Hey i have been to the track a number of times in my ss and have run pretty well, see sig for times. I have expiremented with powershifting and it does not do very much good in our cars IMO, so what is the big deal with everyone on here bragging about how they powershift so well?

 

That's because it can take some time off, but you also run the risk of dropping your tranny. A friend of my dad's dropped a freaking ME-22 Rock Crusher! on his '69 Camaro while he was powershifting. That's why you'll never see me mess with it...Can't even afford a full-out SS, let alone a new tranny!

 

This may sound dumb, but what is powershifting? How do you even do it? When i race i just stomp the gas till it gets near redline, let off the gas, switch gears, and nail the gas again, and repeat so till done.

 

it would be doing the same thing but with out letting off the gas

 

I have never power shifted any car I owned.

This leads to more problems than better numbers.

Just learn to shift faster.

 

Agreed. In my own experience, as well as what I have read from professional drivers, conducting a simple, clean shift often produces the best times on a track. If you are trying to shift really quick (or powershifting) you may actually be loosing time. You also run the risk of damaging driveline components if you are not doing a good job.

 

As far as i know
Power shifting = Going into next gear WOT no clutch. Not a good idea for us some cars get special trannies and other things to do this

WOT shifting = using clutch to get into next gear but never taking foot off throttle.
I use this only for 2-3 shift If im scraping during a race and the 3-4 shift its mandatory for me. Tranny can take it but I wouldn't do it all the time only if its a really close race and you need to do somehting else to try and win. For me boost stays peged at 16.5 psi going into the next gear which is always a good thing. When i try it at the track though the tranny seems to hate it. Maybe because theres more grip so all that backlash is going into the drive train.

 

no power shifting and WOT shiftinga are the same thing... its just never letting off of the gas

 

i dont get how this would help, if you went to almost redline, and then shifted without letting off the gas, wouldnt that make you hit the rev limiter? Seems like it would slow you down to me....

 

whenclutch is down its like being in neutral so your not technically accelarating any more. But our cars when you push in the clutch underwide open throttle the rpms jump 1-2 hundread rpms so if your not carefull the car will go into a fuel cut on you.

 

Thats the exact same thing i was thinking. I've never even heard of powershifting untill i read it on this forum. I would imagine you'd be bouncing off the revlimiter a lot. I mean, shifting quickly while letting off the gas will keep your rpms up. The car will squak it going into 2nd easily... Judt dont see how power shifting helps... and if it does it must be a minimal time advantage.

 

Because it's a cool thing to say at the track as you are being Eye Fucked by all the hot 15 Year old girls.

 

Power shifting typically nets me around .2 tenths, I don't ever recommend doing it on a consistant basis (power shifting on all your runs) especially if you aren't patient enough to let your car cool down. The concept of power shifting is simple, if you do it right, you take less time to shift into gear and also the rpm's will not drop as much as "granny shifting" so you're in your powerband already.

 

 

dont power shift if you like your tranny in working condition

 

If done right it'll shave track time and the only thing it'll do is add a bit of extra clutch wear.

I'll make a vid of me doing some runs through the gears while granny shifting, then powershifting and you guys can see the diff.

 

i hope powershifting isnt bad because whenever i have raced anyone on the street or track or just floor it for that matter i powershift (shift gears without lifting off the throttle). As long as you do it right, you should be perfectly fine.

 

doesnt matter if u do it "right', it's still hard on the clutch and the tranny.

 

Bottom line, if you want to play you've got to pay. Don't do it if your concerned about breaking something.

 

As long as you are rev matching when not using the clutch, it is not really doing much to anything. There is more load than normal on the transmission, but nothing it shouldn't handle. If the clutch stays engaged by rev matching, there is no way you are causing extra wear. It will be hard on the tranny if you rev match poorly and are grinding gears!

You people burning up clutches are doing it by launching too hard. That is where the real wear is on the clutch. When launching, keep it to 2000RPM, and ease off the clutch, don't just dump it. If you are shifting with the clutch and not lifting at all, you are always causing major wear because the clutch has to slip ~2500RPM everytime you re-engage it. If it is always engaged, there is no more additional wear to it when power shifting.

In my opinion, unless you are very good at shifting your car clutchless, it is best to lift a little and shift using the clutch. You will probably shift just as fast (likely faster) than you would making a crappy powershift, and you would be avoiding major transmission damage. If you are going from second (6500RPM) to third (~4100RPM) you should ease off to about half throttle, allowing the revs to drop lower as you re-engage the clutch, making the clutch slip less because the revs are closer and you are also being easier on the synchromesh gears.

When you get good at shifting smoothly, you will put out just as good times. Destroying your drivetrain by trying to fast instead of smoot will get you nowhere! Dragging requires finesse, not brute force.

 

Do you gets hit the rev limiter when you power shift?

I don't do it often... but when I do...

For a split second between shifts... the tach will jump into 6800 or 6900 rpms... no revlimiter on that...

-Rich

 

If you do it right you won't hit the limiter, if you miss the gear you will hit the limiter. Accuracy and speed are key.


You're on a whole different topic dude. We are talking about shifting gears while depressing the clutch, but not lifting off the gas. What you're talking about most people don't even know they can do. Also, our tranny won't shift fast without using the clutch, I drive around town without clutching, but I would never try to race like that.

 

If you read my post more carefully I am talking about all types of shifting, including full throttle shifts while depressing the clutch:

I agree too that I see little advantage in driving the car clutches at the track. The throws are fairly long in my opinion (despite GM's claim of a "short-throw), so you'd need to be pretty damb good to shift without your clutch while rev-matching.

 

Yeah, but I just didn't understand why you brought up the issue of trying to race without using the clutch. Because that hadn't been mentioned AT ALL in this entire thread untill you did. Also, I doubt many of the people here know how to do that anyway.

I'm not calling you an idiot or anything, I just wanted to try and clear up some confusion and to make sure everyone is still on the same page.

 

No problem. Wasn't trying to be rude or defensive if thats how you took it. Just wanted to add some other things about shifting to the debate that hadn't been brough up like you said.