Weather data acquisition makes you a faster and more consistent drag racer because it allows you to make precise tuning adjustments based on current conditions…but what data should you be looking at? A weather station can provide you with an array of information, but that can quickly become overwhelming to someone without any prior experience. Fred Bartoli from Altronics shared with us which two weather readings are the most important for data analysis in drag racing.

Different weather factors can impact how your racecar will run, but density altitude (DA) and wind speed/direction are the critical readings to pay attention to. These weather factors are going to have the largest impact on your timeslip and need to be accounted for any time you’re making adjustments. It doesn’t matter if you’re a bracket or heads-up racer, having accurate DA and wind speed/direction readings are a requirement if you want to win.

DA is a term that’s rooted in aviation, and Bartoli explains how it’s used in the automotive world.

“Density Altitude is typically used in aviation as a means to gauge aircraft takeoff and landing capabilities. When speaking of the aviation relation, the pure density calculation is used to determine lift on the wing of the airplane. Density Altitude as it relates to an internal combustion engine requires a different calculation, because factors that make up the air’s density, such as oxygen and water content, affect the performance of the motor differently than the wing of an airplane.”

While you can’t feel DA at the track, you can feel the wind and what direction it’s coming from most of the time. Wind speed and direction will change how your car runs and you need to have an accurate measurement of it to be sure any adjustments you make will do what they’re supposed to do.

“Wind is a major contributor to the variation of a vehicle’s performance as it travels down the drag strip.  Trying to predict an E.T. or run on an index without considering the effect of wind speed and direction will leave you with a significant disadvantage. The wind is, unfortunately, one factor that Mother Nature can constantly change, but looking at the average and gust information around the time of the run can allow you to make the best judgment on its effect,” Bartoli says.

The smallest changes in DA and wind speed/direction can make a big difference in how your racecar will perform.

A weather station like the PerformAIRE from Altronics is the best way to get the most accurate DA and wind speed/direction readings at the track; the station has sensors and prediction calculators that look at how the weather will affect the performance of your racing vehicle.

“Because slight changes in air density, as little as one degree in temperature, or one MPH of wind, can affect the performance of a car by 0.01 seconds, enough to lose a round. That shows you how critical it is that the weather is measured up to the minute and at the racetrack.  Using a local weather service or your phone’s weather app can not only be giving you weather updates from a location an hour away, but they typically only update that weather a few times an hour. Any time during the day, especially in morning and evening, the DA can change hundreds of feet in 15 minutes,” Bartoli explains.

If you want to learn more about the products Altronics offers to monitor weather you can head over to the company’s website by clicking this link.