Bracket racing a Nissan Leaf

I won't claim to have much experience in drag racing (just a few runs) and I've never participated in bracket racing, but the thought came to mind while discussing it w/ a friend this morning that maybe the Leaf might be an excellent vehicle for that. It should be far more consistent than any ICE:
- Not effected by temperature or humidity
- No concerns about being too hot
- Single gear
- Electric motor should provide identical performance each run
- SoC of the batts shouldn't be a factor

Can any NEDRA guys out there share their understanding of the Leaf for bracket racing?

I think this vid was from test-n-tune day, but sure is nice seeing a Leaf out there.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOlSTcB1eLM
Whomever posted this vid on Youtube; Nice vid, thanks for sharing.

Looks like the Tesla Roadster would beat all the others.

What is "bracket"?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bracket_racing" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

garygid said:

Looks like the Tesla Roadster would beat all the others.

What is "bracket"?

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It's not really a drag race for all out speed, it's more based on consistency of the driver/car combo. But in that respect, could a Tesla roadster be equally as good as a Leaf? Better? Worse?

Would any single gear EV be considerably better than an ICE?

So what would be the best strategy for the LEAF? Green light = pedal to the metal and just keep it there until crossing the finish line?

tps said:

So what would be the best strategy for the LEAF? Green light = pedal to the metal and just keep it there until crossing the finish line?

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I'm guessing at this; but the mechanical consistency of the Leaf over a 1/4 mile is probably w/ in +/- 0.1 sec. Since it is single gear the whole run comes down to the consistency of the driver. So yeah, the best strategy would be to floor it at (technically you do it before) the green and hold it until you pass the trap at the end.

Drivesolo said:

... the best strategy would be to floor it at (technically you do it before) the green and hold it until you pass the trap at the end.

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...and that will be the biggest variable; reaction time. It does not matter how fast you react, but that you are consistent with your reaction time.

tps said:

So what would be the best strategy for the LEAF? Green light = pedal to the metal and just keep it there until crossing the finish line?

Click to expand...

In the drag races I've participated in, they use the sportsman tree where the light sequence is yellow, yellow, yellow, green. IIRC, it's best to go on the 2nd yellow due to your reaction and the time needed to move your feet from the brake pedal to the accelerator.

I've never done bracket racing though but have read about it and talked to people about it.

One of the cars I'd taken to the track before was FWD and a fair amount of power (255 hp). If you floored it, you'd spin the front tires and won't get a great time. It was better to go partway on the throttle and then floor it once you got moving. With my RWD car, that wasn't an issue due to the weight transfer to the driving wheels.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkgio9YvOfo&feature=youtu.be" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This weekend my girlfriend and I took our cars to the track for what as far as I can tell is the first side by side Leaf vs Volt drag race done. I managed a 17.38 @77mph. The Leaf was quite a bit quicker off the line, but about 2/3 of the way to the finish line the Volt would overtake and ran a best of 16.84.

I did a total of four runs, three of them I drove around the burn out box, but on one I figured what the heck, turned the traction control off and it did smoke the tires a little bit, but it made no difference in time. The current ramp up just makes it quite drivable. Assuming the car limits total Kw of output I think it could be pretty consistent. I wasn't bracket race consistent this weekend, but with a little more practice I think it could be decent, it would just be up to the driver to cut good lights.

And in case anyone is interested it still gets 3.2 mi/kwh at the track between a good 1/4 mile of regen to slow down and a slow drive back to the staging lanes. I was expecting to gain range when I left the track, but actually lost a couple miles, but still had total range showing well in to the 90 mile area.

Thanks! Due to the quietness, that's got to be the weirdest drag race I've ever viewed.

RickS said:

This weekend my girlfriend and I took our cars to the track for what as far as I can tell is the first side by side Leaf vs Volt drag race done. I managed a 17.38 @77mph. The Leaf was quite a bit quicker off the line, but about 2/3 of the way to the finish line the Volt would overtake and ran a best of 16.84.

Click to expand...

Would that be racing agains Lowa? Funny, she posted slightly different numbers on the Volt forum :- )

Were the 60', 330', and 1/8 mile times per car, or from the green? If from the green I'm not so sure you can say the Leaf is faster off the line. Just that *you* are...

I know the Volt can take advantage of a two foot start (floor both the accelerator and brake waiting for the green, and release the brake on green). Does the Leaf likewise get a boost from that off the line?

Is any of this damaging to the battery?

I was on a motorcycle drag racing team in the 70s and it was decided that I should race with the Honda 750 automatic transmission for consistency (no faster or slower shifting). I did fine until the time I was laughed off the track for being disqualified for red-lighting with the automatic (when I was trying to hold the brake but rev up the engine at a stop before the green light came on).

Wiki on Bracket racing says:

Your car cannot start moving until 0.500 seconds AFTER your Green light.

The two lanes each have their own starting lights, and the slower car might start substantially BEFORE the faster car gets ITS Green light.

Also, since speed is not an issue (but consistancy is), using half-pedal is equally fine (no reason to stress the motor, drive train, tiresm or battery), as long as you cross the finish (very closely, 1 ms would be good) AFTER your predicted time.

If you predict 50 seconds and the opponent predicts 16, your Green happens 34 seconds (yes, a LONG time) before the other lane's Green!

It's an interesting setup. Basically, they handicap the faster car, but then each driver's green light is staggered in order to put the two cars at the finish line at the same time. This also explains why you see the LEAF apparently get the jump on the other car at the start--his green light came first. Once that's done, the race proceeds thusly:
- First guy to the finish line wins.
- Beat your stated time, and you lose.
So, you have to stay within those two constraints, thus, you are "bracketed" by those two conditions.
Choosing your 1/4-mile time, and then keeping to that time, is a big part of it.

I saw a race between a 60's sedan and an all-out dragster. The sedan goes tooling off down the strip, and when he's about 12 seconds into his journey, the dragster lights up with all the accompanying smoke and fire and goes screaming down the strip, just in time to meet the sedan at the finish line.

A time and distance calculation in the SOC-Meter, showing milli-seconds ahead or behind the projected schedule (to achieve the Bracket time) ... would probably be considered illegal?

But, in any case VERY GOOD for practice, I suspect!

Enter the distance (feet) and desired time (seconds and milli-seconds), and get set to go. Then, tap (the greatest source of error) an SOC-Meter button as the light turns Green?

Then, no need to "burn rubber" or get a "fast-reaction" start after the Green, just catch up to the projected time & distance, and settle into your "winning" constant-speed. A part of a pastry!

Ricks,You were at SpeedWorld,Surprise, AZ...I use to go there once a month..I live about 10 minutes from that track..That was great to see the video of you racing the Leaf..

Try using race electricity. That and a cold electron intake ought to give you lower times.

Bracket Racing is not about speed, it is about consistency.

Sorry for the delay. Yes that was Lowa on the Volt forum.

Times for the Leaf were:

1) 17.4466 @ 78.23mph
2) 17.4291 @ 78.49mph
3) 17.3882 @ 77.19mph

60 ft times

1) 2.6047
2) 2.5801
3) 2.5815

It's definitely not points consistent, but then again I hadn't been out to the track for at least a year so I was very out of practice. No I didn't try and power brake it at the line, no need to plus it won't give much power if the brake and accelerator are pressed at the same time (thank Toyota for that). The guy who sells racing fuel at the track wasn't too happy with our presence. :lol: