OK So tomorrow is my RX-8's first night at the strip and it's 110% STOCK.

Can somebody give me a quick rundown of what RPM to launch and whereabout I should be shifting to stay in the powerband down the strip?

I've been trying to get a feel for this car over the past 2 weeks, but between traffic and weather, it hasn't been going too well. I searched, but all I'm finding is info on moded cars (mainly turboed), and I'm not there yet, so those don't apply to my situation.

Somebody point me in the right direction? Thanks!

 

Rev to about 7krpms....then when it turns green FEATHER the clutch out.

Shift between 8500rpms and redline. The 8 stops making power at about 8500rpms.

Oh yeah...Turn your Traction Control/DSC off (Press and hold the DSC button until you see the 'car losing traction' image on your dash.

 

I love that image

Good luck at the strip and post your times!

 

I love it to...unless its icy out like it is now...then I dread seeing it pop on!

When its nice I always ride with the DSC/TC off.

 

I actually turn it off in the snow/ice also...it can be very entertaining going around corners

Plus I like to learn when and how the car reacts to different situations so that I can control it however I want to control it rather than worrying if it is going to kick in and correct for something I am trying to correct for or don't want to correct for at the time. I like the way rwd vehicles handle in snow and that includes kicking the back end out a little bit if I need to or want to. DSC/TC typically prevents that. Just personal preference. /done thread jacking.

 

My DSC/TC doesnt seem to stop the 'fun' from happening...it just stops the fun from turning to danger...my car still slides about 45 degrees before it kicks in. Your right though...my works parking lot is fun without DSC/TC.

Also, good luck at the track and post your slips SirZyrion!!

 

SWEET!!! Thanks for the advice guys!

Once I turn the DSC off, will it come on again when I start the car again or will it STAY off until I hit the switch and turn it on again?

 

it will stay off til you turn off the engine & restart or push the button again .

 

Actually, though he said just DSC...I think he meant DSC/TC.

If you just turn DSC off (press and release DSC button), then you can turn it off by pressing it again. However, turning DSC and Traction Control off (Pressing and holding till DSC and 'losing control' image appears...which is about 7-8 seconds), you must turn your car off...then on for it to work again.

 

Is there any way to make it stay OFF unless I hit the switch to turn it on? Like reverse the toggle so I can toggle it on rather than toggle it off?

 

It's not a toggle switch...its just a push button switch. The only way I can think of is making it into a toggle switch...but im unsure of what happens if you drive around all day with the button 'in'...

 

Search for a thread regarding a dsc off switch, I will try to find it, but some people were talking about mounting a switch next to the dsc button so you could just flip the switch off and not have to hold the button in for the time, plus then you could leave it off everytime you start your car. 7 seconds have you start TC would go off just as if you were holding the button.

LostAngel....I will have to try a little harder with the TC on in the snow, it seemed that when I would try to make the tires slip it would kick in rather quickly and not let me get the angle I was looking for. thanks for letting me know you have been able to do it though...more testing will have to happen

 

THE RESULTS..!

So they match me with a 12 second Mustang LOL. I roll up, and the staging guy waves me forward to line up. I'm rolling up watching him to see him tell me when to stop, and out of the corner of my eye, I see "YELLOW YELLOW YELLOW GREEN!!!" and smoke. I'm still creepin' forward to line up, and the race started!!! I "launched" from 0 RPMS a few seconds late, but I got my shifting right and somewhat salvaged the run:

R/T---------.431
60'---------3.109
330--------7.514
1/8-------10.996
MPH------70.94
1000-----13.983
1/4-------16.533
MPH------88.62

I only say salvaged cause I didn't run in the 17's. Interesting for my first time ever on a track, but I have a lot of work to do, starting with paying attention!!!

Tried to scan the slip, but they printed them so light that I couldn't read it.

