What's a Good Reaction Time?

Dibbons · Jul 30, 2020

Grudge race my stock '72 Satellite 318 vs daughter's stock 2004 Toyota 4Runner 4.0L (I lose) Her first time at drag strip, my first time in forty plus years:

Mar 30, 2016 Sonoma Raceway Wednesday Night Drags

4:44 PM Ody Rubi 4:17 PM Ody Rubi

R/T .286 .723 1.126 1.136

60 ft 2.905 2.455 2.646 2.589

330 7.826 6.824 7.588 7.071

660 11.920 10.513 11.807 10.811

MPH 60.06 66.97 58.82 66.33

1000 15.440 13.644 15.377 13.984

1320 18.413 16.384 18.368 17.045

MPH 75.79 82.10 75.37 66.11

On first run, Ody experienced bog at start, had to lift accelerator then apply.

On second run, Ody feathered accelerator to prevent bog, ran 0.045 slower ET, although MPH increased by .42 MPH

On both runs it seems Satellite shifted into 3rd gear when already past finish line.

On first run, it appears Rubi slowed down before the finish line, won by 1.323, then won by 2.029 on second run.

Limited / 4x4 / 5A

0-60 mph: 7.9 sec

1/4 mile: 16.0 @ 86.4 mph

Source: Motor Trend

Jerry Hall · Jul 30, 2020

Good reaction time? .001-.008
I'm not saying I can do it anymore, you just asked what is good. Yes, I'm old and slow too.

Dibbons · Jul 30, 2020

Maybe I should ask, what's an "average" reaction time (lol)?

NSS Guy · Jul 30, 2020

If you are in the .020-.030 range you can win some rounds in no box racing. Remember reaction times have no effect in ET. Not sure what you are asking in your post above.

dvw · Jul 30, 2020

Average is a big question. The car itself cam react slow. My V6 Magnum is mid .150 rt (normal shallow stage) with me driving. In my race car my average is in the high .020s. First you need to be consistant. Whether that is .020, .100, .200. Then you can adjust your staging accordingly. A slow reacting car needs to go in deep. Just because a car has a slow ET doesnt mean it wont cut a light. Our old Dodge Caravan could go .020 easily shallow staged. My buddy's 69 Hemi Charger couldn't break .100 with me driving it. But deep staged ( top stage bulb out). It could go .010. You can win a lot of rounds with an .030 or better. Even .040-.060 will win a lot of times if the car is dead on. It all depends on how good your opponent is. Not many can go .01x or better everytime.
Doug

Bad B-rad · Jul 30, 2020

Agree with dvw, on my 1966 Charger, I would punch it as soon as I saw 2nd yellow light, and it took that long for car to react to my input, if I did that in my wife's Charger, I would red light.

33 IMP · Jul 30, 2020

Up until a few months ago, I thought a good racer could cut a light in anything, by adjusting how you staged, and when you left on the tree. I used to make fun of the horrible lights cut by the guys in the new performance cars, camaros,challengers, mustangs etc. Till I tried it in mine.
Took my new muscle car to the test and tune. First lap, staged shallow, left on the last yellow, .276 WHAAATT?
Tried several more times. Finally figured out what was wrong with me, and probably lots of others. It's the @#$% drive by wire throttle.
I would stand on the gas , and the car would say... hunh......you didn't really mean that did you?..... you really wanna go now?.....you do? Okay, let's go....Now!
Only, it never waited the same way twice. It would go .300 late, make an adjustment, go .125 late, try it again, go .400 red. I cut one decent light in probably 50 laps over five trips to the strip, and I don't know how I got one good one.
However, put me in a decent car, I can cut a light. This was the third lap I made in a friend's car, that I had never even sat in before.
I guess my point is....it depends on what you are driving. For your typical once-a-decade trip with a pure street car, any three digit reaction time that starts with a zero, say .098, I would consider a really good light. A really good racer would consider that .098 a disaster.

