I was wondering what the best method is if you decide to race someone if you have an automatic? Do you just leave it in drive and punch it or do you actually shift it into first and change the gears yourself? Do you leave your traction control on or do you take it off? Overdrive on or overdrive off?

 

Ive heard to leave it in drive if its stockish. Traction control off for sure, and Id say o/d off because itll make it shift earlier. ( Maybe the last parts wrong, Im auto-ignorant.)

 

Here's how I was taught to race an automatic:

OD off, trac off, leave in drive

Off the line:
Learn the car's stall point. Put 1 foot on the brake and another on the gas as if you were doing a burnout. Slowly give the car gas and put a load on the torq converter. If you spin the tires, back off a little. The car will feel as if it is ready to lurch forward. The next part takes some practice: When you GO! don't just mash the accelerator, you have to ease into it or depending on the car the motor may want to bog down. Once you find your stall point and know how fast you can put your foot down in order to let the car and motor keep up, you'll be on your way to faster launches. See...it does take skill to race an auto.

From a 30mph roll: I just punch it and go, no gearing.

 

It doesn't matter if you have OD on or off. Once you hit a certain MPH your car will shift into OD, unless you have gone into the PCM and changed this. Hell your car will shift into OD even if the plug is unplugged from the tranny. Likewise, your car will shift the same as long as your at WOT. Manually shifting gear will slow you down....99% of the time you will hit the rev limiter. Shifting into OD at WOT is NOT good on your tranny. Without looking I think the MPH for it auto shifting is 127mph but I would have to check that.


Adam

 

For me personally when starting from a slower speed like 5-15 I manually downshift it into first, thank from 45-60 I get the best jump by putting it into second gear. Inbetween those two speeds you are kind of at a disadvantage unless it gives you a good downshift by just flooring it. As for high speed launches 80+ turn off the od and just mash it, sometimes it will give you a third gear downshift turning off the OD is a must no matter what you are doing. Getting it off the line, as stated earlier, is not as easy as you think. I've had good and bad experiences manually shifting in through the gears you have to time it just right like half a second before you want it to shift. I wouldn't suggest downshifting under full throttle unless you have a shift kit, just get off the gas when you shift down it should be fine. Trust me if you don't turn off the od on the highway you will regret it in a race. If you leave it in drive most fast cars with a stick will already be passing you by the time it downshifts you will lose that initial jump mustangs are known for.

 

This thread is super-old

 

dumb question, how do you turn traction control off?

 

the center button behind the gear select....under the radio....i think this is ur new center consol

 

haha, DUH, im so dumb. Thanks tho for the sweet pic

 

yup no problem.....just glad to help another stanger