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Ashley Force - Most Impressive in 2008
in NHRA that is :P, but around the drag racing community she's become quite the sensation The "Danica in drag racing"

Quote from wikipedia :If anyone had lingering doubts about Ashley Force's competitiveness in a Funny Car, those doubts were erased early in the 2008 racing season as she worked her way to the final round of eliminations in three consecutive meetings: Houston, Las Vegas, and Atlanta. She made her first final round appearance of the year on March 30 at Houston, but lost to Del Worsham. At Las Vegas, she was defeated in the final by Tim Wilkerson, yet became the first female racer ever to lead the NHRA Funny Car point standings. On April 27, 2008, at Atlanta, her opponent in the final was her dad, 14-time NHRA Funny Car champion John Force, who was seeking to score the 1000th round win of his career. Ashley claimed her first-ever NHRA Funny Car win on that day, the first ever for a woman, as her dad smoked the tires and she roared to victory with a 4.837-second elapsed time, the second quickest of the weekend in the Funny Car class. On december 13 Ashley got married to one of her crew-men, Daniel Hood, in Lake Tahoe.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashley_Force
I'd warm her tires....
Yes, but unlike Danica, she can actually drive.
Quote from Falcon140 :Yes, but unlike Danica, she can actually drive.



Does help all they gotta do is keep the car strait and the engineers do the rest

Still to keep a car strait with that much power going down still takes some skill, but drag racing is more about the performance of the vehicle more than the driver, sure it takes skill, but I bet you my paycheck you could take any drag racer that knows what they are doing and they would run the same times in the same car.


Still, +2
Quote from SidiousX :I'd warm her tires....

Hey lady, won't you spool my turbo?

I'm sure dragracing takes a certain skill, but not the type you'd need for normal race driving.
Quote from Christopher Raemisch :

Does help all they gotta do is keep the car strait and the engineers do the rest

Still to keep a car strait with that much power going down still takes some skill, but drag racing is more about the performance of the vehicle more than the driver, sure it takes skill, but I bet you my paycheck you could take any drag racer that knows what they are doing and they would run the same times in the same car.


Still, +2

Sure thing, why don't you go give it a try?

Ever seen an in car shot of a funnycar run?
I guess she's OK to look at, but Anita > Ashley

:hide:
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(Christopher Raemisch) DELETED by Christopher Raemisch
Quote from spanks :Sure thing, why don't you go give it a try?

Ever seen an in car shot of a funnycar run?

If I had $300,000 I would love to.

Yeah I have, watched them too, wicked fun, but it doesn't take a 'superhuman' to hold on and pray the car doesn't break =)

Done drag racing myself in my car, after my 5th ever run I was running 2.0 60's with a FWD and running the exact time that the car is capable of.

There is skill involved, but nothing that any 'normal' person couldn't do competively if they had the cash.
Quote from hrtburnout :I'm sure dragracing takes a certain skill, but not the type you'd need for normal race driving.

sure is
take fuji for example... more than 1km of going straight which unlike the dragracers f1 drivers will find relaxing
#13 - JJ72
what a drag
Quote from JJ72 :what a drag

Hehe

Her and her team defo deserve it, it takes a lot of work to keep these cars running at their best.

Quote from Shotglass :sure is

take fuji for example... more than 1km of going straight which unlike the dragracers f1 drivers will find relaxing

I know when I was on Road America the backstrait on that was 'relaxing' but then I wasn't entering the strait at 0 either.
well yes but you were entering slightly sideways at the limit of traction... or you should have anyway... granted a million horses funnycar will be at the limit much longer but keeping a car straight for 5 seconds wont win you any meaningful world championships
Ignore Chris Raemisch's comments, he clearly doesn't know what he's talking about. To full throttle one of those beasts is the most ballziest thing a guy can do it's also barbaric as you will smoke those rears. There are more throttle movements in a funny car than on a drift lap, I can assure you, it's not just a case of 'keeping it straight' as you say. You have a 5second pass on AVERAGE, your body is subjected to INSANE ammounts of G-Force your eyes retinas are pushed back through your eyeballs and the engine shakes the chassis so much you can feel the car through engine vibrations alone as a SPECTATOR, nevermind a driver..

If you think driving a funnycar is as easy as you appear to think, maybe you should go to a drag meet and actually SEE one take a pass. Maybe without earplugs too. You'll feel it it in your chest, activating rictorscales all over the globe as you smell the nitro and the roar of the 6000bhp V8 rips the SHIT out of your ear drums. That's just as a spectator.