 

once you stage the car completely ignore the car in the other lane and even the lights. if you are going for the best ET, winning/losing/redlighting is completely immaterial. it doesn't affect your time (neither does reaction time), and neither does redlighting. just stage the car and concentrate on bringing the rpm to the correct level, take a breath, sight down the track, and think about how you want to feed in the clutch. then go when you're ready.

 

Yeah I didnt even know what I was racing until I finished and had to exit the track first (Left lane has right of way). I was just still trying to line up when the tree lit up, so I didn't have ANY RPMs at all to launch with. I wasn't nervous at all. Just paying attention to the wrong thing. LOL I'll get 'em next time!

 

Just a few things to think about:

Reaction Time makes no difference in determining your ET and Trap Speed. RT makes no difference when you're simply going out to set a good time, but it does make a difference if you're actually racing your opponent. So, next time, worry less about the tree and your opponent, simply line up at the beam and launch when you're ready- the timer doesn't activate until the wheel clears the sensor.

60' makes a huge difference in your ET (60' measures the efficiency and magnitude of your launch- as little wheelspin as possible, traction and torque which propels the car forward from a dead stop all matter- the 60' is what kills drivetrains).
3.1 60' is an eternity.
(As a comparison, 2.0 is OK, below 2.0 is respectable for a street car, below 1.6 and you're talking about a car with a suspension setup modified to launch).

Nailing a good 60' brings down your ET significantly. Rule of thumb, every .1 taken off your 60' = .15 taken off your ET.

MPH usually is a measure of your car's capabilities (instead of your driving skills). Usually, no matter how poor your launch is, if your car runs well it will trap well if you bang through the gears quickly. Sometimes a poor launch with lots of wheelsping will actually give you a slightly better trap speed (yet, with a higher ET), than an efficient launch which nets you a great ET.

A great run will have a low 60', a low ET and a sold MPH trap.

Good luck!

 

Oh and finally, once you get used to staging and lining up at the tree, you go on 1st or 2nd amber (yelllow)- depending on how slow your reactions are. Wait 'till green to go and you're always gonna watch tail lights.

 

Wow South!!! You explained it to me like a 3 year old. That's EXACTLY what I needed! I think I learned more from that one post than I have in countless conversations with people who hit the track all the time. I guess the "vets" tend to forget not everybody knows the basics. Thanks! I'm gonna share that with my Team to see if anybody else can pick up some pointers from it cause we coudl all benefit.

Thanks again to all!!!

 

^
No prob. I used to visit the strip every once in a while when I had a modded '02 LS1 Fbody as a daily driver. Used to drive it to the track straight from the office, let some air out of the rear tires run a few passes then head back home after putting air back in. Have a few 11 sec. slips, but consider myself a novice for sure.

I knew how to launch that car well. I also had a WRX which I could launch well. Haven't looked into the mechanics of launching an RX8, as I have no plans on drag racing or launching with it (wrong car for the application IMO), as I'm into road courses now. One thing I have noticed is that it's difficult to get a clean, aggressive 1-2 shift in the RX8. The rest of the gears are easy to bang through.
In contrast, I love the solid 1-2 shift of a T-56 tranny (stock tranny on LSX powered vehicles, Vipers, etc.).

Good luck!

 

Shifting past redline in the first few gears will put you into the best torque range.

 

^ Yea, we had a very technical article on the site somewhere that explains torque in relation to shift points, and its more efficient to shift past redline regardless of tapering HP beacause of where it puts you in the next gear. At least I believe that was the overall concept. Dont hold it against me

 

^
Correct. In general (regardless of platform), it's good to shift about 500-800rpm past hp peak. This way the meat of the power curve is being used (especially if it's a peaky power curve). Of course, gear setup plays into it as well, as pointed out.

I'm clueless about this car for straight line. How does the drivetrain hold up? I went through 3 clutches and 2 rear ends on the F-bod with 5000rpm drop clutch launches on drag radials.

 

only one run??

 

Pardon the simple question, but what does ET stand for?

 

elapsed time