RWD Drag Tuning and Launching Tutorial. A few PPRT Tuning secrets revealed.

RWD ALL OUT DROP CATCH TUTORIAL (Tuning and Launching)
As written by xPPRTxAGROV8x on fm.net

Ok guys, I will try and help everyone here learn how to drop catch and tune for a drop catch as best as I can in this tutorial. Please remember that some cars are harder to tune than others. These tunes are for cars where you do not have to keep them at a certain class or with certain restrictions.

Drop Catch launching is where you hold your revs at a certain point and catch the revs after the race starts at a certain point.



PARTS LIST
I will start from the back of the upgrade menu and work my way through.

Conversions : Pick the engine you want in your car (Some will be faster than others).
Use aspiration conversion if possible (Turbo is best)

Aero : Any parts that reduce weight without reducing stats should be used (Use after market hoods and remove bumpers where possible.

Tires : Make sure you use drag radials
leave front tire width stock
make sure rear tire width is at its maximum.
Pick some lightweight rims (I use holeshots).

Drivetrain : Make sure everything is using race upgrades.

Platform and Handling : Make sure everything is using race upgrades.

Power : Make sure everything is using race upgrades.(Some cars will require you to lose some power to reduce wheelspin)


Ok now you have your parts combo.

BASIC TUNING
I will go through the tuning setup except for gearing here.

Tire Pressure : Front should be as high as possible
Rear should be anywhere from stock to 35 PSI

Alignment : Front Camber = -0.5
Rear Camber = 0.0
Toe both 0.0
Caster = stock

Springs : Front Spring rate as low as possible
Rear Spring rate as high as possible
Ride height as high as possible on both

Damping : Front Rebound as low as possible
Rear Rebound as high as possible
Bump stiffeness as high as possible on both

Aero : If you used any adjustable aero ensure it is set as low as possible

Differential : Acceleration = 100%
Deceleration = 95%


GEARING
There is many ways to tune your gearing, I will explain the basic way gearing works in drag racing.

Leave your final drive at stock. Move your first to 1.80, go to hotlap and test it. Try holding at various RPM ranges and catching after the wheels stop spinning. If your car still spins then you must lengthen the gear (take it to 1.70 and test again), if it doesnt you should shorten the gear (take it to 1.90 and test again).

2nd and 3rd gear are tuned by testing, set your third to tap out just after the quarter mile, then test your 2nd gear to find the best pull.


Ok now to the Launching.
Drop Catch launching is where you hold your revs at a certain point and catch the revs after the race starts at a certain point.

Lets say for demonstration sake, the drop catch is 8000 to 2000.

As soon as you have control of your cars revs, get the revs to sit at 8000and hold your throttle there so it is stable. You must keep your throttle in that exact place through the entire launch. When the countdown finishes the revs will drop automatically (still holding your throttle in place) wait for it to reach 2000 and mash on the throttle.

Timing of your catch point is the key to this launch and some cars will be harder than others.

Some cars will require you to bounce off the rev limiter instead of holding at a certain RPM. To do this effectively, you need to be able to hear your cars revs and be very familiar with it.

I hope this helps and its not too much of a mess, all feedback welcome.
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Thread hijack!
I think we have a challenge for the longest thread subject name in OZFM history.

c'mon pacman, you could do the quarter three times while you're reading the topic title.

There's 255 characters available why not use them.

Thanks for this!
I was heavily into drag racing in Gt4 and not so much in fm3, but now that i have fm4 I will be back into it and you will see me on the leaderboards

Thanks for the post Pacman. I've been keen to have a bit of a dip at the drags and as an absolute noob, I had no idea where to start.
Is there a particular car and tune that you would recommend to a begginer.

I was almost to the end of the post before I found out wtf a "drop catch" is . Maybe put that definition closer to the start.

Rhys_187 wrote:Thanks for this!
I was heavily into drag racing in Gt4 and not so much in fm3, but now that i have fm4 I will be back into it and you will see me on the leaderboards

Cool man good luck with the leaderboards. I may get into them later but for now im concentrating on my drag leagues im running. I was way into them on FM3 and was number 1 overall in the world for a little while then i had enough of it and quit running them.

rocka13 wrote:Thanks for the post Pacman. I've been keen to have a bit of a dip at the drags and as an absolute noob, I had no idea where to start.
Is there a particular car and tune that you would recommend to a begginer.

I actually put a tune up on my storefront last night for a datsun with a v6 swap. It is simple as to use and will hit 9.9 second passes RWD. Using this tutorial you could make one yourself one. So far with RWD cars this has been the easiest to run for me. If you need anymore help just ask.
As far as what car to tune just tune cars you like to run. Thats what i do.

xPPRTxPACMANx wrote:

Rhys_187 wrote:Thanks for this!
I was heavily into drag racing in Gt4 and not so much in fm3, but now that i have fm4 I will be back into it and you will see me on the leaderboards

Cool man good luck with the leaderboards. I may get into them later but for now im concentrating on my drag leagues im running. I was way into them on FM3 and was number 1 overall in the world for a little while then i had enough of it and quit running them.

Oh true well I like your style haha you seem to be heaps into the sports compact scene in oz, some thing we have in common

Lt HELI wrote:I was almost to the end of the post before I found out wtf a "drop catch" is . Maybe put that definition closer to the start.

Done i put the definition at the top of the post also.

Lt HELI wrote:I was almost to the end of the post before I found out wtf a "drop catch" is . Maybe put that definition closer to the start.

No it is there because you need your car to be built to drop catch before you can use the drop catch. If you are unsure what a drop catch is then a tutorial on how to tune for 1 might not be for you, or you can wait til next week when I do the pop up book.

xPPRTxAGROV8x wrote:

Lt HELI wrote:I was almost to the end of the post before I found out wtf a "drop catch" is . Maybe put that definition closer to the start.

No it is there because you need your car to be built to drop catch before you can use the drop catch. If you are unsure what a drop catch is then a tutorial on how to tune for 1 might not be for you, or you can wait til next week when I do the pop up book.

Yeah, but I get Heli's point. ie when I read it and the first line says it's a drop catch tune, my thought is "What's that, and do I need it". Good to get a rough idea at the start.
I'm looking forwards to a pop-up book.

Thanks for the tute Pacman. I'm looking forwards to giving drag racing a go. Used to enjoy it a bit on FM3, but looks like FM4 does it better.

Chris (OD)

finally got the time to read this piece.

Nice tutorial pacman, thanks for putting it online for us.
Its very generous to share your secrets with the other members.
Interesting tag for the start technique too.

Hopefully it gets a few more players interested in running in your drag meets.

kudos, very helpful info, top event organisation and results writeups.

thanks for that wolf.

we are all about helping people interested in drag racing to get faster.

Agro did the write up for fm.net so i thought i would bring it across to the guys here.

Yeah thanks for writing that up Pacman, It has helped my tuning heaps, if only people could read.

xPPRTxAGROV8x wrote:Yeah thanks for writing that up Pacman, It has helped my tuning heaps, if only people could read.

Thanks for doing the writeup agrov8.
I thought it was well laid out and explained the method clearly.
I haven't yet built a drag rig using the info, but the article did give me a name for the method I use for race starts.
Like I said above, kudos for sharing.