I read that you should go once the last yellow light turns on but I was confulsed, wouldnt that cause a red light? whats the concept of this? And I thought redlighting is when you go before your suppsed to?

 

Redlighting is going before you're supposed to..

The tree is essentiall setup so you have 3 yellow lights and then green. In a normal tree setup (non pro) each light is .500 seconds apart. Since a perfect light is .500 (The reaction-time counter begins when the last amber light flashes on the Tree and stops when the vehicle clears the stage beam) that is the difference between the last yellow light and the green. Because of this and the time it takes your brain to tell your foot to go and the car actually moves you go on the last yellow

 

exactly...if you can get a .500 reaction time with going on green, ill give you $5,000

 

Very accurate. I would also add that the poster has to remember that the car will take time to start physically moving. It has been determined that if you stage normally the tire will not break the beam until well after the car begins to move. Therefore it is very good practice (the only way to "cut" a good light) to leave on the last yellow. Remember that in drag racing things are measured in hundreths of a sec., so any little hesitation even slight will be noticeable.

It takes practice, but it is very true that you should leave on the last yellow. You won't red light. Unless you mess up and go on the 2nd and not the 3rd yellow or are really really deep staged.

 

i have done .500 reaction times b 4.... but u can't prove that i didn't go on green as long as i know i went when it was okay to go hahaha

 

Thanks guys, that explains my slow 1.xxx reaction times

 

Best way to understand the tree is to go and play with it. I have also found it very beneficial to go and talk to the guy in the burnout pit and the starter etc and ask them questions on what they expect people to do. It will go a long way to understanding the whole setup and they appreciate that you ask ahead of time vs waiting until you are up to the line and don't know what to do.

When you hit it depends on a lot of variables, did you shallow stage or deep stage, auto or manual, slick or street tires etc etc etc.

With my car I leave just when the 2nd yellow goes out and I can consistently pull .5xx times but it takes a lot of practice and I have never hit a .500 yet, best is a .503. A lot of it depends on nerves too, its hard not to be nervous when hundreds of people are in the stands and you are in the spotlight. Its not too bad for test and tune but a real race is a whole different thing, one loss and you are out for the day.

 

I have video proof of hitting .500 r/t. If I post it will you give me the $5K.

 

if its from the inside of your car, and shows you gasing on green, then you take the prize

 

Its from the outside, but you can hear the tower announcing my name, and the fact that I hit a perfect light. My wife was shooting the video.

 

Why is it that it is sometimes 1st yellow, 2nd yellow, 3rd yellow, then green, and other times it's 1st yellow, then 2nd and 3rd yellow simultaneously, then green?? Is that done just to throw us off?

DW

 

The second you speak of is a pro tree. Its usually only used for Pro type races but if you are at Test & Tune and ask for the pro tree they will usually accomodate you. They just push the other button in their hand.

Not much use though unless you are going to actually race in an event that uses a pro tree. Pretty hard to jump the light too, a perfect R/T for a Pro Tree is .400

Where I race the sportsman tree is used for bracket racing and the pro tree for heads-up and pro classes, they just switch between runs so the appropriate tree is used.

 

OK. Thnx

DW

 

Is there such thing as staging far behind the line so that you can slam the pedal to the point that by the time you stop wheelspin you pass the line on green?

Maybe i need to understand how the red light works. What exactly is going when you're not supposed to? Is that passing the line when not on green... or the car moving before green goes on?

 

The red light or reaction time has absolutely nothing to do with your 1/4 mile time. It doesn't matter if you red light or green light you will still get the same 1/4 mile time.

Read this for a primer.

http://www.staginglight.com/guide/react.html

 

Thaks...that article made a world of sense. I'm ready to rock! But i need some practice.

 

get on it when the second yellow light goes out as the third one comes on. this is if you are not i repeat NOT DEEP STAGING. if you are DEEP stagin wait till the third yellow light is on then get on it. it takes practice.

 

99% of the people here don't know the difference between shallow and deep stage. They're just out there to have fun and see what they can run.

 

I'd definately want to get good at this and would like to know the difference. You don't get past 13.99 without doing the right things, no?

That article explained it but the graphics went too fast and weren't relly that clear.

 

Shallow staging is better for your ET, the ET clock doesn't start until your tires leave the staging beam (the second set of yellow lights). With shallow staging you have an extra few inches of movement before your ET clock starts, meaning by the time your tires leave the beams, you may already be moving 1-2mph, giving you in effect a little bit of a rolling start and helping your ET a little bit. Deep staging is when you have ONLY the staging beams illuminated, meaning you are a few inches farther forward than if you were shallow staged. This helps you cut a better RT because you have less distance to travel (by a few inches) before you leave the staging beams (and start your ET clock). Your ET will be a little slower though because instead of having a 1-2mph rolling start (as with shallow staging) you are going probably only going .25-.5mph when the ET clock starts.