ladeesman

I know the best way to get off the line in a manual butsadly I don't have one anymore. Can you guys give me any advice on racing my auto. I'm not used to the shift to 2nd at wot, sometimes it does and others it doesn't.

96run96

Yeah i've got a 96' auto, there is really nothing you can do. If you try to power brake the car will jump off the line early. If you try to run each gear then you will almost always miss 2nd. If you just gas it then it sucks off the line. Sorry to say having an AUTOMAGIC really Sucks.

araffio

iTrader: (9)

Best success Ive had is to hold the brake hard, rev up to about 1500-2000, release brake and pin gas. Wheel spin isnt too bad and launch is much better than just hitting the gas. Dont let the rpms go to redline, ease off the gas just a bit so its shifts to 2nd.
Sucks we have autos, but there are tiny ways to improve them.
Ill never buy an auto again, this was my first car so I didnt know any better when i got it.

93_MaxSpeedMark

96Run96: I power shift whenever I race, and I've never missed a shift. Besides, even if you miss 2, you go into D. Which means it'll go to 2nd anyway... Same w/ torque breaking... I've spent a lot of time perfecting mine, and I can get off the line with very little wheelspin.

Ladeesman, here's what I do:

1. In first gear, break torque to between 1500 and 1800 RPMs.
2. When flagger drops arms (Light turns green, whatever), release the break and floor the gas pedal.
3. Shift to second at about 5700 RPMs, so that your tranny will make its shift point be ~5900 RPMs. There's really no power in 1st beyond 6000 rpms.
2. Shift to D with no O/D at around 6100. Tranny shifts at ~6300.
3. And by then you're probably getting pretty close to 90 or 100 mph.

96run96

I know it will automatically go to second, but its not the same. My car tries to shift to 3rd early if i miss second. I tell you what it sucks when you lose because you can't drive an AUTO. HAHAHA

97GreenMax

Just put it in D and go.

ILoveMyMax

after u get goign pump the gas it will help achieve higher rpms faster peace

Romeo

no flames or anything, but how does this make your car faster? just curious because it seems that the best way to do it is to just floor it and hold on.

Vyrus

iTrader: (4)

It does in a sense that you will be able to jump to higher RPMs, but it is very inefficient because you lose time in constant acceleration. Flooring it is the best method, this is cool to try out because if you have an intake you will hear it "bark" really loud, but it won't make you faster.
-Cyrus

Quack 2x

yep. unless you have a ratchet shifter or a lockout to prevent you from catching neutral, just leave it in D.

You can kind of trial and error the optimum launch RPM. If you are willing to play with your tire pressures, you can increase your launch RPM before wheelspin becomes a problem.

If you want firmer shifts or altered shift points, you may need to change your shift points and firmness with a VB mod or chip.

Hope this helps

Quack2x

Stillen_I30

too bad nissan omitted the "power" button my old diamante and camry had. if you pushed it, the tranny shifted gears at redline without having to mash the pedal all the way in there.

I was also wondering if anyone has raced off the line by gradually pushing the accelerator harder and harder rather than just flooring it while you're sitting there completely stopped. so you push the gas about 1/3 of the way down, and THEN complete it when you know the car wont spin the tires anymore and just before it shifts into second. this would prevent most wheel spinnage, it MAY have you starting off slower yet you tend to catch up faster (the car feels to have more torque). may work better if you're racing a car that is slower on the top end, say above 50mph for example.

retrodrive

A little steps on how to breaktorquing.

1. Step on break hard having your car in neutral.
2. Rev to 6000rpm a few times still pushing breaks.
3. Still holding breake pedal down shift into D.
4. Rev to 1800rpm and let breaks go.

Autos are best for drag racing since if you run FI you do not have to shift and let off gass so you will have boost going constantly.

Romeo

vyrus-thats what i figured

retrodrive-why bother putting in n and revving your engine? also, autos have an advantage because you don't shift, therefore you don't miss gears. that and if you bracket, you are way more consistent.

Craig Mack

But if your an experianced manual driver you won't miss a gear anyways 99% of the time and even if the manual driver shifted a little slower it would STILL be significantly faster than an autotragic.

ILoveMyMax

well i do race and have raced both ways flooring it and pumping with the flooring method my car seems to bog and not accelerate as much if i give it 3-4 quick pumps it can jump from 4-6 much faster i raced a S/C buick regal both ways and the flooring lost me almost a whole car length..btw i lost both times damn the SC...try it sometimes

Romeo

hehe, actually i have tried racing a regal s/c (i know you meant "try the pumping the gas). it was some 50 yr old guy that was weaving in and out of traffic. i saw him in my rear view mirror. as i left a stop sign, i dropped it in 1 and waited for him. when he tried to pass me, we both gunned it and went to like 70 and he was pulling on me like mad. he ended up slowing down because his wife was freaking out.

Craig Mack> on a maxima, 5-speeds will most likely always be faster than an auto. then again, talk to Don Cooper and see his opinion on the matter. the pro drag racers with 900+ HP run autos. in fact, Car and Driver had the last gen Supra turbos faster in an auto than a manual. don't get me wrong, i'd trade my auto for a 5 speed anyday, but autos can be built up too.

ladeesman

So it doesn't help to rev it up in neutral and drop it into drive? Someone told me to do this but I was a little afraid my trans would break.

