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Drag Challenge Round 9
- Thread starter Mr.F
- Start date
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madmarco
hitman13
Well-Known Forum User
Good day, had a PB on this track & my highest terminal, congratulations Mark on HoF time, & God of the Pod Steve for winning. It is strange backing off before line to win a race, it is a strain on your will power. Particullarly if you feel you are on for a good time.
That was the craziest day I have ever spent at a drag strip, non of us (except for Mr F) had ever done this before (bracket racing) and it was a first for the Z Club, so a major big thanks to Mike for setting up what was an absolutely fantastic event.
For those that don’t know (and in fairness non of us properly did 24hrs ago)
This is another level from a standard Run What You Brung day, it was a proper head to head competition run under race conditions.
In short order you have to declare a “bracket” time, that is a time which you are "fairly" certain that you are not going to beat but can regularly get close to, (the closer the better)……beating your “bracket” is called breaking out and is an instant fail, the result is your sitting in the stands for the rest of the event.
“Ah that’s easy, all I have to do is declare a ridiculously fast time that I can never ever beat” you all say….well just getting close to your bracket isn’t just it, you also have to “win” the race (ie cross the line first) that is unless your fellow competitor “break’s” out of course
Confused, we were.
Then just to complicate matters the “Christmas tree” lights are handicapped so the slower “bracket” car will go first followed by the quicker car, the difference ( which is the differential between bracket A and bracket B) can be several seconds, so the quicker car has to hunt down and pass the slower car by just enough as to not break out.
Oh I forget to mention, in bracket racing reaction times are hugely important, and by that I mean at a normal run what you brung, reaction time has no bearing on the overall elapsed time as the two are a separate measure, the drag challenge uses them in order to break down the advantage that quicker cars have in a direct head to head.
However on a full on bracket eliminator the reaction time is critical as its part of the overall elapsed time of the race from competitor A launching to competitor B finishing.
“Ok” you say, I’ll just watch the reaction time which is always displayed on the board and I know if the other guy stands a chance of breaking out or not….well they thought of that as well, in bracket racing no times are displayed until you cross the line.
All in all it is nerve wracking, but for those that didn’t go/have never been it’s an absolute blast and you missed a fantastic day.
It all sounds confusing, but surprisingly it didn’t take long to get to grips with as it all makes sense plus we had 2 qualifying rounds o iron out any uncertainty
All in all it’s like poker but with cars, it’s not about the hand you hold, it’s about the hand that the others think you hold.
Once again thanks to Mike for setting up a fabulous day, hopefully we can do it again next season.
For those that don’t know (and in fairness non of us properly did 24hrs ago)
This is another level from a standard Run What You Brung day, it was a proper head to head competition run under race conditions.
In short order you have to declare a “bracket” time, that is a time which you are "fairly" certain that you are not going to beat but can regularly get close to, (the closer the better)……beating your “bracket” is called breaking out and is an instant fail, the result is your sitting in the stands for the rest of the event.
“Ah that’s easy, all I have to do is declare a ridiculously fast time that I can never ever beat” you all say….well just getting close to your bracket isn’t just it, you also have to “win” the race (ie cross the line first) that is unless your fellow competitor “break’s” out of course
Confused, we were.
Then just to complicate matters the “Christmas tree” lights are handicapped so the slower “bracket” car will go first followed by the quicker car, the difference ( which is the differential between bracket A and bracket B) can be several seconds, so the quicker car has to hunt down and pass the slower car by just enough as to not break out.
Oh I forget to mention, in bracket racing reaction times are hugely important, and by that I mean at a normal run what you brung, reaction time has no bearing on the overall elapsed time as the two are a separate measure, the drag challenge uses them in order to break down the advantage that quicker cars have in a direct head to head.
However on a full on bracket eliminator the reaction time is critical as its part of the overall elapsed time of the race from competitor A launching to competitor B finishing.
“Ok” you say, I’ll just watch the reaction time which is always displayed on the board and I know if the other guy stands a chance of breaking out or not….well they thought of that as well, in bracket racing no times are displayed until you cross the line.
All in all it is nerve wracking, but for those that didn’t go/have never been it’s an absolute blast and you missed a fantastic day.
It all sounds confusing, but surprisingly it didn’t take long to get to grips with as it all makes sense plus we had 2 qualifying rounds o iron out any uncertainty
All in all it’s like poker but with cars, it’s not about the hand you hold, it’s about the hand that the others think you hold.
