I feel kind of dumb for asking this, but I'm confused. When people say "It will come down to who the better driver is" and stuff like that, do they mean for drivers of automatic cars too? Usually in my camao I just push the pedal all the way down and go. Is there something I'm missing that will make me faster? When I floor it from a stop, my tires spin a lot; even with "ultra performance" ones. Is there any way to stop that? or should I not push the gas all the way down? or is the spinning ok? What would be fastest? I just don't want to look like an idiot out on the road.

Thank you for your help.

 

a skilled driver would not have a problem with the tires. Its the drivers skill that makes the vehicle hook up. Too much gas and the tires cook, slipping tires have less ability to propel the car forward, not enough gas and you could be going faster

 

With an auto, you want to do a brake stand before you launch, put your foot on the brake and the gas at the same time and bring RPM's up to about 2500 RPM and then let go of the brake when you want to launch. You do not want to spin the tires, that's about the worst thing you could do. The goal is to launch at least somewhere in your power band so that you're always in it... on the street you may have to launch below your power band to keep from spinning.

With a manual transmission this means launching at that rpm, but feathering the clutch enough to keep the RPM's up and the tires from spinning.

 

Thanks. Sounds like it takes some practice. . . atleast I know what the goal is now. lol

 

Theres a lot more to it than cut and dry answers...

EVERY car is different. Some cars need wheel spin, some cars don't. Some cars can be brought up on the converter, some cars prefer off idle and a flash of the converter. Some stick shift cars a rev and clutch dump works, others need you to pay the clutch throttle game.

There is only one constant b/w all cars. Practice makes perfect.

 

What about from a roll? Say 20 mph. . . is there anything to think about there with an auto, or do you just floor it? What about a 40 mph roll?

Thanks

 

I'll agree with you on that point, that no car is the same... What I gave is really just a baseline for any 3rd gen F-body.

But, wheel spin is bad in all cases... it may not be as bad as bogging off the line, but it certainly hurts more than a proper launch right at the edge of traction.


From a roll, all you have to do is select the lowest gear possible that still gives you a good amount of your power band left and stab the throttle... Remember that a stock auto probably will shift too soon so you should practice manually shifting. From 20 I'd say start in 1st, from 40 probably start with 2nd.

 

Not true. My old IROC pulled consistently faster ETs with a little spin off the line as opposed to not. This was on street radials. If I had sticky tires that could actually hook would have been a different story. I found that leaving at around 2600 rpm and flooring it got me the best results. Lower or higher RPM and the ETs went down. Rolling into the throttle didn't help either. The car just liked full throttle right off the line, would spin a little bit and go.

 

Also shifting at the right rpms in your power band, shifting fast, being able to power shift (AKA double clutching) will also be a huge difference. I watched this show where they took average people cars and showed them how fast they could go with a professional driver and everyone who braught there car were amazed at how much faster he could make there car go.

 

Double Clutching has NOTHING to do with power shifting.

Double clutching is from back in the day with non synchroed trannys. The tractor trailers usually needed this. You run through your gear, clutch in, pull the shifter to neutral, clutch out, clutch back in, pull into gear, clutch out... This is in NO way going to be faster than a regular shift. Forget what the Fast and Furious movies told you.

A power shift is this. Put in gear and run through the gear, keep your right foot to the floor, stab the clutch as fast as you can, while at the same time yanking the next gear. Power Shifting Might be called full throttle shifting, but is never called double clutching. Hell maybe calling it half clutching would be best, but not double.

 

Again, their is no simple answer for this.... Depending on your engines power and torque, the road surface, the tire temperature, weather etc etc.... Simply 'flooring it' isn't always the best way, you can end up loosing a lot of forwards momentum on wheelspin, or even in the car kicking out sideways.

Get some practice in! Find out what 'your car' likes and responds best to. Getting used to your vehicle and learning its responses at across its abilities and at its limits and/or your own will stand you in good stead.