Paradoxish

Actually, I don't know how true that is. My last car was a manual and I definetly prefer them to auto's (unfortunetly, I bought this car used so I had little choice), but a good driver in an auto still beats a bad driver in a manual any day. The downside is that you do NEED to do a little power shifting. Even if you've perfected braketorquing, found the perfect rpms for launch, and know exactly how much pressure to put on the accelerator and how fast you're just not going to win when the other guy can get his car to shift at redline.

Now, I've only had my Maxima for about a week - but I've already noticed it handles power shifting a lot better than the 626 I had before my Integra. Since I haven't driven a manual Maxima I can't really compare directly, but I can definetly feel the extra power that comes from forcing the car to rev higher.

Of course, a good driver with a manual is going to cream a good driver with an auto everytime. But, lucky for me, most people around here only think they know how to drive.

ignentchoker

I have found that the best way for me to get off the line is to be in neutral, rev up to around 2000 RPM, and the just tap the shifter into drive. This will allow you to get a good start, without the problems that have been talekd about with the brake torques (holding brake while gassing it)

FlAWD96SE

but if your at a track theres a delay while shifting into drive which kills the r/t and might lose the race but if its a street race itl work i like brake tourques
btw.... is my max ****ed up? when i hold the brake and floor it, it doesnt go past 2100 rpms.....

iregula

yay for autos

Romeo

i think that is the torque converter locking you out, but i could be wrong... all maximas are like that. you can only rev so much in a gear with the brake down.

Jime

iTrader: (10)

I don't know how you guys are shifting at 5700 etc, my car won't do that. If I leave it in drive it shifts at around 6300 from 1st to 2nd and 2nd to 3rd and will not shift any sooner unless you let of the gas. (I was told when I first started racing that if you don't have the pedal to the metal or the brakes on full you are only coasting)
I leave mine in D, power brake and go on the 3rd yellow and I get .5xx reactions times and 2.1 60's. I know I can improve but haven't found a way yet.
Autos still are the way to go for backet racing, IMHO, they are more consistent and thats what wins races.

JAIMECBR900

There's a lot of people here that don't know much about racing or auto's.

1. A manual trans. max IS faster than an auto because there's is substantially less drivetrain loss compared to an auto and less weight.

2. Driver experience is paramount over a few HP.

3. ALL max's have a N lock out, so if you want to manually shift the tranny (don't see any good reason to since you don't get any faster or better shifts that way) you will never go into N unless you're a total fool and shift your gears with the button pressed down.

4. Every car is different. Theory may be good, but ultimately every car is diff. due to condition. My car may launch better torque breaking where Jime's car may launch better sitting still. Only experience will tell you for sure.

5. The cars powerband usually ends near 6-6100k. The ecu is programmed to, at WOT, shift around that point. Just because a manual takes it to or past redline doesn't mean it's making more power. It actually means the opposite.

6. 1/4 mi. racing is won in the first 60', except in very specific situations. If you launch the best you can and your car is in good mechanical shape, you give yourself the best chance. I love to race at the track and would love to say that all MY driver skill is what wins my races, but in actuality the race is usually over after the 60' mark. HP does the rest.

Jime

iTrader: (10)

Jaime I don't have neutral lockout only Reverse thats one of the reasons I don't shift manually.

JAIMECBR900

I worded it incorrectly I think. By neutral lock-out, I meant the tranny will not go past N w/o pushing the button. I guess it should be Reverse lock-out. My bad. I think you know what I mean. You and I are old timers at this and can probably remember when ratchet shifters, reverse pattern shifters, and slapsticks were the "in" thing. I think you'll agree with me that in the 1/4 manually shifting our cars falls under the Law of Diminishing returns.

Jime

iTrader: (10)

Yup I agree. I used to have a slapstick, it was a 1970 Challenger 340 I ordered from the factory, it was great. The Max scares me that way, I am always afraid to hit neutral so I don't even mess with manual shifting anymore, I hit neutral once that was enough. If it didn't shift at +6k I would but I haven't been able to post faster times shifting manually.
My Challenger would shift at about 5k in D so manually shifting yielded much faster times. BTW the best I did in it was a 14.3 which beat most of the 4 speeds I ran against and it was a 340, great engine. Stock though.
Maybe we can do something to get it to work like the slapstick?
I am working on a manual switch for the rad fans right now, should have it finished in a day or two and will post results. Want to have the fans run with the car shut off when at the races to cool down.

JAIMECBR900

The 340 was a great engine. My dad had a Dart with one in it, that thing would scream. He had a 4 speed and then converted to an auto (my mother can't drive a stick) and put a VB mod in it. It would run like a scalded dog. You're right, the V-8's back then would run better shifted up high (no tranny ecu's to make it efficient).

I like your idea of the fans. I ran into that problem last time at the track. When the car was cooled off, it ran noticebly better so I started fanning in the staging lanes with my hood (flapping up and down until I got tired). If you figure it out, please let me know because I would definetly do that to mine too. I think it would probably work with a relay and by-passing the sensor. Don't know exactly how you would do that though. Please let me know. I also just found out last night while trying to install my remote bottle opener that my bottle heater was not working because a connection at the relay had popped loose. I noticed at the track last week that my heater was never getting hot when on. Maybe I could of ran a little better if I had a little more bottle pressure. I'll never know now though.

4GRookie

iTrader: (3)

Please do not attempt this...EVER!