Once again thanks to Mike for setting up a fabulous day, hopefully we can do it again next season.
Last edited by a moderator:
Mr.F
Inactive
O.K. – let’s try and make some sense of the results and award some points!
First, the results from the normal Round 9 of the Drag Challenge:
Class 1:
1. Steve Kiddell 240Z – 12.804 E.T. 112.20 Terminal speed; best Reaction time 0.276
2. Terry Taylor 240Z – 13.784 / 104.41; RT 0.532
3. Jon Billings 260Z – 15.886 / 89.38; RT 0.561
Class 4:
1. Mark Keeney – Z32 SWB NA – 14.947 / 93.17; RT 0.349 (New HoF entry)
Class 5:
1. Paul Hopkinson – Z32 2+2 – 13.277 / 109.15; RT 0.349
Class 7:
1. Darren Stiles – 240Z RB26DETT – 12.385 / 122.41; RT 0.692
Spectators:
1. Rob Smith
2. Matt Bannister
3. Mike Feeney
4. Michelle Connolly
5. Z. Ahmed – Z31 turbo
6. Linford Phipps
Reaction Time Table:
1. Steve Kiddell 10 points
2. Mark Keeney 9 points
3. Paul Hopkinson 9 points (2nd equal – exactly the same RT as Mark!)
4. Terry Taylor 7 points
5. Jon Billings 6 points
6. Darren Stiles 5 points
Qualifying Positions for Bracket Eliminator – based on closest ET to dial-in:
1. Jon Billings – dial-in 16.10; ET 16.11813 – under 0.01813
2. Terry Taylor – dial-in 13.76; ET 13.78724 – under 0.02724
3. Steve Kiddell – dial-in 12.74; ET 12.82939 – under 0.08939
4. Paul Hopkinson – dial-in 13.40; ET 13.50534 – under 0.10534
5. Darren Stiles – dial-in 12.40; ET 12.54777 – under 0.14777
6. Mark Keeney – dial-in 15.00; ET 15.98140 – under 0.98140
Eliminator Results:
Winner – Steve Kiddell – 10 points
Runner-up – Jon Billings – 5 points
2nd Round loser – Darren Stiles – 3 points
1st Round loser – Mark Keeney – 1 point
1st Round loser – Paul Hopkinson – 1 point
1st Round loser – Terry Taylor – 1 point
Points scored this meeting (including cumulative attendance points):
Steve Kiddell - 31 points
Paul Hopkinson – 29 points
Darren Stiles – 27 points
Terry Taylor – 20 points
Jon Billings – 18 points
Mark Keeney – 13 points
Z. Ahmed – 6 points
Rest – 2 points each
Congratulations to everyone who participated - you just made a bit of U.K. Z history - the first time that a Z Specific Bracket Eliminator has been run in the U.K. Hopefully we will be able to repeat this for next season and, providing you all agree, use Shakespeare County Raceway for more events of this sort.
Here's a thought - the whole Drag Challenge could become a race series based at North Weald and Shakespeare County! Enough interest and we could be running sixteen car fields or even qualifying for entry!
Jerry who was doing the commentary from the tower yesterday sent me an email this morning:
[FONT=verdana, helvetica, sans-serif]"Hi Mike[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, helvetica, sans-serif]Thank you for the kind words expressed yesterday. I trust you and your Z colleagues had a great time and that the Z Club Super Eliminator was well received. Please find attached a full Z Club excel spread sheet plus pdf of both the qualifying and elimination data for the web site. If you require any further help then please ask. If I come across any photos from the media from Sunday I'll mail copies over to you for the forum too. Hear from you soon and thanks again.[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, helvetica, sans-serif]Kind regards[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, helvetica, sans-serif]Jerry"
I'll attach the full data spreadsheet later if I can. Look out for some great "on the line" photos from their media guys soon!
Once again, thank you to everyone for a great performance, your undying support for the event and to Terry for the rehydration facility at the end of the day. I walked more yesterday than the whole of the rest of the year...
Leaderboard in next post...
