Launching Techniques & Discussion

riko666

Member +
and the ol Portugese flag in the Avatar :p - btw, you should post up details of your car in the member's section, I've followed your progress on TO (when it worked...) and I still have no idea of your setup...
 

alfradio

Member +
...and the ol Portugese flag in the Avatar :p - btw, you should post up details
of your car in the member's section, I've followed your progress on TO
(when it worked...) and I still have no idea of your setup...

Which one? TERCEL1 (the '89) or TERCEL4 (the '97)?
 

javieringo1

Member +
shoot, great info guys.


well I'm off to some local 1/4 mile track this weekend, I just got my ep82, it's running stock. I've never raced in it b4. I had a LHD b4 this car, and I do have some experience with the three and the track im off to, but changing gears with my left hand seems quite a challenge (while racing, 'cause I don't want to miss one, and I want to make the best out of every shift).


Is it accurate that's it is recommended to shift at 6500 or so? and launch between 3000-3500 rpm?

track's temperature is kind of hot (it is located near the beach), so I'm even planning on putting some ice on the IC, b4 racing. My clutch doesn't feel so good (pedal is kind of high) and I have street tires (not so good looking as well :-( ).

I know the best thing is to practice, and practice with it, and I sure will, but the thing is that I'm going to the track with some friends, who challenged me to race. They've never race at the track (that's my upperhand) but they have had they car for longer period of time. A friend is running with a VW GTI 1.8t boosting 10psi (it's a 4DR) and my other friend has a 2004 mazdaspeed protege (stock) but this car has 170 hp!.

And I don't want to mess up, don''t want to get my ass handed to me, do you think I'll smoke them?

I haven't even seen their cars, but i've seen same make and models at the track, and they aren't as fast as i though they'd be. (but maybe the driver sucked!)

I'll take any advice from youall

Best regards
 

durmz

Member +
Both times i bough a gearbox with an aftermarket LSD fitted. my mate olly has a quaffe and he says you can tell its there untill you floor it then its amazing.

With mine when your not accellarating round a corner(as in the diff is locked) it clucnks as though its not sure whether to lock the wheels or not - if you know what i mean

ahh man, u dno how long ive been trying to find out what the hell the clunk is on my glanza cornering slowly, thought i had serious issues, spose i must have an lsd, this is my first glanza, had it a month, only 2nd car too, still learning new things about it every day, cant be a very good lsd mind, cars wank round corners, think thats more my nackered trd suspension..i need to win the lottery..ugh :teach:
 

Rumel786

Member +
Bump it up, get your thoughts in.

Any experience with 2nd gear launches? With about 200bhp..

Haha Iddy getting prepared for sunday???

Im going to try some second gear launches tonight, what rpm you reckon i should keep it at?

Arounf 5-5.5k rpm?
 

finx

Member +
second gear is hard without shorter gear ratios and or final drive. the gears are to long for most set ups.
you will need a really good clutch (dont expect this to last to long using this technique) and an lsd for it to be worth while.

most of the time you will find you will launch to low and it will just bog, or launch to high and it will skid up then if you lack the hp it will eventually bog down slowing your times down. only cars i have seen this successfully achieved on were 165+wheel kw

worth a shot thou i guess, my car didnt want to know about it on low boost thats close to 200bhp
 

DancerEP82

Member +
wot rpm should i shift at for the best time ???

im going to santa pod for the first saturday night and i cant wait...
but i want to make the best time i can so was just thinking wot is the best rpm to shift at :confused:
im running 0.7bar.
 

spuddy

Ulster Area Rep.
im going to santa pod for the first saturday night and i cant wait...
but i want to make the best time i can so was just thinking wot is the best rpm to shift at :confused:
im running 0.7bar.

What turbo are u running? Any cams in there? Have you ever had a rolling road done and if ya have, take a look at the graph, it'll help u to decide when to change.
 

