automatic drag racing questions
 

hello
i have had my camaro for about a year now, and i would love to take it to the track and race it...the only problem is that i have an automatic. i was wondering if anyone knew how i should go about racing this?
start in OD and just gun it? or go from gear to gear? any ideas?
i also just wanna make sure that if i do to a gear to gear thing, that A) it wont screw up my tranny and B) how exactly do i do it? between what RPMs? i have no idea

thanks

do not use o/d
put the car in drive and smash the pedal
in drag racing consistency counts
if you manually shift there are to many chances of overshifting or not shifting at the right time
and as i said before consistency is what counts

Put in D, BUT DON'T smash the pedal, unless you have no traction problems, you want to expirement and find the point in the throttle right before you lose traction.

IF your car is stock, put it in D and leter rip! but if your like me and your power band goes till about 6ooorpms,, then youll have to shift "manualy"

thanks
 

ahh thanks alot guys!

why D and not OD?


(im really new to this all)

I've heard (and can tell on my setup) that if you put it in D (might be 2, I don't remember) the transmission builds more fluid pressure which makes it shift a little harder and faster. On my car, if I leave it in D while driving around town then the revs will come up when shifting into third because of my worn bands. If I leave it on OD while driving around it doesn't flare the RPM at all (but I lug the engine since OD engages at 40 mph. :( )

I have ran both D and OD and my times are the same. Same track same day all in the morning. Try them both and see what happens.

if your at the track, dont shift it, it does nothing but wear out the tranny, but if you are street racing(for example) and already rolling, you might have to manually down shift if your kickdown thingy doesnt work correctly, otherwise from a dead stop, your trans is set to shift at its highest power to speed ratio

Like said TV line pressure is greater in D than OD, causing a firmer shift.

I would manually shift at the track, this won't cause excessive wear on the tranny. Doing it all the time will (like normal driving) line pressure is greater in 1st than D. But then I wouldn't manually shift unless you have an aftermarket shifter like mine, so you don't miss a gear.

In conclusion, just leave it in D.

What kind of aftermarker shifter do you have or recommend? I saw a b&M one at Pep Boys for about $70 or $80. It said on the box "while not an actual ratchet shifter, you lift up on the lever to put it in low, then when you shift back it only goes one gear at a time" or something like that. Do you have a "ratchet shifter"? Is it really necessary or would this one work? I have been to the track twice and just put in D both times and had OK times. I have been experimenting on the stree with shifting and it looks like to me I could get better times. It is easy however to sift from 1st right into D or 3rd, especially with all the other thinks going on in a dragstrip launch. I read on here somewhere where they said to shift 1-2 at 4800rpm and 2-3 at 5100 rpm. Is this where you shift?
Iguess it depends on the car

the common shifter I have seen in thirdgens is the b&m megashifter, I have one and it is a "ratchet" shifter

i have the stock one,, havent missed a shift yet, aznd probly never will. not like you have to "bang" it into gear, all you gotta do is move it like a centimeter and bamm,, your in the next gear

I think just about every time I go down the track, I shift from 1 to D. It's getting old.

How does a ratchet-style shifter work?

time diff
 

anyone notice any time differences between shifting at the track and just putting it in D?

now that i know D and OD will give about the same result

The ratchet shifter works kinda like this, you have to put it in to OD to be able to shift into reverse or any other gear. To put it in 1st, you have to ratchet the shifter toward the rear of the car. Then when shifting up through the gears, just reverse the operation. I personnaly like the ratchet setup, although many I talk to like the factory shifter, or want that 5speed feel.

I've raced w/ both D (holding the brake and revving just about 1500 RPM) and letting of the brake and stomping it on green. Then I tried 1-2-D sometimes 2 got skipped but they both netted me the same times basically. so i stuck w/ leaving it in D

when my car was stock, na i didnt really notice a differance, but with the new engine, and higher RPM range, there is a huge differance. before id have it shift at 4700ish rpms with the stock engine, and now if i leave it in D, it will still shift at 4500ish, but my powerband goes till 5500

Basically, in 1st you can bang the shifter as hard as you want, and can only go one gear at a time. So you don't slide into N @ WOT with the stock shifter like I did. I'm using the B&M Megashifter $150 in summit.

Here's a pic of it.

I just run in od. Tried leaving it in d but made no difference.

Re: time diff
 

Don't know about 3rd genners but the shifts are controlled by the computer on my 4th so I doubt I'd do any better, so I just leave it go and enjoy the ride:D