[/FONT]
First, the results from the normal Round 9 of the Drag Challenge:
Class 1:
1. Steve Kiddell 240Z – 12.804 E.T. 112.20 Terminal speed; best Reaction time 0.276
2. Terry Taylor 240Z – 13.784 / 104.41; RT 0.532
3. Jon Billings 260Z – 15.886 / 89.38; RT 0.561
Class 4:
1. Mark Keeney – Z32 SWB NA – 14.947 / 93.17; RT 0.349 (New HoF entry)
Class 5:
1. Paul Hopkinson – Z32 2+2 – 13.277 / 109.15; RT 0.349
Class 7:
1. Darren Stiles – 240Z RB26DETT – 12.385 / 122.41; RT 0.692
Spectators:
1. Rob Smith
2. Matt Bannister
3. Mike Feeney
4. Michelle Connolly
5. Z. Ahmed – Z31 turbo
6. Linford Phipps
Reaction Time Table:
1. Steve Kiddell 10 points
2. Mark Keeney 9 points
3. Paul Hopkinson 9 points (2nd equal – exactly the same RT as Mark!)
4. Terry Taylor 7 points
5. Jon Billings 6 points
6. Darren Stiles 5 points
Qualifying Positions for Bracket Eliminator – based on closest ET to dial-in:
1. Jon Billings – dial-in 16.10; ET 16.11813 – under 0.01813
2. Terry Taylor – dial-in 13.76; ET 13.78724 – under 0.02724
3. Steve Kiddell – dial-in 12.74; ET 12.82939 – under 0.08939
4. Paul Hopkinson – dial-in 13.40; ET 13.50534 – under 0.10534
5. Darren Stiles – dial-in 12.40; ET 12.54777 – under 0.14777
6. Mark Keeney – dial-in 15.00; ET 15.98140 – under 0.98140
Eliminator Results:
Winner – Steve Kiddell – 10 points
Runner-up – Jon Billings – 5 points
2nd Round loser – Darren Stiles – 3 points
1st Round loser – Mark Keeney – 1 point
1st Round loser – Paul Hopkinson – 1 point
1st Round loser – Terry Taylor – 1 point
Points scored this meeting (including cumulative attendance points):
Steve Kiddell - 31 points
Paul Hopkinson – 29 points
Darren Stiles – 27 points
Terry Taylor – 20 points
Jon Billings – 18 points
Mark Keeney – 13 points
Z. Ahmed – 6 points
Rest – 2 points each
Congratulations to everyone who participated - you just made a bit of U.K. Z history - the first time that a Z Specific Bracket Eliminator has been run in the U.K. Hopefully we will be able to repeat this for next season and, providing you all agree, use Shakespeare County Raceway for more events of this sort.
Here's a thought - the whole Drag Challenge could become a race series based at North Weald and Shakespeare County! Enough interest and we could be running sixteen car fields or even qualifying for entry!
Jerry who was doing the commentary from the tower yesterday sent me an email this morning:
[FONT=verdana, helvetica, sans-serif]"Hi Mike[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, helvetica, sans-serif]Thank you for the kind words expressed yesterday. I trust you and your Z colleagues had a great time and that the Z Club Super Eliminator was well received. Please find attached a full Z Club excel spread sheet plus pdf of both the qualifying and elimination data for the web site. If you require any further help then please ask. If I come across any photos from the media from Sunday I'll mail copies over to you for the forum too. Hear from you soon and thanks again.[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, helvetica, sans-serif]Kind regards[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana, helvetica, sans-serif]Jerry"
I'll attach the full data spreadsheet later if I can. Look out for some great "on the line" photos from their media guys soon!
Once again, thank you to everyone for a great performance, your undying support for the event and to Terry for the rehydration facility at the end of the day. I walked more yesterday than the whole of the rest of the year...
Leaderboard in next post...
[/FONT]
Last edited by a moderator:
Mr.F
Inactive
Leaderboard after Nine Rounds:
1. Paul Hopkinson. 189
2. Darren Stiles.... 154
3. John Palmer..... 146
4. Rob Smith........ 107
5. Mike Brown........ 68
6. Terry Taylor......... 59
7. Steve Kiddell...... 58
8. George Antoniou .42
9. Jon Billings......... 40
10. Mike Feeney..... 38
11. Charles Leekam 24
12. Matt Bannister.. 18
13= Ian Patmore..... 14
13= Tony Manktelow 14
15. Frank Marino..... 13
15=Mark Keeney..... 13
17. Z. Ahmed…........12
18. Neil Marston...... 10
19. Kurt Baur............ 9
19= Tracy Albrighton. 9
The rest with 2 / 4 / 6 / 8 spectator points only.
