How to accelerate properly

[DaemonDrake]

Im just starting into street racing

The other day I tried to race someone for the first time, we were at the light and it turns green, the other car takes off, I accelerate at what I thought was fast, but it wasn't fast enough.

My question is this, how should I accelerate, should I press the gas to the floor? or slowly press down the gas to the floor? which is better for speed and better for the engine?

any help would be great thnx :smoka:

[Sindie]

Its a matter of wheel spin vs bogging the engine. You want a very small amount of wheel spin so that the engine will stay in the "power zone". Too much and its just a bunch of noise, too little and the engine drops below the power zone and you will trudge along.

It just takes practice with every vehicle you drive.

[Polygon]

Originally posted by Sindie
It just takes practice with every vehicle you drive.

Which is why you need to learn a few things about your car. Do you have a manual or and auto. If it is an auto is is as simple as mashing the gas.

If you have a manual, have the car dynoed to find out where your power peaks out. And find a good RPM to shift at where your HP and torque is optimal otherwaise you are just killing yourself.

[Hanguk87]

If you have an automatic transmission, just press the gas to the floor directly at the begining of the race. If you have manual, different story.

[Sindie]

Actually if you have an Automatic, an attempt at a brake stand will be your best(just not great for the transmission).

[fastrThanU]

nonono... if you have an automatic, press the brake with your left foot just enough to keep the car from moving foreward while pressing the gas with your right foot, bringing the rpms to about 2500-3000 depending on how powerful your motor is. on go, release the brake quickly and keep the gas pedal in the same position as before until you hook up the traction for about 7 ft. then, mash the gas. this is called a brake stand. it allows you to start in an rpm range closer to the power peak.

on a manual, press the clutch in, bring the rpms up to about 2500-3000 again, and on the go signal, dump the clutch and keep you foot at the same point on the gas (same as above) after you start to move, nail the gas and go.

both these practices are for optimal low speed acceleration off the line. they are a fine art of finding the best balance between bog and spin. if you do it right, you will leave the line with just a small amount of tire squeal. take your car to a straight back road and practice until you can get a "feel" for the way your car wants to launch and pay CLOSE attention to the rpms until you can do it consistently.

when shifting an automatic, manually shift it from Low to Second, and then to Drive. you're gonna want to shift the tranny about a quarter sec. to a half sec. before you reach your shifting rpm, because there is always a little delay before the torque converter kicks in and puts the tranny into the gear you just put it in. you will have to look up the engine specs for your car to find the rpm at which it produces the most HP. shift at approximately 500 rpms higher than that (you can usually feel it) if you have a 4-cyl, stay closer to the peak rpm for your shifting point, because their power curve tends to drop off sharply. in an 8-cyl, for example, you can maybe go for a little more, as their curve doesn't drop off nearly as sharply.

good luck.

[vhr4710]

i like this thread coz this is stuff that almost everyone can find little tips about that will help them racing. it may be those little tips that put you across that line before the car to your right one day--we need more racing newbies like that guy, they ask some good questions....sometimes...

[HiGh'RoLLer]

Try not to burn so much when u start the race cause you'll loose time. Practice starting off and learn how your drives cause every car is different.

[Hanguk87]

Just use that brake stand method and launch at the highest rpm you can without getting spin or just little wheel spin. Don't launch at peak hp rpm UNLESS your tires don't spin.

[NB8CT]

I have a question. Currently when I launch in my NA Miata, I take it to ~3500 and just dump it and mash the gas, and it works great. In a few weeks I will have my turbo in and with the setup that I am going with the turbo will spool at ~3500. Now I figure that I should not launch at max boost, not only would it put a ton a shock through my currently stock drivetrain, but I imagine i will get a ton of unwanted wheel spin. So should I take my launch rpm down to like ~2500 so my car is launching basicaly NA? From what I read about similar setups I may still have to feather the trottle and not acually floor it until I get into 2nd, but does my idea of launching sound good?

[fastrThanU]

if you launch at 3500rpms with the turbo bolted on, and you get a lot of wheelspin, you won't hurt your drivetrain (to a point). your rear wheels would be spinning. therefore, the power that is going through the drivetrain would be going to the ground and up into tire smoke. part failure would happen when you have enough traction to eliminate wheelspin, and then the parts inside your tranny, differential, and axles are forced to absorb a certain percentage of the power generated by the engine by twisting, compressing, and then expanding as the car plants the tires and then starts to move.

about your launching method, could you adjust the rpm at which the turbo spools at? you could also try launching at below 3500 (i'm not sure at which rpm your motor starts bogging) and possibly put on a 50 shot and cut it off when the turbo kicks in, or you could try bringing the engine to 3250 or so, then on the go, punch the gas, bring the clutch out to the engaging point, hang it there for about 10 feet, and then dump it completely out.

[flylwsi]

well, your car is gonna be bogging below that 3500 rpm...
why not just put the turbo on, and go out and launch then tell us what works...

no one here is going to know how your car should launch, b/c you know how it drives, YOU know what the clutch tires trans etc feel like... you just have to get used to more power...

however, remember that when you bog n/a it sucks, but if you bog w/ a turbo, it reallllly sucks, b/c you have to wait for the motor to spool back up... and that is worse than n/a at least in how it feels timewise.

[LjasonL]

nobody here can tell u how to really race your car right. itll take exact timing that is different for every car. it can only really be learned through experience the best place to do it is at a real dragstrip, where u can see physical proof if youre doing something thats actually faster instead of "feels faster" cuz what feels faster isnt always faster. u can actually see your timeslip and examine it to know how well youre doing on reaction time, as well as several intervals all the way down the strip. once youve worked it out at the strip, then take it to the street if u want. but its much easier to learn at a timed strip, cuz like i said, u have real timers so u know without a doubt if one method is faster or not.

[MaFi0s0]

i race my car on the street, its an auto, i find that using Low gear is slower, it starts off fastest in 2nd gear but once it reaches 3000 it would be slower than if it was in drive, so the best thing IMO is to rev it in neutral and put it in drive. i did that breakstand method once but it didnt seem too good for the car, i will try it again and see how it goes.

[NB8CT]

Originally posted by MaFi0s0
so the best thing IMO is to rev it in neutral and put it in drive. i did that breakstand method once but it didnt seem too good for the car, i will try it again and see how it goes.

Neutral drops are wayyy worse than a brakestand!!

Oh and my engine bogs at or below about 2K, so if I launch at ~3000, after the initial rpm drop I'll be at ~2500, so sounds good