midnightblue97

For the first time, this friday night.
I was just wondering, whats a good rpm to launch at and shift and so on.
I've got the stock clutch, its probably the original clutch, with over 200,000km on it. Tires, are Uniroyal Tiger Paws, yeah I know but they were brand new and cheap at a time when I was still in school (read- poor).
I don't pop the clutch too often and try to treat it well, but I've practiced power shifting a few times during some "spirited" driving, but I don't really like the idea of the car bouncing off the rev limiter, when I go from first to second, and for 2-3 and 3-4 the clutch just spins when I let off the pedal, which means that I'd have to let off the gas for it to grip, which obviously would'nt help my times too well.
Any advice/suggestions??

Thanks in advance

midnightblue97

Nobody huh??

Davard

Start at 3k. If you get wheelspin, go lower. If it bogs, go higher. If you get suspension bounce, you've gone too high. You can also slip the clutch, but that can overheat the clutch, leading to slip. Although, you aren't really sidestepping the clutch as much as coming up more quickly that you'd do on the street.

You shouldn't powershift, especially if you are getting clutch slippage when doing it. You may be at the end of your clutch's life, although if it only slips when you abuse it, you may be OK for a little while longer.

midnightblue97

Word, thanks. I'll keep that n mind tomorrow night., er.. tonight I mean

Liquid_Ag

o, and for reference, dont go all the way to redline...u stop making power after 6, so shift right after 6...its as waste of time to go higher

Davard

Actually, it makes sense to go to redline in 1st, since the shift to 2nd is at 3700rpm. If you shift out of 1st before that, you'll be too far below the torque peak. The best place for the 2-3 shift is around 6300-6500. For road racing, or acceleration past 85mph, the shift from 3rd to 4th is 6000-ish.

I tried holding 3rd through the 1/4 and shifting into 4th (realizing that shifting takes about 1/2 sec), and I was a little faster in 3rd. This was also at 2800 feet above sea level, so the trap speed was a little lower (81-82mph). At sea level, I probably would have been faster in 4th, since 3rd at 85 mph is about 6800rpm.

Liquid_Ag

for me, yeah, i redline first, just cuz first goes so damned fast, and then i shift at about 6250 for everything else

Phantom Cruiser

i would suggest making lots of runs (if you can) to get a feel for where your particular car wants to launch...i had really bad wheel hopping when i launched over 4k!

Bruce95fmla

I used to rev out my 2nd gen 1.5 a lot and to behonest I wouldn't waste time above 6,000 rpm ,, I wouldn't even really dable over 5,500 unless in 3rd gear, in which case just leave it in 3rd(like Davard said) less you run out of gear..

When I reved my car to say about 6200 , after 5,500 to 5,700 I felt like the car was sitting still instead of a pulling accelerating fealing..

Bruce

midnightblue97

Except for dropping the clutch, I basically did the same thing I always do during some "spirited" driving, Redline first (7000rpm), shift between 6-6500 for 2-3 shift and then keep it in third for the duration. I launched around 3000 or so, maybe a bit more. If I did any less than about 2800, I'd bog the engine slightly and have a shitty time, not that they were great to begin with. My reaction times were mostly terrible, my best was .8-- the rest were 1.--- something, but it was my first time out so I didn't expect to be the mack.

Oh yeah my best time was 16.8 or 16.9. Don't have the time slips with me.

Davard

I forget. Is the Canadian LX the 1.8 or the 1.5?

midnightblue97

1.8
Its possible that the regular LX in Canada has the 1.5l but mine is the "Touring Edition" and has the 1.8l.

Bruce95fmla

anyone know how to calculate his 1/4mile time if his reaction would have been say .5 or .6
Bruce

Davard

Since reaction time isn't part of ET, it wouldn't change the time. The only thing that RT figures in to is who gets to the end of the track first. This is why you will occasionally see (if you watch drag racing) a car with a slower ET winning the race...that driver had a reaction time fast enough to make up for his slower ET, and got to the end of the track first.

WTF

When launching try to get the tires screeching once you here them, let go a little OFF the gas, trying to look for traction. Play with the pedal, it all is goin to happen extremely fast so shifting 2nd must be second nature.

Just feel the car, just lookin at the tach for a fraction of a second and right away you will be in rev limiting. I usually feel the screechin, let go a little but pushing a little at the same time and when the engine wakes up UUUAAA!, its BAM 2nd, BAM, the rest is cake. On all the other gears pedal to the metal.

I have a 323 with DOHC nonturbo and it likes to run high on revs, the more I let it reach the 7,000 mark, the better it is on the next gear. It does not drop, but if I shift in the 5,500 range it drops on the next too much.

But well, some days launching is extremely easy and then on others I will misshift. Take in consideration the surface at the race track has way much more traction than on the street. For an almost stock car please don't make the rookie act of burning tires with an almost bone stock car.

Even on the street, some asphalts are more porous or smoother.