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Comment by potato3732842 | Hacker News Reader

Drag racing is just about the purest most scientific competition of vehicle tuning you're going to get. The driver doesn't really make or break it as long as they're at least decent.

On the other end of the spectrum you have racing types that are more of a competition among drivers with the vehicle not really making or breaking anything as long as it's typical for the class.

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I get racing on a twisty track. They are legitimate tests of human skill and vehicle endurance engineering. Drag racing has none of that. There's little skill beyond reaction time and drag vehicles have almost no relation to normal vehicles.

Think of drag racing like the CO2 cartridge race car competitions you see in lots of high-school science classes. It's an engineering challenge, not a skill-based race.

Have you ever tried it?

I participated in motorcycle track days on race tracks for 15 years. I've dragged knee at 90pmh. _That_ takes skill and balls. Drag racing seems dumb by comparison.

That's a long-winded way to say, "no, I've never tried it". If one has never tried a pursuit, I can understand how it might "seem dumb". What seems dumb to me, though, is doing track days for years on end, and never once trying to see how fast you could launch a bike down a drag strip, and then going on about how dumb drag racing is.

I've owned two Porsches, an Audi R8 V10, half dozen sport bikes. I've done laps at Laguna Seca. I've floored them all to see what they'll do. The V10 sounded amazing.

But I've never felt any interest in drag racing at all, it's a pointless waste of fuel. Press accelerator, press brake, done, little to no skill required. And in something like the R8, would require a $20,000 dealer visit after a weekend of runs.

If you actually achieved a high level of proficiency you'd be able to respect what goes on at an equally high level in a different niche.

I disagree. Drag racing involves incredible honed vehicle endurance, just on a much shorter timescale. It’s an engineering problem with the goal of outputting as much power as possible within a short timespan (often only a few seconds) without detrimentally destroying the engine. As far as the drivers are concerned, the reaction time is obviously important, but they have to be extraordinarily consistent. At that, they have to drive the car at 5 g’s- not an easy task.

The engines still get destroyed. It's basically a complete rebuild between runs. Most of the spark plugs burn up, clutch disks get welded together, etc. The goal is basically to just not have the engine outright detonate so they can reuse the block.

You are absolutely correct. Perhaps I should’ve worded “detrimentally destroyed” as “catastrophic failure.” The rebuild process between runs is fascinating to watch. I’ve never seen an engine torn apart so quickly!

> I’ve never seen an engine torn apart so quickly!

The first time I took my 286 intake manifold off, it took 4 hours. The 4th time I took it off, it took 20 minutes. Once you know exactly what to do, it really cuts the time down.

I'm sure every member of the team knows exactly what to do and it's down to a dance.

For fun, look how fast they change the tires on a Formula 1 pit stop.

Try it! Costs far less than you think and more than half the class sat wide eyed, refusing a second run.

Drag racing has none of that.

What is it the kids say? "Tell me you know nothing about drag racing without saying you know nothing about drag racing"? Drag racing has all of that, squeezed into 1/4 of a mile. That's why top fuelers get an engine rebuild after every trip down the track.

It's like saying, "I get ultramarathons, but 400m foot races involved little skill or training." Look, if you don't get it, fine. Probably best to just leave it at that.

You're thinking about this in only a professional way. There are a lot of amateur events where people race with their own cars that they have modified. It's really fun to see something like a vw rabbit beat a modern sports car etc. It's a fun event too but the tire burning shows do get old very quickly.

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