Leave in 2nd???

[Speed_kills_WS6]

I've noticed some of you talk about leaving in 2nd gear at the track. I run consistent 8.4's with a 2.0x 60ft. Can't seem to get my 60ft time down. If I leave around 2500rpm in 2nd, would it hurt anything? Could I possibly lower my time like this?

[rc74racer]

I've never heard of anyone leaving in 2nd gear. You would need to launch at a very high rpm to keep from bogging and then it would just spin. Not to mention you'd be killing your clutch.

[karpetcm]

I have several times in my 93Z, would have to have a good clutch to do so. At 2500 rpms you will no doubt bog the motor. I had to take off at about 3800-4200 rpms and ride the clutch a bit. Ofcourse i had 4.10 gears which will help you big time when it comes to taking off in 2nd gear along with a good clutch.

[rc74racer]

I have several times in my 93Z, would have to have a good clutch to do so. At 2500 rpms you will no doubt bog the motor. I had to take off at about 3800-4200 rpms and ride the clutch a bit. Ofcourse i had 4.10 gears which will help you big time when it comes to taking off in 2nd gear along with a good clutch.

At the track? I can't figure out why anyone would do this at the track. Maybe on the street to do a long burnout or to be lazy at a stop sign or light. Any time you ride the clutch you are doing damage.

[karpetcm]

Well, your riding the clutch either way because you cant just drop the clutch at 2000-2500 rpms and expect a perfect take off you still have to ride it a bit. Also slamming gears going from 1st to 2nd isnt the best either plus you cut down on one less shift. If you know how to do it properly with a good clutch and 4.10 gears you can pull off quicker E.T's. I started off learning how to do long burnout on the streets with 2nd gear and then realized if you can get it to take off at a certain rpms with the right amount of throttle and clutch pedal youll pull off quicker times and wont be breaking too many rear ends as i did. I dont think its easy to do with 3.42's since the gearing is not short enough. With the clutch i have now i wont be attempting that because it gets soft just shifting from 4th to 5th at WOT, bought the car with a worn clutch. Either way its preference to me on how you wanna drive your car, ive tried both ways and found it to be quicker with a 2nd gear take off, probably because i suck at 1st gear take off's because i dont know how to drive to well get either way too much wheelspin or just bog it innitially and then get wheelspin.

[rc74racer]

You're right there is a tad bit of riding the clutch in 1st gear but no where near what is necessary to get out of the hole in 2nd 410s or not. If you can modulate the throttle properly you will always be faster in first. To each their own dude if you are having good results with 2nd more power to you.

Just out of curiosity what type of times are you getting?

[karpetcm]

at LACR when it was open a few years ago i was running 14.1-14.3 in my 93LT1 M6 and 13.8-13.9 2nd gear take off. It had all the bolt ons, no nitrous at the time.

[Kaotic_ws6]

at LACR when it was open a few years ago i was running 14.1-14.3 in my 93LT1 M6 and 13.8-13.9 2nd gear take off. It had all the bolt ons, no nitrous at the time.

what did it run on the bottle

[karpetcm]

Never ran the bottle at the track, lacr sucked and getting any type of traction there was difficult. Over there you really need to have slicks, it was right next to this dirt bike track or something. They use to be dirt bikes going there and all the dirt and sand would be all over the quartermile track. I think even if i did run the bottle i would spin even in 4th at that location, wish i new about fontana back then.