How can a race car[dragster} loose a race while having the top speed? please explain in physics's terms.?

Question

How can a race car[dragster} loose a race while having the top speed? please explain in physics's terms.?

Answer 1

How is this a "motorcycle" racing question

Answer 2

I race a junior dragster, so I know all about this. Drag racing is a complicated sport. It really all has to do with how fast the car accelerates and your reaction time. If the other person has a faster reaction time then you, then it will take them less time to cross the finish, or in my terms less 'ET.' With my car, I used to go 8.10's at 82 mph before we got my engine rebuilt. But now I can go 8.10's at 78 mph, all because my 60' times got quicker, because I can accelerate faster. The first 60' is really where yuu win or lose a race in drag racing, at least for junior dragsters.

Answer 3

It would seem from your first question over at " MOTORCYCLE'S " that you have still not figured out that cars use 4 wheels and bikes use 2 wheels.

With that in mind ..............................

......CARS= 4 wheels

BIKES= 2 wheels.

Third time lucky, do you want to try and post in the correct thread?

Answer 4

Think of it this way -

54321 GO!!!

Lane 1 goes flying down the track while lane 2 is just spinning his wheels.

Lane 1 is at his top speed of 100mph 50ft from the finish line.

Lane 2 hooks up and takes off (say he was going so fast, he would've done the 1/4 in 5 seconds @ 270mph).

Lane 1 crosses the finish line in 8seconds @ 100mph.

Lane 2 just catches up and finishes second place @ 270mph - but it took him 3 seconds to get out of the starting gate. If he didn't waste that 3 seconds, he would've run a 5 second 1/4

OR

Lane 2 can drive at the speed of light.

When he leaves the gate, he just rolls at 1 mph.

Lane 1 crosses the finish line (and wins).

Lane 2 takes off at the speed of light and crosses the finish line in second place @ 186,000 miles per second

Answer 5

Reaction time plays a big part!

Answer 6

Having the best top speed isn't as important if the vehicle doesn't accelerate quickly enough.  As an excessive (and made-up) example, if one dragster accelerates to 330 mph, but doesn't reach that until the last sixteenth of a mile, while the other one reaches its top speed of 300 mph in the first sixteenth of a mile, the second dragster has a higher average speed, but a lower top speed.