Help me.

AARC51

So, this is the first sports car I've owned and it's become clear to me that I have no idea how to drive my car. How do you launch properly? When do you shift, 7000RPMs? I think I have the actual speed part of the shifting down... But that's about it.

imag

Hmmm... this is a big question. First thing to do - sign up for a track class, whatever you can afford. It will allow you to greatly increase your enjoyment and handling of the car.

Short of that, I have to ask - is this your first time using a manual transmission?

If so, normal launching is a case of coordination. You want to let the clutch out to the friction point, or the point where it starts to engage the motor. You give the motor a bit of gas at the same time. Practice starting over and over, and you'll get smoother with the gas/clutch combo. If you really must abuse the car and go for the fastest launch, you do that by pushing the clutch in, reving the car up to a few thousand RPM, and let the clutch out suddenly (otherwise known as dumping the clutch). Done right, the car will spin tires and accelerate quickly, but it also may not go straight. I wouldn't even recommend doing this until you have much more experience.

Speed shifting is highly overrated. You actually want to work with the transmission and the motor. If you're accelerating hard, you will shift at a higher RPM because the motor generates more power the higher the RPM; if you're taking it easy, you will shift at a lower RPM (maybe 3K) because it stresses the motor less and increases fuel economy.

Now if you're shifting from 2nd to 3rd (an upshift), the motor is going from higher RPM to lower, right? That's the whole point of an upshift. That means, when shifting, that you usually want to give the motor a bit of time to drop RPMs before going into the new gear. In other words, put the clutch in, pull the stick out of second, wait a *tiny* moment, then put the stick into third and let the clutch out. That pause is greater at low RPM, just because it takes the revs longer to drop, and you get closer to a full speedshift if your up near redline (hard acceleration). If you get the pause just right, you'll feel that it goes into the next gear easily.

On downshifts, you're going from a low RPM to a high RPM. This is why the Z has SyncroRevMatch, which I suggest you just leave on. Basically, you downshift from 3rd to 2nd, and the computer will automatically match the motor revs from one gear to the next. Leave this be.

Anyway, all of this is better done with someone there who can explain it. Don't be afraid to learn - people are usually happy to teach. Just don't go driving around like a jackass. This car may not be faster than a Z06, but it's very, very fast, way faster than a 1980's ferrari 308. You need to learn how to use it and respect it, which is where driving school comes in.

Bob Bondurant is one of the best driving schools in the country, and he's right in Phoenix:

Bondurant.com :: High Performance Driving School

They offer a range of classes, from a highly worthwhile half-day class to the pricier (but totally awesome) full track weekends. If it looks expensive, think of what you spent on the car and realize that spending a tiny fraction of that to be able to enjoy the car (not to mention not wreck it) is totally worth it. I promise you will not do a class with them and not be glad you did it (and no, I don't work for them, or know anyone who does).

Anyone else got advice?

chubbs

Relax - Get to know the car in a gentle way and enjoy it at every stage.

Everything comes to he who waits.

Practise, practise, practise.

Shift when you feel it's right.

__________________
.

'03 Grey >>> '06 Black >>>'10 Silver >>> '16 Grey ^

AARC51

So what I said originally might have been a little misleading. I know how to ~drive~ the car, I owned a 5spd Mazda3 for 2 years, I just don't know how to properly race it. I clearly will not get a 13.4 1/4 mile out of this car. More like 14.3. I guess what I'm really looking for is drag racing tips on launching/shifting.

imag

I was wondering... I actually thought you might be trolling.

I'm not actually much into drag racing, so I'm not really the person to ask, but Car and Driver (or R&T or Edmunds) recently had an article about how they get the best 0-60 for each car. All of them are really about experimentation to some extent. You generally want to keep the revs up over 4K, which is why you usually want to clutch drop for wheelspin at the start (spinning tires is better than frying the clutch). I dunno - I just don't feel comfortable whaling on my cars that way (get me to a road course - that's a whole other story), but I would say go to the track on a cheap drag night. You'll learn a lot there, from other people, and from having runs timed. It will be embarassing the first time, but ask questions instead of pretending like you know what you're doing, and people will almost always give you tons of pointers....

imag

Oh - and for greatest acceleration, almost always shift at redline (some cars just before, some just after).

alan93rsa

I wonder if this transmission will handle that type of abuse?

__________________
16 Cayman GT4, Carmine Red, Buckets, PCCB etc.

imag

It will - unlike a GTR, a RWD car will have tire spin to alleviate stress on the drivetrain. Limited traction can be a good thing for reliability.

I haven't been in a GTR, but I've sidestepped the clutch on one of the old 3000GTs just under readline and it was almost painful to think of how that driveline dealt with 300 hp suddenly transferring to four basically immobile tires. The car gave a big chirp, a big *whack*, and got to 20 mph faster than anything I've been in. It wasn't really that fast after that.

Speed shifting should be okay too, so long as you aren't really jamming the transmission into the next gear. I wouldn't expect 200K out of it doing a lot of drag racing though...