dvw · Jul 30, 2020

50 hits on the full tree this afternoon and 100 on pro. Same 350 rollout. The pro hits keep you honest
Doug

Bad B-rad · Jul 30, 2020

The modern gen 3 Hemi cars are hard to figure out how to get the best launch, if you hold the brake, and try and rev it to launch, the new cars PCM pulls timing on you!
Took some data logging for me to figure it out, then there is the traction control, and the drive by wire throttle lag.

dvw · Jul 30, 2020

My son has a Scat Pac. He's normally very good on the tree. In the Scat Pac it's tough to break into the .0xx at the tree. The 1320 edition has this delay corrected. They work. It's all software.
Doug

Bad B-rad · Jul 30, 2020

It took me a bit to figure out the best way to launch my 2016 R/T (5.7)
I would put it in sport mode, but forgot to turn traction control off.

I still not sure if I know the best way, LOL
4.5 is my best 0-60.
My wife got a 4.2 0-60 so go figure, LOL!!

Cranky · Jul 30, 2020

I usually start out kinda slow but improve with each round, so, I'd do something to excite myself....drink something with caffeine etc but would have to calm myself down later. Somehow I've managed to have really consistent cars and had to really work on my RT's but usually 1st round was in the .030's. That was usually a winning round most times until round 3 or 4 but by then if I was still in, RT's improved to high teens. The last time to race my Belvedere (very slow car but very consistent), the win came in the 7th round with a .007 light. Was surprised that I didn't red eye from being too excited lol. Worst red light was in a buddies car leaving on the 2nd bulb and staging as shallow as possible..... -001! Another super slow street car that rode like it was on wet sponges. That was my 2nd pass in it and the first one was a full 1 second RT.

66Satellite47 · Jul 30, 2020

Tough to answer. Both car & driver have major variability. A well sorted out bracket car(built for consistency) with a fairly experienced driver would be happy with .02 average and more .0xx than red lights with no box & foot brake. Seems like .01 to .03 will still win a lot of rounds.
Edit: A practice tree sure helps the driver consistency.

Dibbons · Jul 30, 2020

Not related to reaction time (which I don't believe was actually measured back then) but I once received a $10.00 "bonus" after having run two identical E.T. times consecutively at Fremont Raceway circa 1975 in my four-speed '65 Valiant bracket racer. I compared that to sinking a hole-in-one on the golf course.

66Satellite47 · Jul 30, 2020

Dibbons said:
Not related to reaction time (which I don't believe was actually measured back then) but I once received a $10.00 "bonus" after having run two identical E.T. times consecutively at Fremont Raceway circa 1975 in my four-speed '65 Valiant bracket racer. I compared that to sinking a hole-in-one on the golf course.

Just to clarify, were you responding to me?

Dibbons · Jul 30, 2020

Nope.

NSS Guy · Jul 30, 2020

From a few years ago

383man · Jul 30, 2020

Its like anything else the more practice the better you get. And as said not all cars react the same. Myself I love to foot brake and race in the NSS class when I can but I don't get to race much. Once or twice a year is about all I can do and I like to hit at least a .050 or better to even be in the race. I have even seen good racers have bad lites sometimes as a ran a good racer two years ago and he actually hit a 1.52 lite which I could not believe but because it was a windy day they made us run 1/8 mile and I could not judge the finish line and I ran out with my .048 lite. I love to be .020 or better to at least be in the race but I don't race enough to be good all the time like many of these guys are. But I always have fun. Ron

biomedtechguy · Jul 31, 2020

dvw said:
The 1320 edition has this delay corrected.

What a GREAT car Mopar has in that model!
They really did that up right! Direct gift to those who love to race!

dvw · Jul 31, 2020

NSS Guy said:
From a few years ago

View attachment 981770

I cant read these. But no need. I can tell you guys from experience they're deadly.
Doug

What's a Good Reaction Time?

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