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Also whos not to say there wasn't a bug or an insect in the timing cell that moved into the beam and made the stage light come on. I've seen that happen before more than once. What I'm saying is maybe DeFrank was never really staged. The insect moves in front of the beam, turns the stage light on, and when it moves, the stage light goes out and goes red because there is nothing in the stage beam now. It has personally happened to me, and I've seen it happen to some other people, and no it hasn't been at just NHRA tracks, and it hasn't been with just the Compulink system

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What would happen if something blows through say the 60 foot beam while the light are coming down.will that trigger anything ? by seeing the car there before it left (past tense).

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I watched the Defrank video and I cant see any movement from the front, however it would be nice to see a side view. I was dazzled as to just how quick Jimmie stopped the car.
My question is: are any SS ever checked for "enhanced driver equipment".......I admit there are some talented drivers out there, and I would never suggest that anyone is using anything but it would be nice to know that NHRA is checking our cars? I know there are approved adjustable transbrake switches out there but they are not available to be purchased, only available to the racers that already have them I guess?

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Makes me wonder how many of my red lights over the years were caused but flash bulbs? Probably a bunch,couldn't have been that lose nut behind the wheel.

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Any link to DeFrank video?

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I have played around with light beam and signal strengths, color and reflective signals for slot car drag racing tracks I was involved with designing. I haven't seen the video, but I did see the photo here and read the above posts. My comment is this: it would not have taken until the camera flash was complete for the track sensor to react to it. Today's timing systems do not take excessive time to react to a sensor being tripped. So if the cameras flash had tripped the beam, I think the video would show the red light coming on almost instantly after the flash turned on.

With my limited knowledge of transmissions I don't now how lightweight reverse clutches can over come first gear torque and role the car backwards when the transbrake has been activated, but I have been standing one foot away from a super stock in the beams with its transbrake on, it rolled back about 1 inch, caused a red light and then launched. My jaw dropped as I hadn't seen anything like this before. When I told the car owner what I saw, he looked at me like I had a hole in my head.

Just my two cents

Ian

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What impact would a staggered wheelbase have on this timing system?

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None. A beam is either blocked or it is not. It doesn't matter which tire is contributing to the blocked beam.

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A simple thanks to Pat Joffrion and Michael Beard for their explanations of this "problem".

Well stated by two well respected people that "know" what is happening.

It's sad that this has to happen (in this case to two well respected racers) and even worse that the "powers to be" let this information fall on deaf ears.

Wondering what the excuse will be the next time it happens without a photographer to blame?

FJ