Bracket Racing Weather: Dial in to Win

Think the weather conditions at the track are the same as the information you are getting at the trailer? Think again.

Weather affects your performance. Period. If you are not using something to measure the weather conditions, then you are missing a piece of valuable information that can help you win races. Environmental conditions such as relative humidity, density altitude, dew point, and wind speed all influence your car. By monitoring these conditions and analyzing how weather patterns from previous races change your car's performance, you can make more informed dial-in and tuning decisions. Since Kestrel Weather Meters are portable and accurate, it enables you to monitor the weather conditions that concern you right at the track, not at the trailer miles away.

Why is it important to know the weather conditions, and how can the Kestrel 5100 help me win races?

Even slight fluctuations in weather conditions like temperature, humidity, barometric pressure, and density altitude can affect your car's performance. The Kestrel 5100 Racing Weather Meter provides quick, accurate information to help you decide what changes need to be made, before even making a lap around the track or a pass down the drag strip. Portable and easy-to-use, The Kestrel 5100 gives racers and pit crews relevant data to gain that competitive edge at a fraction of the cost of other systems currently on the market.

The Kestrel 5100 features the best portable sensors available, assuring that it's dead-on accurate. Each unit is individually calibrated before it leaves our manufacturing plant and comes with a certificate of conformity. A 1600-point data log also lets you keep track of the conditions for each race day, and the optional computer interface lets you upload all the data to your PC or laptop — making long-term storage and in-depth analysis of previous races a breeze. Rugged and fully waterproof it can handle being tossed into your toolbox.

How can I be sure the Kestrel 5100 is giving me the altitude and barometric pressure readings that I am looking for?

The Kestrel 5100 uses the same barometric pressure sensor used in most common barometers and altimeters. These sensors are influenced by the surrounding environment (the altitude), as well as the weather (barometric pressure). These two readings are inter-dependent, and you need to know one of them to measure them correctly.

The easiest thing to do is to determine the altitude of the track where you are racing. Google Earth is free software that pinpoints the altitude of any address. Simply enter this value into the barometric pressure screen as the "reference altitude". Then take the barometric pressure reading that the Kestrel displays and enter that as the "reference pressure" on the altitude screen. Now you're good to go!

Here's what our customers had to say!

"The Kestrel is the perfect tool for making those last-minute dial-in decisions in the staging lanes. The cell phone-sized meter gives me fast, reliable data just seconds before my pass."
- Bill Barr, Quaker City Raceway, Modified Class

"I use this for drag racing purposes, helps us tune to the outdoor conditions and changes while racing, I found out about it from friends that use it and they all say it works great."
-Joseph Flakes

"The unit itself is one of the most valuable tools in our trailer. It allows us to win races and rounds."
- Tom Martino, Martino Motorsports Youngstown, Ohio

"The Kestrel comes in handy when we go to the staging lanes and are delayed for some time, we can track the weather changes."
- Dan Parker, Parkertech Racing, VIP Sports Dodge Stratus, TAFC 33

"Overall I'd say this is a tricky little piece. All the readings were so close to matching up (with high priced weather station), I could have easily made the right tune-up decisions based on the Kestrel. We wondered why we were paying so much for our weather station (about $3,000)."
- Jim Oberhofer, Crew Chief, Doug Kalitta's NHRA Top Fuel Dragster

"The auto store feature is key because once you get into later rounds, you don't have time to "log" all that data in your book. All I do is hit the auto store button before each round and fill in my logbook whenever time permits."
- Bill Barr, Quaker City Raceway, Modified Class

"It's what I use. I like to take readings but don't need a computer predicting my ETs for me. It's very portable and consistent at a fraction of the cost of the $2,000 plus trailer systems."
- John Rollins, NHRA #2241 (ET, Stock, Super Street)

"I've found my Kestrel to be very helpful in winning 4 class championships and 2 overall track championships at National Trail Raceway since 2004. It was also instrumental in helping me win the NHRA Division 3 Sportsman championship in 2004."
- Ray Block, Block Party Racing

"I finished #1 for my track in the Summit Super Series and can say that my Kestrel was a big part of my consistency. The other racers saw that I was doing well using my Kestrel and asked many questions. The biggest one was what the weather was doing, especially the density altitude. Of course, I had to start limiting the information and encouraged them to invest in their own meter. They started watching to see what I did with my dial-in numbers and then change theirs! Very sneaky, but good fun!"
- George Jorgensen, Alaska Raceway Park (Super ET, Summit SuperSeries Champ)