Launch/Shift technique?

[burtreynolds]

This past weekend I could not get a proper launch to save my life!!! All I did was spin spin spin or bog down. Anyone have a proper launching technique that works for them?

Also is it better to manually shift the trans or just go for it in Drive. I would get a hesitation in 1st to 2nd when I manually shifted but got the best time in Drive, yet felt there was more left in it if I could get the manual shift down. Any ideas?

[fastblackmerc]

This past weekend I could not get a proper launch to save my life!!! All I did was spin spin spin or bog down. Anyone have a proper launching technique that works for them?

Also is it better to manually shift the trans or just go for it in Drive. I would get a hesitation in 1st to 2nd when I manually shifted but got the best time in Drive, yet felt there was more left in it if I could get the manual shift down. Any ideas?

Do a search, there are a few threads about this.

[Bluerauder]

This past weekend I could not get a proper launch to save my life!!! All I did was spin spin spin or bog down. Anyone have a proper launching technique that works for them?

Also is it better to manually shift the trans or just go for it in Drive. I would get a hesitation in 1st to 2nd when I manually shifted but got the best time in Drive, yet felt there was more left in it if I could get the manual shift down. Any ideas?

Let the autotrans do its job. Overdrive off, T/C off, A/C off. Load up the torque converter to about 1500 RPMs. Yellow, Yellow, Yell ..... Mash it. If you see "green" you're late.

As I recall, your car is essentially stock correct? That's what I get from your profile. Unless the track was bad, your tires are shot or the tires were wet from driving through the water pit, you really shouldn't have a tire spin issue. JHMO.

I don't know a dayum thing about drag racing like some of the folks here .... but I did stay at the Holiday Inn Express last night. :P

[Paul T. Casey]

You're much better off letting the trans do its own shifting. As above, t/c off, od off, preload to 1500 - 1800 (depending on track prep), mash the go pedal somewhere during the last yellow (if you're really dialed in, I swear you can see it changing brightness). Drop yor tire pressures on street tires to 22 to 24 psi, avoid the water box.

[burtreynolds]

I am used to a manual as my 03 was and I'd just feather the clutch out of the hole. I got good rt but I think it's a combo of the track having NO vht and no way around the water. The track I go to is more for the people and less for the prep but I wanted to make sure I was doing everything right. I'm hoping for 14s on tune, udp and cai and high 12/low 13 on aforementioned mods plus 4:10s, DRs and 125 wet shot, but with the performance it gave last weekend I think it might be more of a smoke show down half the track.

[guccijayda]

my personal best as far as loading the torque converter was 1900-2000rpms on my n/a motor.

[Local Boy]

Do not manually shift it...you will damage the OD band...

Aloha

[a_d_a_m]

I just mash it and go.

[burtreynolds]

Do not manually shift it...you will damage the OD band...

Aloha

Ooh...wow. Guess I wont be doing this anymore.

[Bradley G]

I thought the 4-2 WOT downshift or the WOT upshift 3-4 were hard on the overdrive band.
I never heard manually shifting 1-2-3 gears had anything to do with the overdrive.
I'm not saying you are wrong, I just don't understand how this is possible.
That being said I have never seen or read anyone, that has gained anything by self shifting.

Do not manually shift it...you will damage the OD band...

Aloha

[FordNut]

As they have said, let it shift on its own. Trans in D, OD off. Since you can't go around the water box and there is no VHT on the track, a very extensive burnout will be needed to hook reliably. IF you start the burnout with the rear tires in the water box and hold the brake until you're making good smoke, then let off the brake while the tires are still spinning and let the car roll forward before letting off the gas and re-applying the brake for staging it allows the tires to get good and hot (and sticky) and clear off all the water.

If you go all the way through the water box before starting the burnout, the chances are very high that you'll do a peg-leg burnout and contribute to burning out the clutches (and possibly spider gears) in the rear end.

