I was planning on going to the track sometime soon and was wondering the best way to go about my launch...I know about the stall converter and everything but I mean keep in overdrive, drive or shift 1st 2nd d od...Let me know what would be best, somepeople say start from first others say it's gonna hurt the tranny if you do it that way, what's your opinions

 

I like to shift the tranny myself,but if your not very experinced putting the car in drive and letting the tranny shift its self will get you alot more consistent times at the track. Do not use overdrive at all when making quarter mile passes,it will hurt your times.

 

i usually launch in first first and shift at 4,500 to 5,000 rpm

i got a pointer from someone and they said they have better times launching in drive and letting the tranny shift itself at WOT.

 

I'd only let the car shift at wot if you're confident it'll shift at wot everytime... it takes some tweaking of the tv cable to get it to always do that..

This saturday I'm gonna test my tweaking, so far on some launch tests I've done over the past month, I've gotten a consistent 1-2-23 4500 rpm shift, I know that it'll pull as high as 5000-5500 rpm for a 12-23 shift for a manual launch, but I'm not sure if its worth the abuse or if I'll gain at all on my times...

 

I pop it in Drive and go. I've had the best results that way.

 

Try both, and see which is faster. My buddy has a 97 firebird with an a4, and he tried it both ways. It worked out that if he shifted manually at the same rpm the tranny did automatically, it would take the tranny a little extra time to shift and he got a faster et that way. Guess he just got a little extra out of his powerband that way.

 

The biggest problem you're going to have is launching that torquey little SBC with those gears. You'll either bog or light them up big time. It's a very fine line launching with highway gears.

 

just floor it in drive and see what happens. you always have the excuse that it was your first time.
i mean i have never had a problem with traction at a track unless 1 it's to cold 2 track prep blows. my car only weighs 2,875lbs with me and a full tank of gas and i can pull 1.9 60ft times just putting it in drive and going for it

 

Dont know if you guys will listen to a woman on Dragracing.
But I just put my car in drive & go from there.
My car is stock & I my best time in her is 14.686 would have won to if i wouldnt have pulled a red light.

(oh Stock times for a 87 Iroc-z Posted by Pro drivers in 87 was 14.86 lol I am .2 faster then them)