How to Race a Manual Transmission Car

Manual transmission cars give you better performance then automatic cars, but require you to be a skilled driver to do so. This article will focus on how to get the best 0-60 result from a stick shift car, which, after lots of practice, should overshadow the performance of same car with automatic tranny, no matter how hard the other driver will press the pedal to the metal.

Instructions

Difficulty: Challenging

Things You’ll Need:

• Shift stick car
• Empty strech of road or
• Better yet - race track
• Soft shoes

1. Do you know how to drive a stick ? If you do - proceed to step 2. If not - first learn and be skilled at the normal driving of a manual transmission car. Get familiarized at : http://www.ehow.com/how_3234_drive-car-with.html
2. Pre Launch - Revving up Most engines have their power band between 65%-95% of the red line, so your aim is to keep the needle of the RPM gauge at that range throughout the race. Hold the clutch pedal down with your left foot, and the brake pedal down with the heel of your right foot. put the car in 1st gear.
3. This step causes great wear on the clutch, and if prolonged too much might burn your clutch. Obviously you want to keep it short- 2-3 seconds at most. Without easing the pressure on the brake pedal start applying pressure on the acceleration pedal with the ball of your right foot till engine revs rise to around two thirds of the max, and steady there. Look forward to see that all is clear ahead. Slowly raise your left foot until engine revs start to drop, and hold. Increase pressure on the gas with the ball of your right foot to keep revs steady at the power band. Keep your right heel on the brakes. Look for the launch signal.
4. LAUNCH - The fastest launch will include a little wheelspin and lots of slipping the clutch. If your car has good tires and a weak to medium engine you won't be needing wheelspin at all to get your best performance. The main aim is to avoid excessive wheelspin by pressing the gas pedal too much, but also avoid bogging down the motor by pressing the gas too little. If on launch you press hard on the gas and throw up the clutch you'll get a lot of wheelspin and not much grip. Nice show off but bad racing skills. The only way to find out how much slipping would be just right is to experiment at the track, holding the throttle at various rpm levels. On launch - Slip your right heel from the brake pedal and increase pressure on the gas pedal. Simoultaniously rather slowly release the clutch with your left foot while increasing pressure on the gas pedal in effort to keep revs inside the power band. Once clutch is engaged and wheelspinning is over jam the gas to the floor.
5. Free acceleration - When clutch pedal is fully released and gas pedal jammed to the floor, watch the RPM gauge as the needle climbs towards the red zone. If the car is not fitted with RPM counter there should be a red line on the speedometer to mark the correct speed for a change. With experience you will be able identify you've reached the correct RPM to change gear by hearing. Most modern cars are equipped with ignition cut off just at the start of the red zone, and revving the engine to that area is not good for it anyhow, so you'd try to change gear exactly at the red line.
6. Change to 2nd Gear - