launching 101

[theoblivious]

hey ive been experimenting alot with launching my car. just curious what should i be doing to get a proper and clean launch from the line. is there a specific way to race shift or is it just clutch in shift fast clutch out. i dunno sorry for sounding newbish.

[PSiedTSi]

id wait until spring to really try launching your car...its cold even if the roads are dry...

[yose]

it depends on your suspension set up, mods, tires, road conditions....

[PSiedTSi]

what ive been told for launching was for an awd car so it could be different but you release the clutch just enough to start transfering weight and then let it out...launch at the rpm at your powerband

[Guest]

PSiedTSi wrote:
what ive been told for launching was for an awd car so it could be different but you release the clutch just enough to start transfering weight and then let it out...launch at the rpm at your powerband
i think thats the same for all cars

[yose]

i launched a wrx and it was way different than launching my neon.

[Pony_Racer]

depends on your power band....lower RPM torque affects your launching as well. Depends at what RPM ya launch at!!

[PSiedTSi]

you just kinda gotta try stuff out...its all about experimenting

[Jim]

i've got it. you rev it up to 8500k and you dump the clutch. try it! lol jk.

no its gonna be different for every car, and it does change with your mods; tires affect it alot, power affects it alot, clutch affects it... etc...

When it was warm out, and I launched, I would rev it up to like 3500 or so RPM and then slip the clutch, go about 3/4 throttle in 1st gear to try and avoid some spinning, punch it toward the end to get the revs up (even though the tires would spin), shift and punch it again.

You can power shift, but its going to be hard on your car (shifting without letting up on the gas), you do have a honda though... so bouncing off the revlimit might not be as detrimental as it would be in other cars.

[Slow97Camaro]

i used to have a 90 prelude si, and i talked to a honda guy at the dealership and he said that you could pretty much redline every gear and not really have any problems with anything breaking. so i would have to agree with jim's comment.

[SmitEvo]

I think launching a FWD is much much harder than a AWD.. with Awd I rev to 6000rpms and let the clutch out fairly quick.. If it was 2 summers ago and the 3 bolt rear end was in, more than likly the axle broke right after the weight transfer..

Kevin
sls

[Guest]

what are these "clutch" thingys you guys are refering to? I asked DaveH, he didn't know either. heh.

Like these guys all said, its gonna depend on the car/tires/suspension/etc...