America doesn’t really do corners. You could drive from New York to LA on interstate and highway and the only time you’d have to turn the wheel would be to park up at the drive-in diner for cheese steak and chilli fries. No surprise, then, that one of the most popular forms of motorsport in the good old US of A is drag racing, a discipline that’s all about acceleration and pure straight-line speed.
US drag racing is a huge business, with thousands turning out to see straight-talking, straight-driving, all-American heroes like John Force and Tony Schumacher drive cartoon-proportioned funny cars or pencil-thin top fuellers up to and over 300mph. But it’s not just for the Yanks: drag racing has its devotees this side of the Atlantic, too, and there are a number of purpose-built drag strips to cater for them: places like Shakespeare County Raceway in Warwickshire, York Raceway in Yorkshire and, perhaps the best-known of them all – as much for the cool name as its calendar of top-class events – Santa Pod.
The Pod, as it’s known, is situated close to the quaint little village of Podington in the heart of the Bedfordshire countryside. Like the other Brit strips it runs its fair share of drag-racing competitions, some of which cater for the full-on, ground-shaking, jet-car and Top Fuel experience. But, like regular race circuits, the drag strips also run their own particular brand of trackday in the form of what’s become known as Run What Ya Brung (RWYB).
Run What Ya Brung means just that, as Santa Pod’s events operations manager Darren Prentice, who’s been at the Pod for
21 years, explained: ‘Run What Ya Brung is a trackday for the public, where they can come along and run in their own cars, and basically anything goes. We get everything from VW campers to supercars. We’ve even had hearses [dead slow, we’re guessing] and ice-cream vans run up the strip, as well as a motorised sofa and even jet-engined karts.’
The only stipulation is that the car must be safe, and while there is no scrutineering, as such, if your car’s haemorrhaging oil then there’s a fair chance you won’t be allowed out on the strip.
‘If anything looks dangerous we won’t let it run. We had a car turn up once which was pebble-dashed, believe it or not, and we gently but firmly took that to one side…’
Day stripper
Still, despite the warning that anything does indeed go, PT was surprised to hear the whine of jet engines as we pulled up in the pits for the event we attended earlier in the year. Maybe our Octavia vRS estate, an absolutely superb proposition on the road, was about to be made to look just a little bit silly on the strip…
Not to worry, though, we weren’t about to line up against jet cars, because as it turned out the jet engines belonged to the Pod’s bespoke ‘hairdryers’, which were hard at work drying the track after a few days of heavy rain. This is something you need to bear in mind with RWYB at the Pod. They will not let cars run on a wet track, mainly because the strip is rather more than just a length of regular, common-or-garden asphalt.
Indeed, the strip itself is actually one of the most interesting, and initially surprising, features at the Pod. It’s made up of a layer of asphalt, then a layer of rubber, which is then smeared with a coating of a special ‘glue’ to make for a very high-grip surface. So grippy is the glue surface, in fact, that one track worker told us he once pulled the soles off a perfectly good pair of trainers by walking across it. In the rain, though, with water laying on a flat, rubberised surface and the glue washed away, grip is pretty much non-existent. Hence the huge hairdryers, basically jet engines mounted on trailers, which soon managed to dry off at least one lane on the day of PT’s visit.
But before we could get stuck in there were certain procedures to go through. First you need to pay your £10 entry fee at the gate and then sign on, where you must show your driving licence and collect a wristband and pay a further £20, the price on the day we attended, for your runs. This fee was for unlimited runs, but how many goes you actually get depends upon how many cars turn up – which because there’s no wet running can often largely depend on the time of year.
‘In the summer we can have up to 300 cars turn up for a RWYB, so there can be a bit of a queue to get out on to the strip,’ says Prentice, ‘but on a day like today you could probably have as many runs as you like. Because of that, it’s sometimes worth taking a bit of a risk if the weather could go either way.’ That said, even if you manage just three runs on a scorching day, £20 sounds like pretty good value to us when it comes to motorsport.
RWYB is also quite relaxed. Indeed, all you need to remember is to bring your licence and your car, although you might want to bring along a helmet, as well. In fact, if your car is likely to do over 110mph at the end of the quarter-mile run, then a helmet is compulsory. To give you a benchmark, a near-standard Mitsubishi EVO IX FQ300 will touch 102mph on the quarter-mile…
Of course, there’s absolutely nothing to stop you playing safe and wearing a lid anyway, not least because it also helps put you in that race-driver state of mind on the start-line. And you simply must wear one if you’re in an open-topped car, as well as making sure that you’ve fitted arm restraints to stop your limbs flapping about in the event of a roll.
That said, rollovers, or any other sort of accident, are extremely rare at RWYB events. After all, when all’s said and done it’s just driving in a straight line, isn’t it? Well, yes, but there are still a few important things you need to bear in mind.
What you need to know
There are some obvious things you should do before you go out on to the strip, like clear out the car of loose odds and ends – and passengers, as they’re not allowed – and the heavy stuff like spare wheels if you’re looking at improving your times.
As far as on-the-day tweaking is concerned, tyre pressures get a lot of attention, with slightly lower pressures on the driven wheels for improved traction and higher pressures elsewhere. A Golf driver we spoke to was running 22psi on the driven fronts, and almost 40psi on the rear to give less drag. Think about the engine, too: check the oil and water, and try to make sure it’s nicely warmed up, but not too hot.
