Article Contributed on: 4/30/2006 4:40:24 PM
In addition to road racing on some of the best HO scale
tracks in the United States, the Front Range HO club (FRHO) also
has HO scale drag racing.
A HO scale drag racing track is 20 feet 7.5 inches in length.
This equates to a scale one-quarter mile. The staging area is
approximately two feet long and the shutdown area (to slow the cars
down) is over ten feet in length.
The track the FRHO club races on is equipped with
professional timing software. This software controls all aspects of
the race. It controls the staging lights, the starting lights,
measures the drivers' reaction time, 60 foot time, 1/8 mile time,
speed trap time, and the final time and speed of both competing
cars.
HO scale drag cars can run the scale one-quarter mile in
time/speeds of less than 0.20 seconds at a true 80 m.p.h.! However,
these are specialized cars. Most of the cars run in the FRHO series
cover the scale one-quarter mile in about one second at a true 25
m.p.h. Not bad for a car that is less than three inches in size!
The FRHO club runs a "bracket racing" format. Bracket racing
is a form of drag racing whereby vehicles of different performance
levels can compete on an even basis. The anticipated elapsed times
(E.T.'s) between the competitors are compared. The slower car
receives a headstart equal to the difference of the predicted
E.T.'s of the two cars competing. This "headstart" is entered into
the computer and controlled by the race software. Bracket racing
was created so that anyone with a car that is consistent in the
quarter mile can be competitive. You can take any car and enter it
in bracket racing. All you have to do is know your car and what it
will run each and every time. Your goal is to run the same time
each and every time down the track. Consistency is the key to
winning!
A few pictures of some of the cars that compete in the Front
Range HO club drag race series are attached. In some of the
pictures, the starting lights (Christmas tree) can be seen. And,
yes, we do run some outrageous cars that do wheelies down the
entire track!