Re: autocross launch

[Jarmanhome@domain.elided]

In AD v8, #1253 Mr Glenn Wasserman asks:
"I have a question regarding launching the car from a stop at autocross
events. It's been said many times the fastest way to launch the car is
to rev to a critical level of RPMs (say, 3000) and release the clutch
quickly - i.e., slide the foot sideways off the pedal, suddenly."

I'm sure there are as many valid opinions on this as there are Digesti, but 
the technique that seemed to work well for me, and not hammer the drive train 
too badly, was to bring the revs up to around 3000-3500, and then SLIP the 
clutch slightly.  This provokes just enough wheelspin to get a good lurch 
forward and not bog down, then I feed in throttle as the surface (and tire 
temperature) can take it.  I never liked banging the drivetrain, it IS hard 
on components, and I always felt my clutch would tolerate a lot more 
moderate-rev slipping than the u-joints
 would take shock loading.   Experience with my '91 Spider since new (5/92) 
has borne this out- at least for me.

Dave Jarman
Lexington, KY
USA
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