park.
But...this is Bracket Racing...the motor and the car were built for that abuse...why spend the money on a setup thats built to take it and not give it to it.
It's like one side of you brain is saying....do it, do it now...and the other is sayin you can't do that you might break something...it's just a matter of letting the darkside take over:evilsmile I must use the fork...er force:D
I'll get it...the learning curve is just a little wider than I thought:)

Rick, I think you are doing just fine. As for the money, I thought that
you told me that you were in the HVAC business. I may be mistaken.
If so, the new EPA SEER ratings changes will be helping you get all
that you can out of that plum colored monster!!

Seth

your doing good Rick. Its a major learning curve and this car is considerably faster than the other mav:rolleyes: Its not as easy as it looks, but you WILL get it! One suggestion is that you must create a pre-race routine. Things that will help you to remember to do this and that and be religious about it, whether its a Friday T&T or a Saturday final round, treat every pass the same. You will get it, Soon very soon and when that happens, no one will be able to jump in your car and make it go like you will:dance:

John I've been tryin my best to get a routine down and just when I think I'm gettin there somethin like the Chevy lining up with me happens...thats only the second time a car has been in the other lane on my runs...my "routine" went in the crapper. You'll notice in the video I don't even purge the motor... thats him makin all the noise, I just had a brain fart, at best I was at 3000 rpms at launch.
The one positive I had was finding out I'm not afraid of the speed and I owe that to the car being so easy to drive.
As bad as I was the car still pulled a 6.08



Seth your right...the EPA mandates take effect Jan 1 and we expect a net profit margin increase of 2-3% over our projecteds...hmmm :hmmm: we could be talkin John Kasse Mountain motor in a year:bouncy: ...er maybe not, my bride wants a new kitchen:confused: ...bummer

I know those mandates are a buzz with us. First time we have a seller with a bad condensing unit or similar, he/she/they are going to be po'd when
they discover that those aren't the only things that need to be replaced.

I wonder, will people still be able to replace a cracked heat exchanger on an older unit or will HVAC guys have to upgrade the entire unit?

I know resale home warranty companies are already rewriting their limitations on coverage.

Seth

Furnaces are unaffected Seth, central heat pumps and A/C equipment, manufacturers can't produce them after the 1st, on hand stock can still be sold.....as if the limitations on the policies aren't bad enough as it is, I quit dealing with those companies years ago, American Home Sheild comes to mind immediately, it definitely pays to read the fine print where these hucksters are concerned.

Sounds like your buddy David has been doing this sort of thing for a while. If thats true - I wouldnt be too hard on yourself. Youve made a big step up with this car.

Cleaver

Your doing great! It's only the second time out with the car. With more seat time the comfort will set in.