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Oh well

I know....I meant for the reaction clock...but reaction really doesn't matter unless you are competing.

And that's why I said you never want to deep stage because you will have a slower time...you want to get that rolling start.
 
Duke, do you still have your stock wheels? Get a decent set of tires on 2 of the stock 16" wheels for the front. My best 60' time with my old SVT was a 2.13 on Falken ZIEX 512 tires in 225/45/16. Obviously, you'll need to avoid the water box. :laugh: Get up to the line a bit ahead of the other guy so you have time to get ready. While your right foot is on the brake, let up on the clutch until you just start to feel it grab, and then push it back in just enough to keep it from grabbing. Get the rpms to ~2500 and hold it. On green, you'll want to feather the clutch, while keeping the rpms around the 2500 rpm mark, making sure to keep your tires just on the brink of losing traction, but keeping the momentum up. Your clutch should be completely out at about the same time as you gain complete traction, which is the moment you hammer down on the gas. By keeping the rpms at around 2500 - 2800, you're going right into your secondaries (if you still have them) at full throttle. After that, you just need to know how to row through the gears. That 2.13 60' time was good for a 14.4 @ 97 I believe it was on a 196whp 191wtq 3L.

Definitely don't just let out on the clutch and hope you can throttle your way through it. The biggest key is getting the clutch ready at the tree. Doing what I said above sort of preloads the transaxle so you don't have that big initial shock, which causes the wheel hop. Try it out, you'll definitely improve your times!

Mark
 
Just wrote that down! Thanks. I dont have my stock 16" tires But I do have some 17" track tires I might try that with :).
 
Even go out on some deserted road one night and practice launching until you get it 100%. Half the battle with these cars is the launch. Give it too much and you spin.. Give it too little, or have the wrong timing with the throttle and clutch and you'll bog down. Practice makes perfect!
 
No offense BlackBetty, but i've found that what you said doesnt work so well. I've found that i can launch my car at 4500RPM at the track, but if i do that on a back road, my car will just smoke the tires. In a way though, its good practice for feathering the clutch/gas.
 
If I'm not mistaken all he's saying is use the clutch like a high stall torque converter you would find in an automatic. It can work, and work well. How do you find grip launching at 4500 RPM's? Huge sticky tires and a massive rake? Just wondering.
 
. How do you find grip launching at 4500 RPM's? Huge sticky tires and a massive rake? Just wondering.

a 2.0 5 speed Zetec, new tires, slight forward rake, but i still get a little bit of wheel hop. It doesnt make the same power as the Duratec's so it wont roast the tires. Got a best of a 2.504 60'. Just got some SE wheels so should do a little better since the stockers on my car are a 185/70R14. SE's are 205/60R15. Havent broken anything yet....
 
No offense BlackBetty, but i've found that what you said doesnt work so well. I've found that i can launch my car at 4500RPM at the track, but if i do that on a back road, my car will just smoke the tires. In a way though, its good practice for feathering the clutch/gas.

Different motor.
 
right, but i'm sure that if you launch a 3L the same way on the track and on the road, you'll have much more tire spin on the road as well. The track is a prepped surface.
 
right, but i'm sure that if you launch a 3L the same way on the track and on the road, you'll have much more tire spin on the road as well. The track is a prepped surface.

It depends on how "prepped" it is, I have been several times where they don't prep it at all, then it just becomes hot greasy asphalt, which doesn't hook well.
 
Thats some awesome 60 foot times. My best has been 2.3 on a set of V rated 205/55/16 on my E0. This is when the car was pretty much stock with a drop in K&N. Best time ended up at 15.3. It was in the fall so weather was cool. That helps too. I also avoided the waterbox and didnt feel a burnout was necessary. I think I was launching at around the same RPM as you with a quick slip of the clutch then foot to the floor :) It also helps that the car was kept as light as possible so no spare tire, no stereo..no nothing. I weight nothing too. LOL.


Duke, do you still have your stock wheels? Get a decent set of tires on 2 of the stock 16" wheels for the front. My best 60' time with my old SVT was a 2.13 on Falken ZIEX 512 tires in 225/45/16. Obviously, you'll need to avoid the water box. :laugh: Get up to the line a bit ahead of the other guy so you have time to get ready. While your right foot is on the brake, let up on the clutch until you just start to feel it grab, and then push it back in just enough to keep it from grabbing. Get the rpms to ~2500 and hold it. On green, you'll want to feather the clutch, while keeping the rpms around the 2500 rpm mark, making sure to keep your tires just on the brink of losing traction, but keeping the momentum up. Your clutch should be completely out at about the same time as you gain complete traction, which is the moment you hammer down on the gas. By keeping the rpms at around 2500 - 2800, you're going right into your secondaries (if you still have them) at full throttle. After that, you just need to know how to row through the gears. That 2.13 60' time was good for a 14.4 @ 97 I believe it was on a 196whp 191wtq 3L.

Definitely don't just let out on the clutch and hope you can throttle your way through it. The biggest key is getting the clutch ready at the tree. Doing what I said above sort of preloads the transaxle so you don't have that big initial shock, which causes the wheel hop. Try it out, you'll definitely improve your times!

Mark
 
I snapped an axel with a 2.5K rmp launch on my old 3.0L.....if I even dreamed of a 4.5K launch, I can only imagine how horrible the end result would have been.
 
I'm waiting till I can get back to the track. I also want
to up my shot to 100, toss on an exhaust and run my 17s. 4500 is way too high for a manual. With an automatic it doesn't matter, any rpm over your stall is basically wasted.
 
I'm waiting till I can get back to the track. I also want
to up my shot to 100, toss on an exhaust and run my 17s. 4500 is way too high for a manual. With an automatic it doesn't matter, any rpm over your stall is basically wasted.

depends entirely on the engine and drivetrain. on my old turbo zetec i could launch at 5000 RPM without issues, it would just spin the tires a tiny bit then grab and go. the 3000GT/stealth can do the same, but we have AWD. now had i launched the SVT, with either the 2.5 or 3L, at 4500 or 5000 RPMs, yeah it would have just spun the tires.
 
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