Sounds like you had a better day than many I see on their first day at the track.

It's not unusual for a car to turn in the burnout. It can be one tire not in as much water or if the track has grooves in the burnout area and you are out of them a little that will happen. Sometimes more rpm helps also. Sounds like it was only a problem the one time.

On the line lock I can't say if it worked or not but if when holding the brakes you push the button you can then pump your brakes without releasing the button and it will build more pressure. It has a check valve in it letting fluid through to the brakes but not out until you let go.

7.59 @85 is not a bad start. I hope you enjoyed the ride. You might need deeper pulleys or it's possible the alternator is out of alignment or the mounts are flexing. I'm sure you will get it fixed up. Good luck at the track.

That is not is not a bad start at all. 7.59 is fast enough that you may start finding weak spots and get broken parts. Get biggest air cleaner you can preferably K&N gauze type. The K&N type will let some dust in but it gives you some protection with out much restriction.

If it is losing the alternator belt check and make sure they are perfectly in line, belt is right one, and alternator is not located too far away from crank pulley. Also make sure the bracket is solid and does not allow alternator to flex any or it will come off. Closer to the block the better, less flex. I like to run an alternator and vacuum pump on everything and if it is not mounted right you will lose the belt.

You going to have to work on reaction times a little. My suggestion there is to try to shallow stage the same every time so you know you are going in same distance. Then focus on the light and try to get the reaction times the same. Once you get technique down where you are consistent then you start improving it. How do you improve it?
Stage higher RPM, More air pressure tires especially front tires. Carburation is important for reaction times, it can not stumble or hesitate. As you go up in launch RPM you may have to change carb some to get it working good at launch RPM. There are other things to but start there.

I know it is hard to concentrate on so many things at once and tuning is different than racing. When I am in tuning mindset I want to think and pay attention to what car did and remember when I get back to my pit to make the changes needed.

When I am in race mode I tend to compartmentalize it in sections and may forget things as each section is completed. For instance I do the burnout, Then concentrate on staging perfect, then the launch and best reaction time, I immediately look over to try to get and idea how my light was compared to my opponent, Then I am concentrating on my shift point and then working finish line. Then after the run I immediately record weather and run information and try to determine how I won or lost. I have to learn what I did right or wrong. The race is mostly me against the clock, I have to put best package possible down and if I do not know what my car will run or it does not run same from run to run I can not win. In race mode I try to do each step perfect and move on to next step so in that mode I may forget simple things in previous steps if I did them right and no problems. Of course if something major happens like I got out of groove I will remember it but keep trying to focus on getting next step right. Hope that makes sense?

Staging I tend to do same in both testing and race mode. I do not care if opponent is having trouble staging in testing or trying to play head games in competition. I want to get ME staged right and they are their problem. When I do my job right it forces them to have to do a better job to beat me. And if they beat you then you look at what they did and think how can you do better? Consistency. Weather data, water temp, launch RPM, Reaction time, shift RPM as you tighten those things up your win loss record will get better.

Also in test mode I want to make small changes one at a time and verify that it does as expected. Also want to know what small changes in weather does to your ET. If you make several changes you may not know which one worked and how much it helped. You are looking for consistency and when everything is right and you have weather data you can look at your weather station and tell exactly what your car is going to run. For years I ran a 5.00 Index, I would pull in, look at weather and set up my car to run a 5.01 first time trial. Then I would set it up to run a 5.00X and quite often would be number one qualifier which gave me lane choice and possibly a bye run plus more qualifying points. Those little things help win big things and you have to know exactly what car will run.

A lot of this stuff, testing etc may take some of the fun out of it but you want to learn and get better as you get better you will start winning more rounds and races and have more fun. Some work up front will pay down the line.

Thank you. Seat time will help me a lot.
I don't like running without an air filter, but I want to try without just to see if it betters time. I'll at least go bigger.
Alternator; bigger pulley or smaller balancer?
Balancer is oem, LS motor, about 7.5", alternator is 2.75".

A $1.00 soup strainer with the handle cut off will protect your engine from small rocks if you run no air filter.
Car should do fine with no alternator going down the track if you can charge in the pits between rounds, that's how many do it and never run an alternator. Yes is the answer on smaller balancer pulley and or bigger alternator pulley. Are you running factory LS type with a serpentine belt and factory mount?

quote:

Originally posted by truckman:
Thank you. Seat time will help me a lot.
I don't like running without an air filter, but I want to try without just to see if it betters time. I'll at least go bigger.
Alternator; bigger pulley or smaller balancer?
Balancer is oem, LS motor, about 7.5", alternator is 2.75".

Try calling Powermaster Performance to see if they offer a 3.5”pulley to fit your alternator. PowerMaster catalog is online.

imho there’s nothing worse than being tied to a battery charger to maintain a battery in a race car. I never charge the race car battery at the track……NEVER!

quote:

Originally posted by Eman:
A $1.00 soup strainer with the handle cut off will protect your engine from small rocks if you run no air filter.
Car should do fine with no alternator going down the track if you can charge in the pits between rounds, that's how many do it and never run an alternator. Yes is the answer on smaller balancer pulley and or bigger alternator pulley. Are you running factory LS type with a serpentine belt and factory mount?

Good idea on the soup strainer, I'll try that.
The accessory/water pump mounting unit has been eliminated. I'm using an ICT-Billet alternator mount. I have an electric water pump.
No current way to recharge pit side. Will consider options.

It's bracket racing, go out & have fun. Don't get wrapped up in things that don't matter in the big picture of having fun & winning rounds!

It doesn't matter if you run an air cleaner or not. Although your engine might be a little happier if you did. It doesn't matter if you run an alternator or not; charge your battery between rounds or not. Many round wins or event wins have been won in any configuration mentioned.

Bracket racing is mainly a consistency deal in the pits & on the track. Go have fun, get seat time & don't sweat the small stuff.

2BKING