[RR|Suki]

I thought the 4-2 WOT downshift or the WOT upshift 3-4 were hard on the overdrive band.
I never heard manually shifting 1-2-3 gears had anything to do with the overdrive.
I'm not saying you are wrong, I just don't understand how this is possible.
That being said I have never seen or read anyone, that has gained anything by self shifting.

when you click the shifter into "2" the OD band is engaged no matter if you turn OD off or not.

[ctrlraven]

On street tires I launch about 2500, on drag radials 2800-3000 rpms but I also have a PI 3500 triple disc torque converter.

My MM was the first automatic I had ever drag raced. After asking questions like you did I went out and practiced just the pre-loading to find out my real limit before breaking traction. I know I can't wait to get my MSD launch control, will make things a lot easier.

[vkirkend]

You're much better off letting the trans do its own shifting. As above, t/c off, od off, preload to 1500 - 1800 (depending on track prep), mash the go pedal somewhere during the last yellow (if you're really dialed in, I swear you can see it changing brightness). Drop yor tire pressures on street tires to 22 to 24 psi, avoid the water box.


Trans in auto, OD off, drive THRU the water box to dry pavement and then do a slght burnout to clean the tires. Burnouts in the water throw the water inside the wheel well and as you pull up to the line this water falls BACK on the tires and upon launch you will spin unnecessarily.:mad2:

[SMOKE]

You're much better off letting the trans do its own shifting. As above, t/c off, od off, preload to 1500 - 1800 (depending on track prep), mash the go pedal somewhere during the last yellow (if you're really dialed in, I swear you can see it changing brightness). Drop yor tire pressures on street tires to 22 to 24 psi, avoid the water box.

X2 on every point....and don't be afraid to "red light"....it is a lot easier to work your way back from a red light than it is to try to work up to a nice, low RT - my best so far is a .043 (but I'm more likely to be in the .2 range) and I couldn't be happier considering I only make about 2 dozen passes a year...

Best,
J

[breeze]

my personal best as far as loading the torque converter was 1900-2000rpms on my n/a motor.

thats where i always launch from.

[ctrlraven]

A video I had made a while back, yes I know every light is on the dash. I had not loaded up Zack's drag radial tune yet, all I did was correct the Revs for the speedo on my street tune when I had 3.55 gears. DRs are 255/50-16 bfg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sp-thPZ3wzA
Sp-thPZ3wzA

[burtreynolds]

my best RT was .144 with nothing over .199 all night. I just cant get the freakin stall speed right without spinning tires...ive practiced on my driveway xD

[ctrlraven]

my best RT was .144 with nothing over .199 all night. I just cant get the freakin stall speed right without spinning tires...ive practiced on my driveway xD
A track is going to be a lot cleaner as far as the surface where you're launching at, a little bit of dirt and can break tire traction.

It's also a good idea to have someone watch the wheels to let you know when they have started to barely move.

As far as reaction time that's just a matter of getting setup quick enough. If you get to the staging line before the other person does just stage one yellow light and wait for the other person to stage one as well or they might get in full stage and trigger both lights then you control everything. I personally like to do this and I stage deep also, trigger both lights roll forward just inch or two and make the first yellow stage light go out then I pre-load quickly and get ready to go.

Everybody has their own ways of doing things, some use others ideas and modify them slightly to work for them. The more you do it the better you will get.

The two tracks I have run on do different r/t lights of .000 and .500. On .000 I am usually around the .060 range and .500 is usually around .530 range.

[FordNut]

my best RT was .144 with nothing over .199 all night. I just cant get the freakin stall speed right without spinning tires...ive practiced on my driveway xD

Work on one thing at a time. The spinning on launch and preload on converter are what will affect your 60' time. Work on that first. Once your 60's are consistent and relatively quick, then work on your RT. That involves leaving just when the last yellow comes on vs when it is fully lit.

Do this to get your 60's optimized...

