On The Drag Racing Xmas Tree…?
how many seconds does it take between the yellow lights on the xmas tree, on the starting line??
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November 11th, 2009 at 1:22 pm
Depends on the class. There are many different ways to start a drag race with a xmas tree. Basically it is either .400 or .500 of a second. What you see on TV (Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock) all go off of a .400 Pro Tree. So basically there are four tenths of a second from when the ambers flash and then the green flashes. A pro tree is when all the ambers flash at once. A full tree is when the ambers come down one at a time. A full tree is usually set a .500. So you have five tenths of a second from the last amber until the green light.
Hoped that answered your question.
There is a lot more to it than people realize. You have .500 full tree, .500 pro tree, .400 pro tree, auto start, manual start, courtesy staging, blue light, crosstalk, shielded tree, unshielded tree. It goes on and on. Most trees today are LED which light up quicker than an incandescent bulb. The LED lights come on instantly, an incandescent bulb takes time to light up. The real reason they switched was because the top fuel cars were breaking the regular bulbs because the vibrate the area so much. Pretty cool.
November 11th, 2009 at 4:27 pm
Quote from wikipedia
“Once the competitors have both staged, the starter presses a button to start the race. There are two types of tree used. A sportsman tree, used for bracket and handicap racing, consists of each yellow lighting 0.5 seconds after the one above it. The green comes on 0.5 seconds after the last yellow is lit. If the race is a handicap race each side of the tree will have its own timing. A pro tree consists of all three yellows being illuminated at the same time, followed by the green 0.4 seconds later. This type of tree is used for professional and heads-up racing. It should be noted that some tracks run a Pro-style tree for bracket racing during special “Street Racing” bracket events”