If you want to win races, even "Stoplight Gran Prix's"....You have to practice!!

I know a lot of people that got their ass kicked by a supposedly "slower" car because they didn't know how to drive their own car. Launch technique and shift points being optimized can make as much as 3/4 of a second difference in the 1/4 mile. If the rule of thumb is 1/10th equals one car length-then this can mean a swing of 6 or 7 car lengths. Enough for a "faster" car to get beat by a "slower" one. The launch is critical-because if a guy jumps you 2 or 3 car lengths off the line, unless you've got some SERIOUS mid-range and top-end horsepower, your not going to be able to catch him and pass him. Big burnouts look cool, but actually kill your e.t. The trick is to launch with as little wheelspin as possible, or just enough to get the car moving and the engine up on it's torque curve. It's easier to do this consistently with an automatic-the converter's going to stall at the same speed EVERY time. This is why automatics are so popular with serious bracket racers-the key to winning is consistency. However, there are guys ( and girls ) that are artists with a clutch and can launch a stick-shift car quickly & consistently. This is the stick's major advantage as long as traction isn't a problem. You can launch at any rpm you desire. The trick is finding that "sweet spot" where you have just enough wheelspin to get the car moving quickly, with out bogging the engine, or overdoing it and frying the tires and ruining your e.t.  And there is no rule of thumb. Every car is different, even if they have the same size engine. For example-My GTO Judge and one of my Trans-Ams were both 400 / 4-speed combos. The Judge ran the quickest if I let the clutch out easy at 2,500 rpm. Over that and it would just fry the tires. By contrast-the WS6 T/A I had ran best by revving to 3,500-4,000 and dropping the clutch hard. This was probably because the Judge had 150 more hp, and 100 lbs more torque, but still-the difference in technique was required to get the best performance from both vehicles. This is true even in cars that are very similar Two buddies-one had an '83 Camaro with a 305, a 5-speed and a 3.73 rear end. The other had an '85 Mustang with a 302, a 5-speed and a 3.08 rear. They were both mildly modified-Edelbrock intake, and matching cam, headers and dual exhaust. The Camaro ran the best if my pal popped the clutch at 4,500-4,800 rpm. The Mustang would come off the line best at 2,500-2,800 rpm. Anything over 3 grand, and it would fry the tires. Ditto for shift points. The Camaro ran quickest if my buddy shifted about 5,600 rpm. The Mustang ran quicker if it was shifted at 4,800-5,000. The engine would rev to about 5,700, but because of the engine's torque curve it ran a quicker e.t. if it was short-shifted. The same goes for automatics. You can't really control launch rpm much ( You can a little by powerbraking ) without changing converters, but you can alter shift points with the modulator or the governer or simply by shifting manually. My 403 Olds / Fire-Am would rev to 5,400 rpm, but drag racing it, it ran faster if I shifted at 5,000. By contrast, my Hurst / Olds-even though it's a 455-( although it does have a hot Lunati cam, and an Edelbrock Torker intake ) will shift automatically about 5,200. However, the car runs quicker if I shift it manually at 5,800-6,200.  With the ZZ4 Chevy SBC crate motor-10:1 compression, .474 / .510 lift roller cam, aluminum heads, Z/28 / LT-1 intake,-the engine will rev past 6,000 easily, but the car runs faster if I shift about 5,600. You just have to play around with shift points and launch rpm to see what works best to give your car optimum performance. But it's worth it, becuase once you know the technique you can often "holeshot" and outrun a supposedly "faster" car just because the other guy smokes his tires too much or shifts at the wrong rpm. And that's a lot of fun. Especially if the guy's read a magazine article or something and thinks his car is WAAAy quicker than yours, when it would really only be a tenth or two under the best of conditions. Mastermind