You think amateur strip runs are ANYTHING like Top Fuel runs? They ain't. Some people shit their pants at a 9second pass, and believe me, I know enough about drag racing. I've been on that scene since I was born, my dad used to drag race himself and I used to watch him, and the Top Fuellers.
Hate to burst your bubble blueflame but funnycars pull 5g's during a launch, they probably pull 5g's what, 3-5 times a day? F1 drivers pull that at least once a lap, which races can be over 70 laps.

True 5g's people can black out, but chances are if your fit you won't have any problems.

http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/5839419.html Here is a patent for a throttle control that drivers can use to launch and stage their cars.

http://www.racetronics.net/

http://www.andra.com.au/article.asp?Id=1483
"“We have changed a bit on the two step, working the progressive boost systems in place in trying to make it less angry,” smiled Signorelli." A two step is a device that limits HP to get good launches at WOT.


If you did % wise of time on the track maybe, just maybe you could say that they do more throttle control. Drift racers hold drifts longer than it takes a funnycar to make a run, hell depending on the circuit drift racers probably hold a drift longer than it takes the funnycar to make it's runs during a single day.

If throttle control is so important for a drag racer, why dont they show it in the broadcasts? Never once have I heard a commentator say, "wow look at that throttle control!"

Drag racing is fun, and exciting, but it doesn't take a rocket scientist driver to make these cars run well, it's down to money and mechanics in the shop, the driver is just along for the ride.
Quote from Falcon140 :Yes, but unlike Danica, she can actually drive.

it,s not hard to drive a drag racer
all you do is hit the pedal and hold it in a straight line
how hard can it be compared to driving a car around the nurberg ring
if you made NHRA or NASCAR drivers do a lap of the nurberg ring they would probably crash 30 times
Quote from Alistair :it,s not hard to drive a drag racer
all you do is hit the pedal and hold it in a straight line
how hard can it be compared to driving a car around the nurberg ring
if you made NHRA or NASCAR drivers do a lap of the nurberg ring they would probably crash 30 times

Nascar drivers do a ton of throttle control, depending on the track. The big exceptions would be Daytona and Talledaga. When they have the telemtry up you can see they really work the throttle for some corners. Most Nascar drivers are fairly competent roadcourse racers. Boris Said normally races with them when they race the road courses, I don't think he's won a race yet. He's usually in the top 10 though.

There is a challenge to drag racing, but...
Quote from Alistair :how hard can it be compared to driving a car around the nurberg ring

about as hard as spelling nürburgring?
She has a sexy name.

I'd make her ride my funny-thing too eh...
#22 - 5haz
Drag Racing is more about having Titanium nerves (or perhaps being mad), than any sublime car control.

It's a bit like the opposite of Snooker, Snooker is fun and difficult to play but boring to watch, and drag racing is not so much about incredible driving skill, (The throttle in a Top Fuel dragster is probrably rather like an on/off switch, so throttle control doesn't really come into it.) but more about the sight of mind bending acceleration and noise that makes your insides rattle, it makes good entertainment.

Of course, to our friends of a German persuasion, it may seem boring, but it takes a world war to get the Germans excited.
Quote from Christopher Raemisch :Hate to burst your bubble blueflame but funnycars pull 5g's during a launch, they probably pull 5g's what, 3-5 times a day? F1 drivers pull that at least once a lap, which races can be over 70 laps.

True 5g's people can black out, but chances are if your fit you won't have any problems.

http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/5839419.html Here is a patent for a throttle control that drivers can use to launch and stage their cars.

http://www.racetronics.net/

http://www.andra.com.au/article.asp?Id=1483
"“We have changed a bit on the two step, working the progressive boost systems in place in trying to make it less angry,” smiled Signorelli." A two step is a device that limits HP to get good launches at WOT.


If you did % wise of time on the track maybe, just maybe you could say that they do more throttle control. Drift racers hold drifts longer than it takes a funnycar to make a run, hell depending on the circuit drift racers probably hold a drift longer than it takes the funnycar to make it's runs during a single day.

If throttle control is so important for a drag racer, why dont they show it in the broadcasts? Never once have I heard a commentator say, "wow look at that throttle control!"

Drag racing is fun, and exciting, but it doesn't take a rocket scientist driver to make these cars run well, it's down to money and mechanics in the shop, the driver is just along for the ride.

