I raced a friend of mine 8 times last night. I won some and he one some, but i think he is faster nonetheless. His is a 99 Trans Am with an Automatic and is stock. I have a custom exhaust and sh!tty tires and a Hurst. I am a very good shifter and a decent launcher. We didnt have a guy to tell us "go" but i think i should have won because i have a Hurst and my car is lighter. his is 3500 and mine is 3200-3300. I had a full tank of gas and he had a quarter. So what does this all mean? What does it take for me to win? A new airlid and tires? Please answer some of these questions guys??

 

Ok first step, calm down. For one thing, both your cars are so close to stock that minor power differences between your cars could be accountable for the difference. Though there probably isnt any big difference between your cars, its a possibility. You could also just need some help in your driving. And why is your car so light? What have you taken out. Also I haven't noticed things like the amount of gas in the tank to affect my times. In fact I set my best times with a full tank. Don't worry so much there are going to be cars that are faster than yours it happens, thats what the aftermarket is for.

 

I seriously doubt that having a Hurst shifter is going to make you significantly faster, so you can discount that. It's just giving you shorter throws, it's not going to give you any incredible performance gains.

I've never driven an automatic F-bod, but -supposedly- they're much easier to launch. That, combined with the fact that you have sh*tty tires is what's causing you to have so much trouble.

 

Maybe your custom exhaust isnt helping you as much as you would like to think, and of course I have a feeling this thread will turn into an automatic is better than a manual fight. Who knows maybe thats the case too, tires are more than likely a problem also.