circleleft18
Member
I've been reading alot lately from the experts on here talking about track conditions being............"rubbered up" or "locked down"..............what exactly do those two terms mean?..........
Definitions of "Rubbered Up" and "Locked Down"
- Thread starter circleleft18
- Start date
racingkyle
"on the main jet"
This means that the track has basically turned into a one groove race track. Leaving a freight train type of spectacle for the crowd to see. As a driver it is fun to drive on because you have all the traction in the world, but if you get out of the groove and get in the marbles, (granular dust that accumulates out side of the groove), can leave for a week full of work on your car. To sum it all up a rubbered down track leaves for no passing and one lane racing!
circleleft18
Member
So, your saying there is rubber stuck to the track, and you have so much grip that you can use all of your horsepower, and the guy that gets to the rubber (thats stuck to the track
) first is going to dominate?
) first is going to dominate?
moonflow
BIRKY!!!
Exactly. A rubbered up, "locked down" track is going to be the first one into the turn. The only passing that occurs is when someone slips up out of the rubber. This typically occurs with your high horsepower, top end cars, like late models, and winged sprints. Proper track prep, and working the track during the races, can keep this from happening. Rarely do modifieds lock down, because they don't overpower the track the way the late models do.
Highland last night was locked down for the late models in the feature, only around the top, where the rubber was laid down. Turn 3 and 4 improved when it rubbered up top to bottom, but it wasn't much better. Even the modifieds had trouble passing.
Now, a dry slick track has rubber laid down on it, but it's hard, and has little grip. It makes for a fantastic race, because you can run on it top to bottom, typically. Dry slick is the goal for any track during the summer.
Highland last night was locked down for the late models in the feature, only around the top, where the rubber was laid down. Turn 3 and 4 improved when it rubbered up top to bottom, but it wasn't much better. Even the modifieds had trouble passing.
Now, a dry slick track has rubber laid down on it, but it's hard, and has little grip. It makes for a fantastic race, because you can run on it top to bottom, typically. Dry slick is the goal for any track during the summer.
r52crewman
r52crewman
now thats funny don't care who u r thats funny right there
"Rubbered up" is what you need to be doing before intimate relations to prevent being "locked down" with the results 9 months later. Unless of course that is what you are trying to achieve...
I do apologize if I have offended...
You are ate up ROLMAO !!!!!
jmcgrew47
Active Member
"Rubbered up" is what you need to be doing before intimate relations to prevent being "locked down" with the results 9 months later. Unless of course that is what you are trying to achieve...
I do apologize if I have offended...
Oh, how you speak the truth. Preach it brother!
circleleft18
Member
"Rubbered up" is what you need to be doing before intimate relations to prevent being "locked down" with the results 9 months later. Unless of course that is what you are trying to achieve...
Now that definition I do believe
, but the others I don't much believe in. I've never seen (after a race) rubber built up on a dirt track........pavement yes, but not dirt.A go kart will "lock down" if you run too soft a tire or over prep, but thats because the horsepower to weight ratio is nothing, and you have so much grip it boggs the motor down. I've only heard of this term in dirt track racing the past couple years.
opnwhlmnd
Member
Now that definition I do believe
Here is a way to see it.
A black slick track is very shiny black. When it starts taking rubber, the part of the track that takes rubber will be very dull looking black almost like flat black paint if you will.
Also you will see the right rear tires start to smoke kinda like a dragster doing a burnout. Especially on sprint cars.
If you don't believe it, take your stop watch. Time lap times early in the feature and then when it goes to one lane rubber time it again. The times will be much much faster in the rubber. Almost as fast as when the track is super heavy.
.
circleleft18
Member
Now that I can believe, but I don't think it happens as much as some on here say. For instance, after watching some in car video of Pevely last Sat, that track was shiny black and what I have always called dry slick. Everyone was on the bottom starving for forward bite, not getting super grip because rubber was laid down on it. IMO
dirt hound
Registered User
no schmidt
A lockdown condition is common to races in the daytime, or has track with a heavy content of clay that has been beat up by warm and windy conditions. On a warm and windy evening, the track start to get a dry crusty cap over it....this will make the track really abrasive for a short period of time as it will then generally begin to powder up and "slick off". A lockdown condition may take place after it goes dry slick top to bottom.....especially tracks with lots of bank on them. After the dust blows off of it, and it takes on rubber, it will "rubber up" to the point where the track will actually start getting sticky again. The downside to this condition is that it is absolutely BRUTAL on tires.
Example:
A few years ago, on a warm windy night at Perris (CA), the track slicked off early and locked down before the A-Main. Cory Kruseman was basically driving the car as you would on pavement...nonetheless , he wore 3 tires down to the cord.....about $875.00 in just 30 laps.
It's pretty simple to tell a TRULY locked down race track....on the stop watch lap times quicken drastically....and yes rubber does lay down on the surface...happens when harder tire compounds are used.....that 4wide World 100 lap times went from high 17's to high 15's in a matter of about 20 laps...once that first rubber lays, it pulls more and more down...groove is often a "blue" groove or gray!
