Let’s get one thing out of the way: speeding on the street is irresponsible and just plain stupid. With police seemingly around every corner in human and digital form, your license and wallet are in real jeopardy should you flex that right foot too far.
Even more importantly, so is your life and that of innocent fellow motorists. For this writer, red and white plastic P-plates were a ticket to turning Sydney’s roads into a veritable racetrack. License cancellations and fines came soon after.
This led to a particularly unhealthy relationship with the local constabulary. There were also many fender benders, an odd introduction to a career in insurance – but thankfully, I was never the cause of personal injury to anyone.
My first experience at WSID (Western Sydney International Dragway) was at the ripe age of 19, at a Sunday open street racing day. It was my initial foray into racing off the street, and I quickly fell in love.
Knowing that I could go as hard as I wanted to was a rush, and the relief of knowing there was no chance of red and blue disco lights at the end of a straight wasn’t bad either. These days, WSID is known as Sydney Dragway.
It’s a playground for those who like to test their machinery over an internationally recognised quarter mile (402m). Since that Sunday many moons ago, getting a quick fix meant a night or day at one of Sydney Dragway’s regular events, now called Race 4 Real.
It’s a fantastic “run what ya brung” type setup that occurs most Wednesday nights (and one Sunday per quarter). It gives anyone on two or four wheels the opportunity to go up against themselves, or their mate in the next lane.
The winner gets bragging rights for crossing the finish line in the fastest time. For those who find shredding tyres therapeutic, you can also enter a burnout competition, which features during the event.
Requirements are pretty basic and include a long sleeve shirt or body covering, long pants and enclosed shoes. Proof of your current license (or even a cancelled or suspended one) is essential, along with an approved full-face helmet.
Your vehicle will be scrutineered to ensure it’s fit to race, but generally, a roadworthy car won’t have a problem here. A number is painted on your front and rear windshield to identify your vehicle, then it’s about lining up and waiting for your row to be called.
The process can be daunting at first, but what I’ve found is that the officials are your key. They will guide you every step of the way through all of your runs, and the number will depend on how many people show up on the night and how many you choose to do.
Coming through the tunnels into the staging lanes is always a rush, but the heart starts pounding as you line yourself up in the burnout area. Importantly, you don’t need to take part here if you don’t want to, or if you have an all-wheel drive car.
The purpose of conducting the burnout is to warm up your tyres, which improves traction with the treated track surface at launch. Then you drive onwards to the staging area, where you will find what is affectionately known as the Christmas tree.
That’s owing to the multi-coloured lights it possesses. At this stage, the two lights atop the tree are what you’re looking for. The top one indicates you’re at the start line – a few inches further forward, and a second will come on.
This tells you your vehicle is staged and ready to go. Don’t be worried if you go past them the first time; just back up a little and try again. Once both cars are staged, a short succession of three yellow lights will come on, down the tree.
The fourth and final light is green, indicating it’s time to get going. Should you move before the green light appears, a red one indicates you jumped too early. You will still get a time slip at the end of the run, but your reaction time will read as a negative number.
You may cop it from your mate in the next lane regardless of who crosses the line first. In official events, a red light hands the win to your opponent. Returning down the access lane and through to the carpark, you make a quick stop to collect your time slip.
This will give you your elapsed time (the amount of time it took you to get from the start to the finish line), your trap speed (the speed you were travelling when you went across the finish line) and other statistics like 60-foot and reaction times.
There are many ways to interpret and use the data to improve your performance, and they are generally interlinked. For example, your 60-foot time tells you how well you launched and will almost always reflect in your trap speed.
That’s because a better launch means a higher speed at the end. Your launch comes down to traction. If the car is manual, how well you modulated the throttle and clutch to shift gears will have an impact.
Other things to focus on are whether the tyres hooked up, or there was too much wheelspin. They’re all factors to consider when you next line up. It’s easy to get caught up in it all, but ultimately, you will leave Sydney Dragway knowing you’ve got your kicks.
You’ll have also spent time with a bunch of like-minded people. This writer finds it to be almost meditative. The bonus is I’m never tempted to speed on the way home, and that’s a win regardless of who crossed the line first.
As a parent of a couple of rugrats, I’m certain that an early introduction to Race 4 Real will form a part of their automotive journey, alongside other car-craft skills. The last thing I want is for them to end up working in insurance.
Images courtesy of Andrew Hempsall.