Maybe I didn't make myself clear when I compared a strip run to drifting, I'm talking about percentage, the percentage within 5seconds and the percentage of (insert drift lap here). Of course anyone driving longer than 30seconds is bound to have more throttle movement than anything running for 5seconds. You wouldn't be competitive if someone strapped you in a top running car, neither would I, neither would anyone here. You have to progressively do it anyway, most of the top drivers start with 10 - 9 seconds cars in Super Gas then work their way up to Top Fuel. It takes alot of balls to do a full-bore run in a Top Fueller, your body rejects what you are doing, what Top Fuellers do is beyond physics belief, your body doesn't want to be there. Trust me on this. 5g in a Top Fueller is not the same as 5G in an F1 car (if their is such a thing). An F1 car pulls the most G underbraking I believe (unless there is some 200mph corner I don't know about on the F1 circuit) so your body knows the car is stopping, and you will eventually end the abuse on your body, but drag racing is the opposite, to be competitive you have to pull all that on your body and keep it there until the end. Trust me, I understand why you may think it's easy, but honestly, you have no idea.
Whatever makes you sleep better =)

Like I said if throttle control is sooo important like you say, why don't they make it part of the broadcasts? If it was such a challenge to modulate the throttle for traction surely they would have the foresight to see that it would make the broadcasts more interesting.

Wiki for F1 G forces:
"The turning force at low speeds (below 70 to about 100 km/h) mostly comes from the so-called 'mechanical grip' of the tyres themselves. At such low speeds the car can turn at 2.0 g. At 210 km/h (130 mph) already the turning acceleration is 3.0g, as evidenced by the famous esses (turns 3 and 4) at the Suzuka circuit. Higher-speed corners such as Blanchimont (Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps) and Copse (Silverstone Circuit) are taken at above 5.0g, and 6.0g has been recorded at Suzuka's 130-R corner[9]. Which goes back to having to sustain these forces, and many other forces throughout a race constantly, no 2 hour wait between like you would see during a drag racing event.

A top fuel dragster will pull about 5g off the line

"As stated above, the force of G is equivalent to an acceleration of 32.14 feet per second per second. Therefore Kim Reymond experienced circa 5.11 G when he blasted off the line on the afternoon of 6 September 2003."


This is only within the first 60', which lasts less than a second.
http://www.theaccelerationarch ... res/anatomy/of_a_run.html

Obviously there is some error from the G force being calculated instead of measured, but it's a general consensus that a top fuel dragster will pull a maximum of 5 to 6g off the line through the first 60'.

G forces are from acceleration, acceleration of anything slows down the faster you go unless you are able to increase the power to compensate for losses and drag So there is no possible way top fuelers sustain 5g throughout the whole 5 seconds. To give you an idea during the last 1/2 of the run they average 1.25G's based on a calculation used on previous site.

I donno about you but I am pretty confident that I can tense all my muscles and not breathe for a few seconds a day to complete a launch. BTW it takes the brain .5 seconds to react to anything so the launch is virtually completed before the brain can even think about modulating the throttle if something goes wrong.

All they have to do now is keep the throttle down and the car in the right direction. You don't even have to shift, the power is delivered through a series of clutches that are timed by the mechanics in the garage to engage during the run to allow the engine to reach maximum power without having to bring too much power to the wheels, causing the car to break traction.

This is only coupling in the physical aspects, there are mental aspects that wheel-to-wheel racing has that drag racing does not that have not even been touched on.



I have said my 2p believe what you want to believe and no amount of facts will sway anyones thinking. I will say I enjoy drag racing and I myself go drag racing every year. I also try to goto a roadcourse too, but thats a bit more expensive, not to mention more wear on the car.
Top fuel drag racing is a totally different skill set than other types of racing, you can't really compare them. You could take any Nascar driver and stick him in an F1 car and he'd at least make it around the track, might be slow but he'd still make it. You would not be able to throw a Nascar driver in a top fuel dragster and expect them to make a full throttle pass. They'd be lucky to make it half way before getting out of the throttle. If you've ever seen videos of people trying to get their top fuel license, you'd appreciate how much harder it actually is to drive these things. You don't just jump in a car and mash the throttle, hit 325 mph and then you have your license.

I'd love to see you guys get in one of those cars, hit the throttle and run it straight into the wall.

FGED GREDG RDFGDR GSFDG