GT_Irl

Member +
second gear is hard without shorter gear ratios and or final drive. the gears are to long for most set ups.
you will need a really good clutch (dont expect this to last to long using this technique) and an lsd for it to be worth while.

most of the time you will find you will launch to low and it will just bog, or launch to high and it will skid up then if you lack the hp it will eventually bog down slowing your times down. only cars i have seen this successfully achieved on were 165+wheel kw

worth a shot thou i guess, my car didnt want to know about it on low boost thats close to 200bhp

tnx Iddy, Rory and Finx, I didnt even know poeple did that! What are the benefits? Is it just a load more traction? and the technique...difficult?
 

ep82mick

Fresh Recruit
i seen one of d lads sayin he puts it on d limiter thats bad in drag racing you loose power if you know your car well enuf you should change rite before the limiter as for what revs to hold it at i found 2.5k was good for my car any more and it would just spin
 

finx

Member +
tnx Iddy, Rory and Finx, I didnt even know poeple did that! What are the benefits? Is it just a load more traction? and the technique...difficult?


its traction and gearing related.
normally when you launch, even on a well set up car with a good driver you are going to get wheel spin. the more power you have the more wheel spin that will be evident. wheel spin means your not transferring all your power to the ground forcing you forwards which will slow your times.

launching in 2nd has two advantages.

one more traction.
two effectively a longer 1st gear


you gain traction launching in 2nd gear as in 1st gear the torque transfer is much higher than that of second or any of the consecutive gears for that case. so you are effectively dampening the torque of the engine which means you have a greater chance of getting the car moving with less wheel spin.
once your moving unlike launching in 1st you dont instantly have to change to second. which means two things. one less time lost from another gear change. two less wheel spin again, as normally (car and set up dependent) if you rev out 1st and then slam second your going to get even more wheel spin as the car instantly jumps back into the max power and torque range.

to successfully acheive a 2nd gear launch which gains time you need to have a clutch thats well up to the job. some decent tires to make it worth while and an lsd diff. if you have all of the above you need some driving skill.

the hardest part of the technique is getting the balance between to much revs and just wheelspinning the whole way through 2nd and not enough revs and bogging the launch. both will have a massive negative effect on you time compared to doing the same in 1st gear.
 
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gedis

Member +
its traction and gearing related.
normally when you launch, even on a well set up car with a good driver you are going to get wheel spin. the more power you have the more wheel spin that will be evident. wheel spin means your not transferring all your power to the ground forcing you forwards which will slow your times.

launching in 2nd has two advantages.

one more traction.
two effectively a longer 1st gear


you gain traction launching in 2nd gear as in 1st gear the torque transfer is much higher than that of second or any of the consecutive gears for that case. so you are effectively dampening the torque of the engine which means you have a greater chance of getting the car moving with less wheel spin.
once your moving unlike launching in 1st you dont instantly have to change to second. which means two things. one less time lost from another gear change. two less wheel spin again, as normally (car and set up dependent) if you rev out 1st and then slam second your going to get even more wheel spin as the car instantly jumps back into the max power and torque range.

to successfully acheive a 2nd gear launch which gains time you need to have a clutch thats well up to the job. some decent tires to make it worth while and an lsd diff. if you have all of the above you need some driving skill.

the hardest part of the technique is getting the balance between to much revs and just wheelspinning the whole way through 2nd and not enough revs and bogging the launch. both will have a massive negative effect on you time compared to doing the same in 1st gear.

get launch control and set up up to the rev limit that its perfect for the launch in 2nd :rockon:
 

finx

Member +
agreed but you still need to work out what that specific rpm which is best for launch actually is...

it will change for every car due to turbo, power, tire, suspension, etc etc

another problem is the stock gear ratios are much to long for 2nd gear launchs in most starlet. you need allot of power to make it work. so a lower ratio gear set is another must for it to be worth while
 

perreau

Member +
Very helpful thread...had a good read. Thanks guys. i was launching with rpms way too high. 5000 to 5500
 
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