hey guys,

I have a 1997 camaro a4 with a 3,000 stall speed converter. I am running drag radials and have around 446 RWHP. I am going to the track for the first time today and was wondering what might be the best way to launch this car. Some people have told me to hold the throttle down as far as possible without moving forward and then hammer it, and I have also heard to just rev it a little past idle speed and then hammer it and the converter will naturally take off at its flash stall speed. Any tips or advice on this are greatly appreciated.
Also, I am pretty happy where the tranny shift points are currently. But, would I still be better off shifting the car manually at the track. Are there any advantages to doing it this way, or should I just put it in drive and let it shift itself? Thanx for the help guys...

 

Depends on traction. Try the idle launch if it spins then try the power braking. Put it in drive and let it shift itself.

 

Stall it as high as possible without creeping forward. You may have to really stand on the brake. Let the car shift automatically. However, if you have the ability to reprogram your shift points then you should definitely experiment with the shifts. I picked up some nice gains with minute adjustments.

 

Everyone's got their own techniques...What size DR are you running? It makes a difference in how much sidewall you have. I found that my combo last year running 255 50 R16 M/T DRs and the 3600 Vig liked to launch off idle, building no rpms at the line...If I brought up the rpms and let it go, I'd spin. I found that by flash stalling it off idle, without loading the suspension, lets the suspension do the work and resulted in 1.55 60's...

With your power level I'd recommend using the 255 16s on 16x8s or a 15" size with some sidewall...I tried getting 17s to work for a long time and you need the sidewall of the 16" or 15"...

--Alan

 

crazy....that LT1 is gonna ripp...wat mods do u have?? to make 446hp? cuz someday i would like to get to that hp range

 

Run it in third until you hit like 5900 or 6000 and then slam it into drive. I have noticed a .1 difference in my times by doing that versus leaving it in drive.