Justin,
> ... But a launch with a stick is a fairly new concept to me, and
> I'm not quite sure what the best technique is. What would y'all suggest?
> My 320 is RWD, so factor the beneficial weight transfer into it. I've seen
> all kinds of launches from tire-smoking drops of the clutch to the same kind
> of gentle launch you'd use on the street. I'm sure I'll have to experiment
> to see what works best for me and my car, but I'm open to advice, opinions,
> and wild speculation. :) Thanks!
You might do well to take the car to the dragstrip for test and tune
night. The nice thing is that you get incremental times and can tune
every part of your run by looking at how long it takes to go from one
timer to the next. Of course the most important one to you will be the
60 foot times. The 330 foot times will also be handy since that will
tell you what your car is doing through both first and second gears.
The only drawback is that you will have more traction at the track than
you will in at autocross. Just use the time at the dragstrip to figure
out what your car likes best. The 60 foot times are dramatically
affected by launch technique.
You will also have to practice out on a surface similar to the one you
autocross on. Years of street racing have taught me how to run a car on
the street. It's not easy at first, but it's not rocket science
either. You have to learn to feel what the tires are doing and know how
the car is going to react to the throttle application. Not that it is
something that you can measure, but tire engineers have said that
maximum acceleration is in the 5-10% tire slip range. To us this means
'just a little'.
I dunno anything about how your car runs since I have never been in one,
but my gut tells me that you will probably be best by launching at
higher rpm than idle while letting out the clutch and squeezing the
throttle just to tirespin. Don't dump the clutch, but don't abuse it by
slipping it needlessly either. Your car will tell you if you are doing
it right by just hazing the tires and not bogging the motor too much.
Try adjusting one thing at a time. Let the clutch out at the same rate
every time, but change your launch rpm by a couple hundred, etc. Good
luck.
Later dates.
--
Scott Knight mailto:sknight@mich.com
http://www.mich.com/~sknight IRC:SS396man
'95 Black Impala SS
'94 Ducati 900SS CR
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