I have been reading in several different post that people don't even shift to 4th gear in the 1/4 mile?? Just curious what everyone is doing?? I am in 4th gear myself at the end of my 1/4 mile runs, and I am only at around 92mph?? And no, I don't take it to redline in 3rd because the power just isn't there after around 6k-6.2k.

And I definitely figured I would need to be in 4th once I get a Y-pipe and the rest of my mods??

you should be shifting at 6K from 3-4 anyways because our engines stop making power there.

That's what I was thinking, and that is where I shift, but like I mentioned above, it seems some are leaving it in 3rd to finish out the 1/4??

Some guys run it out to redline in all gears, theblue does I think, but he still shifts into 4th. I have never tried running it out to redline.

I'd smack the redline if I didn't shift into 4th. I believe 3rd gear on the 5 speed 4th gen is only good for 95-96mph and I've consistently been getting 96mph trap speeds which is just an average of the last 60' in the 1/4 mile. Technically, I'm going over 100mph when I cross the finish line. There's no way I could do that in 3rd.

I shift the 1-2@6500, 2-3@6200, and 3-4@6000. I determined these shift points from my dyno runs and gear ratios.

People need to realize that the 4th gen VQ isn't a topend breather and that shifting at redline isn't always optimum for performance.


Dave

From what I gather I think some people leave it in 3rd thinking they will have a better time than if they take the time to shift to 4th. I'm usually ready to go into 4th before the finish. I have only raced at the track twice and finished in 3rd both times. Next time I go I'll try shifting to 4th. BTW my best time was a 14.9

Stock?? If so, then we are about the same, and I shifted to 4th.

For some reason, I get better trap speeds when I leave it in third. Shifting to fourth results in max trap speeds of around 92 (best ET 14.8). Looking at my dyno, you'd think it would be better to go to fourth but that's not the case.
Third gear is supposed to max out at 98 mph at the red line, so there's probably a few MPH left before you hit the limiter.

Terry
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98 SE/ 5 speed/ CAI/ UDP/ Stillen Y pipe/ RT cat/ Courtesy B pipe/ Stock muffler
FSTB/RSB/ Clear front bumper lenses/ Clear tails

14.73 @94.1

Dave so you redline all your shifts, hmmm maybe thats the reason why I didnt get no good times at the track with my SC I was not redlining 1and 2nd gear so by the time I came close to the clock I had to shift in third also I was hitting full 10PSI as well but when I shifted to 4th I lost .0? secs as well. Ill get closer to 6K next time but also wont your car bog if you take it past 5000RPM s in 2nd gear?

Hm...interesting. IIRC, Matt said he usually shift at redline. I thought he would have told you that and advise you to do so too.

I was definitely at the end of third but felt like it still had some left - like I wouldn't benefit from a shift. In the future (when I get better at launching) I assume I'll try the shift to 4th since I'll hopefully have a faster speed all around.

This is all in my old car...the new one hasn't seen the track yet.

When I was running 14.7's I would take the car all the way to the redline in 3rd and more or less hit the limiter just after the finish line. I found this to be faster than shifting into 4th time after time.

Then when I switched my wheels and started running 14.5's I didn't have a choice. 4th was a must. I found that if I held 3rd to the redline again, it would be faster than shifting into 4th around 6000 or 6200 RPM's like many people do.

Dunno why, doesn't make sense, but that's what I found.