As they have said, let it shift on its own. Trans in D, OD off. Since you can't go around the water box and there is no VHT on the track, a very extensive burnout will be needed to hook reliably. IF you start the burnout with the rear tires in the water box and hold the brake until you're making good smoke, then let off the brake while the tires are still spinning and let the car roll forward before letting off the gas and re-applying the brake for staging it allows the tires to get good and hot (and sticky) and clear off all the water.

If you go all the way through the water box before starting the burnout, the chances are very high that you'll do a peg-leg burnout and contribute to burning out the clutches (and possibly spider gears) in the rear end.

Start the burnout just before you get out of the water box. I've seen many positraction units ruined by pulling all the way through before starting the burnout. Mine included.

[Local Boy]

There have been numerous threads on how manually shifting it will ruin the OD band...

The search button is your friend...

Aloha

[FormulaMarauder]

Since you can't go around the water box and there is no VHT on the track, a very extensive burnout will be needed to hook reliably.



No, no, no. NOT on stock tires. Stockers don't have the chemical breakdown compound that slicks or DR's do. If you have stockers at the track, just do a quick spin to clean off debris and water. DON"T do extensive burnouts on the stockers, you're just eating them away.

[ImpalaSlayer]

No, no, no. NOT on stock tires. Stockers don't have the chemical breakdown compound that slicks or DR's do. If you have stockers at the track, just do a quick spin to clean off debris and water. DON"T do extensive burnouts on the stockers, you're just eating them away.

every one told be the same thing, i said f it, did a decent burn out and ran my quickest time of the night with zero spin.

just saying

[FordNut]

No, no, no. NOT on stock tires. Stockers don't have the chemical breakdown compound that slicks or DR's do. If you have stockers at the track, just do a quick spin to clean off debris and water. DON"T do extensive burnouts on the stockers, you're just eating them away.


every one told be the same thing, i said f it, did a decent burn out and ran my quickest time of the night with zero spin.

just saying

Yep, lots of keyboard racing instead of trial & error...

[FormulaMarauder]

Yep, lots of keyboard racing instead of trial & error...

How's this for trial and error? Noticed my stockers were getting super bald after about three passes and extensive burnouts. So I was easy on them and ran three more runs without the burnout. One the same, two a tenths faster.

Stockers aren't designed to breakdown and get mushy after a burn, slicks and DR's are. All you are doing is wiping thousands of miles off of perfectly good street tires.

[Seneca]

every one told be the same thing, i said f it, did a decent burn out and ran my quickest time of the night with zero spin.

just saying I agree worked for me too.. :)

[RR|Suki]

How's this for trial and error? Noticed my stockers were getting super bald after about three passes and extensive burnouts. So I was easy on them and ran three more runs without the burnout. One the same, two a tenths faster.

Stockers aren't designed to breakdown and get mushy after a burn, slicks and DR's are. All you are doing is wiping thousands of miles off of perfectly good street tires.

putting some heat in the street tires and boiling them with a huge burnout are a bit different. I've always had better luck on street tires with a little heat. Decent tire speed and a bit of smoke, not John Force style or anything.

[Glenn]

Isn't it funny that the guys who have been around since day one and are experienced drag strip racers are vitually ignored and the keyboard racers are considered the experts. I would first look the Timeslip page and only listen to the guys on page one. You will not go wrong.

Good Luck.

Glenn :burnout:

[MMB03ROZ]

Correct me if im wrong but your 60' time is more important than rt. No matter what your time does not start until you leave the line You can sit there all nite at the line time does not start until you leave. I took a half second off my et by shaving my 60' and i let the 11 sec car next to me leave first

[FordNut]

Correct me if im wrong but your 60' time is more important than rt. No matter what your time does not start until you leave the line You can sit there all nite at the line time does not start until you leave. I took a half second off my et by shaving my 60' and i let the 11 sec car next to me leave first

Correct. Assuming comparable cars, RT wins races. The launch gets a good 60' time which in turn gets a good ET.