The VHT traction compound is actually an industrial adhesive thinned down so it can be sprayed easily...and yes it will take your shoes off...on the following step, there go your socks.
Track preparation involves applying the VHT followed by dragging a weighted rubber block to put rubber down...another trick is to spray methanol on the track to remove oily contamination...(most likely not used much nowdays at least in public view).
There is guy that works with all the pro teams whose job it is to provide track condition information about how much "teeth" the track has...his tool measures how much force it takes to drag a weighted block faced with tire rubber. Relative traction changes with track temperature...most, but not all tracks lose bite as they heat up. Track materials play a role too...Concrete has better bite than asphalt with all other conditions equal.
3 miles, 0 to 6,453 mph in 6 seconds. World record.
"The sled was propelled by a four-stage sled train. A Super Roadrunner (SRR) rocket motor, developed specifically for the HUP program, powered each of the last two stages. The SRR motor produces 228,000-pounds of thrust for 1.4 seconds and only weighs 1,100 pounds. The maximum acceleration of the sled was 157-g's or 157 times the force exerted by gravity. When the payload impacted the target it had 363 megajoules of energy or the energy of a car impacting a brick wall at 2,020 miles per hour." - http://www.holloman.af.mil/library/factsheets/fact sheet.asp?id=6130
The entire rocket sled track is over 10 miles long. I was privileged to visit this track a year after this record was set at Holloman AFB in New Mexico. Huge bulkheads are set up at the end of the track to stop the payload, yet there is so much energy that pieces are found miles away from the point of impact.