More long-term mods could start with the wheels. Smaller rims can help give low-powered cars a better start, because they effectively lower the gearing. From there just about anything goes – nitrous, bigger turbos and so on – but always bear in mind that there’s an awful lot of grip on the strip, and the power will still have to go through the gearbox and clutch. Seems sensible to suggest that these should be uprated first of all, then… But even more importantly, if you’re going to get really serious about your drag racing, then the golden rule is to make a car safe before you make it fast. A good roll-cage perhaps?
Drag act
Straight-line runs call for a wholly different mindset than a fast drive on a race circuit, with a different set of considerations when it comes to basic preparation (see panel). But one of the first major differences you’ll notice are the burn-out blocks just before the start-line. These are covered with a thin layer of water to help clean the tyres, and the idea is to spin up your wheels in them to put some heat into the rubber – which might well be stone-cold after a long time sitting in a queue. ‘To be honest, you don’t really need to do this with most road tyres,’ explained Prentice, ‘but it’s a big part of the drag-racing tradition, so many people do it regardless. There’s a light coating of water, and this helps to get the wheels spinning, then as the friction builds up it pulls you through, ready to line up for the start.’
A good burn-out will also help put you in the mood, and it could even give you a small psychological advantage over the guy or gal alongside – not so much of an issue on the day we visited, as only one lane was open, and the racing was just car versus clock – but for the clutch’s sake think twice before attempting it in a 4wd.
So, then, on to the start… Now anything with ‘Santa’ in its name is bound to have its fair share of Christmas trees, and the Pod is no exception. This is the nickname given to the sophisticated lighting system that controls the start procedure at drag-race and RWYB events. Yet despite illuminations that would put Blackpool to shame there’s no reason to be dazzled by the tree. It’s all pretty much self-explanatory when you’re there, and there are plenty of start-line marshals to make sure any idiot can get in line.
Basically, the Xmas tree and starting procedure work like this. First, a blue light will be lit to show that the track is clear, and ready for the next run. Then the starter will call you forward until the first of two sets of double amber lights is lit – this is known as ‘pre-staged’, and it means you’re 12 inches from the start-line. From here you crawl forward until the next pair of amber lights comes on, which means you’re ‘staged’ and ready to go.
Once both cars are perfectly in line – the lights are operated by infra-red beams – there’s a very quick one-two-three countdown of orange bulbs, and then the green light. We’re guessing you probably know what to do when that comes on…
That said, as far as RWYB events are concerned, it’s not quite that clear-cut. You see, although your reaction time is measured, the actual run doesn’t start until you break the beam. The great thing about this, for the novice especially, is that you needn’t worry about a lightning-fast start to begin with, and you can just concentrate on getting a great launch.
Secs appeal
Ah, yes, the launch. The first 60 feet of the quarter mile are said to be the most important of all, so getting off the line as quickly as possible while avoiding too much wheelspin, and not getting bogged down, is vital. There are a number of schools of thought on how this should be done, with most advising a trial-and-error approach. ‘Your first run is always bad,’ says RWYB regular Tom Parker. ‘You need to use that to check the grip on the
start-line and then improve on it later.’
So basically it takes practice, then, and developing a feel for your car, keeping the boost up in a turbo, or the revs low if there’s relatively little grip on the driven wheels, all of which should be obvious after a few suck-it-and-see runs.
As far as ‘dropping’ the clutch is concerned, some swear by some pretty drastic measures, like side-stepping the pedal when the green light goes on – basically just letting go – or holding the car on the handbrake, which involves keeping up the desired amount of revs, then letting the clutch in until it’s close to bite, and then holding it there on the handbrake until the green. All of which is a very good recipe for a toasted clutch, but then that pretty much goes with the territory.
But assuming you’ve left the line well, the important thing now is to make sure your gear shifts are fast and clean and are timed to perfection – and to avoid hitting the rev-limiter. Then, once you’ve crossed the line, hopefully before the sucker in the other lane, it’s time to pick up your timing ticket from the signing-on office.
The ticket, which is free, will show your reaction time on the green light and the elapsed time over certain points on the course – 60ft, 330ft, eighth-mile, 1000ft and the time and finishing speed over the entire quarter-mile. Read it, shake your head in disbelief, then go back out and beat it. This is where the fun really starts at RWYB events, as you shave off tenths on every run, finding out more about your car every time you take the green. Indeed, it can be so addictive – that need to dip into the 14s, say – that sometimes drivers are seen ripping out their back seats to save a little weight, and gain a little time, regulars at the Pod told us.
Which brings us to another great thing about RWYB: what a marvellous way to test any modifications you’ve made to the car, whether it’s those ripped-out seats or a new turbo. It’s certainly more fun than strapping your car to a rolling-road, and while you’re not going to get a bhp figure to brag about down the pub, you’ll definitely know if it’s quicker, or not, by taking it on the strip.
But the best thing is, whether you’re testing mods, trying to dip into the 14s, or simply after a faster time than your mates, RWYB events are a great laugh, while also being possibly the safest and most accessible form of motorsport there is. Don’t ta
