On Thu, 1 Oct 1998, Wisotzkey, Rich wrote:
> This is for you fellas with the 5-speeds. Have any of you played around
> with with launching in 2nd gear as opposed to 1st gear? Which one is
> quicker for track time?
> Rich - Ashburn, VA
>
I've thought about this some myself. I suspect a big factor would
be your rearend ratio. I have 3.55's with a sure-grip, and I would take
off too slow in 2nd. On the street, I do sometimes take off in 2nd if
I'm not in any particular hurry or if I'm going down an incline. (Or
if I want to load the engine down a little bit and make the exhaust
note sound real mean when I'm goin' through the drive-thru.) ;-) I also
wonder about the strain on the engine and the clutch that would come
from a 2nd gear launch.
If I had 4.10s I might launch in 2nd, I dunno. I guess I'll have
to wait until I get them to find out. One thing that I love about
launching in first is that its a "granny gear" (for towing, I assume),
but it'll really fling you past the automatics outta the hole, since
their first gear isn't as tall. (After the launch you're on your
own though; especially if you happen to be staged next to a fire
breathin' bottle feeder.) ;-)
-Jon-
.--- stei0302@cs.fredonia.edu ----------------------------------------.
| Jon Steiger * AOPA, DoD, EAA, MP Race Team, NMA, SPA, USUA * RP-SEL |
| '96 Dodge Dakota v8 SLT CC (14.77@92.97), '96 Kolb FireFly 447 |
`--------------------------- http://www.cs.fredonia.edu/~stei0302/ ---'
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