Drag Racing

[QUICK_EG_B16A]

OK HERE'S THE DEAL, I WENT TO LACR AND RAN MY CAR A FEW TIMES WITH A BEST OF 17.1 (OF 3) I WAS TOLD BY A FEW PEOPLE THAT WITH IT BEING MY VERY FIRST TIME EVER TRYING TO RACE IT WAS AN OK TIME. AFTER POSTING MY TIME HERE I WAS TOLD OVER & OVER IT WAS PATHETIC. SO I NOW KNOW NOT TO BURN OUT ON STREET TIRES. BUT HERE'S MY QUESTION:
DO I HOLD THE CLUTCH IN WITH IT IN 1ST BEFORE THE LIGHT TURNS GREEN OR DO I WAIT TILL THE LIGHT TURNS GREEN TO SHIFT INTO 1ST (WHICH IS WHAT I WAS DOING)?

[97integrals]

Originally Posted by QUICK_EG_B16A

HOLD THE CLUTCH IN WITH IT IN 1ST BEFORE THE LIGHT TURNS GREEN

[CivicSpoon]

Different people do different things. I know people who rev it in neutral and slam it into gear when they launch, and I know people who rev it with the clutch in when it's already in 1st. Try it both ways, and see what works best for you. Don't let your times or people's comments discourage you; it's all a learning process. And everyone has been in the same boat as you when they first start out. I've personally never run my car at the track (what's the point of paying to run low 19's or high 18's in my slow ass car?). But I practice launching every once and a while (when no one is on the street), and I've found reving it in 1st with the clutch in; to be best for me. So try both ways, and try reving it to different rpms. Eventually you'll find the "sweet spot" and you'll lower your ¼ times.

[TopSecretHatch]

I agree with CivicSpoon ... I prefer to keep it in first with the clutch down. That way, you can decide at what RPM you wanna dump the clutch in. I read somewhere online that the proper RPM is 2000 below your redline... but I dont know how credible that is. Ive never ran at the track either... mostly kuz you have to pay and wait.. the damn thing becomes an all day process. lol But.. like civicspoon said.. try it out, and do what works best.. you are always going to run into lames that like to talk shit about you car, your times, how you drive... whatever. The world is full of haters... just make sure you learn.

[Greenblurr93]

it might not be a bad idea to learn how to preload your axles.. thats when its in 1st with the e brake on and you bring up the rpm to the desired launch point and slowly start letting the clutch out until it just starts to catch, that way there is already torque on the axles so u run a lot less a risk of breaking them when u launch.

[sivic02]

You dont want to just flat out dump the clutch, if you do your wheels are going to be spinning, when your wheels are spinning the time is still going but your car isnt. What you want is to let the clutch out slow enough to where your tires dont spin. Now by slow i mean over the period of about a second or two, once your out of 1st you can probably completely drop the clutch with no problem in the rest of the gears.

Also, 2000rpms below redline is BS. There is no "preset" rpm to launch from. It is all about where you are able to launch from that will get you going the quickest, launch rpm depends on the person.