1. Paul Hopkinson. 189
2. Darren Stiles.... 154
3. John Palmer..... 146
4. Rob Smith........ 107
5. Mike Brown........ 68
6. Terry Taylor......... 59
7. Steve Kiddell...... 58
8. George Antoniou .42
9. Jon Billings......... 40
10. Mike Feeney..... 38
11. Charles Leekam 24
12. Matt Bannister.. 18
13= Ian Patmore..... 14
13= Tony Manktelow 14
15. Frank Marino..... 13
15=Mark Keeney..... 13
17. Z. Ahmed…........12
18. Neil Marston...... 10
19. Kurt Baur............ 9
19= Tracy Albrighton. 9
The rest with 2 / 4 / 6 / 8 spectator points only.
Last edited by a moderator:
Mr.F
Inactive
Mr F said:
Definitely one for consideration Mike, anything that breaks the monotony and herd like mentality that Santa Pod insists upon, has to be a good thing does it not
the only reservation I have is that they looked very busy, but in fairness there were less stoppages and any that happened were cleared up quicker.The one thing that really appealed to me was the higher level of professionalism that they afforded, cars were scrutineer’d, all competitors had to wear helmets, anyone in the fire up lane had to be wearing at least some clothing protection, plus the level of competitor was not your usual Cor-saxo tosspot brigade.......yes of course they all brings in money, but Santa Pod just take the p***, they cram as many people into the fire up lane as possible and contribute the bare minimum, for example SP have what they call a “Test and Tune” day (a level up from RWYB), where for £50 you get “exclusive track time without tackling the ever growing Run What Ya Brungs” designed to give “maximum track time and pit space to serious performers” Bob (white Z32 Ten of the best) went there the other day and was crowded out by general run of the mill street dross, ending up paying additional money to an event that was supposed to be exclusively for testing.
It would be entertaining to ask SP if they could do a bracket club eliminator.
I'll bet the conversation would start something like "Our club rates for hiring the track are as follows, £2500 with no monies returned on rain off"
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Mr.F
Inactive
Santa Pod are unable to offer "racing" to non-MSA individuals. Their FIA / MSA affiliation would be in danger if they did...
The problem with the Pod is that they are now trying to maximise their investment at every event. The RWYB now shares with Monster Truck demos, Junior Dragsters, Drift What Ya Brung, race car testing and observed runs and the Jet Car. The core RWYB guys are stuck out the back with no idea what is causing hold up after hold up.
At least at SCR you are sat alongside the track and have some entertainment while you are waiting.
SCR officials turn cars around very efficiently - even their Junior Dragsters don't seem as tedious as the endless procession at the Pod
The problem with the Pod is that they are now trying to maximise their investment at every event. The RWYB now shares with Monster Truck demos, Junior Dragsters, Drift What Ya Brung, race car testing and observed runs and the Jet Car. The core RWYB guys are stuck out the back with no idea what is causing hold up after hold up.
At least at SCR you are sat alongside the track and have some entertainment while you are waiting.
SCR officials turn cars around very efficiently - even their Junior Dragsters don't seem as tedious as the endless procession at the Pod
Mr.G
Club Member
I'm sorry I wasn't able to make it due to personal reasons. Glad to hear it was a success and everyone had a good time.
Another historic first time for the Z club this year!
A credit to Mike, Steve and everyone who attended who made it happen.
The cars are getting faster and the competitive spirit is certainly there, I can't wait for next year as I am sure everyone will be busy this winter improving things to get that bit quicker.
Another historic first time for the Z club this year!
A credit to Mike, Steve and everyone who attended who made it happen.
The cars are getting faster and the competitive spirit is certainly there, I can't wait for next year as I am sure everyone will be busy this winter improving things to get that bit quicker.
M
madmarco
Surprised there hasn't been any comments on these videos, especially 11005 of two very fast 240z's in the semi final.
M
madmarco
Think you forgot someone on the leaderboard Mr. F. (not whining just proud to finaly be on the list).
.zedhead260
Well-Known Forum User
Nice to see a bit of movement in class 4, first new entry for 3 years !! (well done Mark)
Sorry to have missed it, but lets hope the Z Club Drag Challenge continues with some real racing just like this
Hall of Fame attached
Sorry to have missed it, but lets hope the Z Club Drag Challenge continues with some real racing just like this
Hall of Fame attached
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M
madmarco
Did anyone else get some pictures? I checked the Shakespeare raceway site but dont see any "on the line" photos yet.