Hey all, once i get better on my car i would like to take it to the track. I took my old monte SS there all the time, but i suck at a stick....lol and i was woundering how you would launch it? Like how would i go about doing it? Do u just rev up to 4k put in 1st and let out the clutch and let the wheels spin or is it a combo of clutch and gas or something? Thanks for the help

 

I would first try launching at 1500rpm and slipping the clutch smoothly but quickly or on the last yellow blip the throttle a little past idle and then let the clutch out fast and ease the gas down.

 

Try starting with a quick and smooth clutch release at around 1500 as mentioned above. Try this when the thirs yellow light comes on. Also, try and have the rpms starting to go up when you start your slip. That way your foot is already moving in the proper direction so if you start to bog you can press the gas harder or allow it to slip for another fraction of a second.

If you try it at 1200. If you hook try is at 1800-2000. Try and follow cars that have slicks if possible. They want to be ahead of you anyway and you want to be behind them because they will leave a decent set of tracks for you to line up in at the start.

 

ok that sounds easy enough, just rev up too 1500 then let out. Ok now my next question. How hard is it to powershift? I know how to do it, well i get the concepts of it. Like hold down the gas while shifting but how do u know what set of rpms to **** at. Do u just red line each time or do u try and shift within the tq curve. I know LS1's liek to rev high so how high do u think i should shift to get the most tq out of it? thanks

 

Powershifting is more difficult to master. The concept of holding the foot to the floor is easy enough, and the "idea" of just stabbing the clutch barely enough to allow a gear change isn't too hard to understand, but moving the hand quick enough to actually make the shift, stabbing the clutch enough to shift gears but not grind them or miss a shift, is far more difficult to do than to understand. It is particularly difficult in an actual race situation when the blood is pumping and there is someone in the other lane.

The amount of rpm rise should be between 200-500 rpms, depending on your skill and consistency. You need to AVOID the rev limiter. The goal is not to hit the rev limiter while doing this.

When done perfectly, a manual car can be damn consistent in the quarter mile. I have a friend of mine who is so good at it you really have to look to even see that the car has a manual transmission. BTW: He runs 11.7's at 118 is a basically stock Z06. Most other people run 12's...

 

Yeah i see what your saying. I am not confident enough yet to try and do that yet...lol I was just currious. I noticed that you race at newengland speedway. Up in Epping. I was there last year in my Monte. I would really like to go up there again but, i dont want to embarrasse my self cause i am still learning how to launch the car correctly..lol

 

I run the ET Points Series on Sundays. Typically two time trials and eliminations. I have been doing it a little while. Generally, Saturdays are test and tune days and Friday/Wednesday nights are street nights. The schedule can be found at http://www.newenglanddragway.com

Don't worry about embarrassing yourself. We all started dout sometime. I didn't take a pass down the track until six years ago.

 

Well thats 5 more years then me. I just do the street nights cause i dont have the $$ or time to do a normal points competition. But thanks for the help and hopefully i will see u at teh track before summer is over...lol

 

try shifting from 1st to 2nd with your foot flat on the floor. thats how i would learn its the easiest shift to make. any of you ever missed 1 to seckond? then when you get good at that try 2 to 3 but only after a lot of practice. dont do it on the stock clutch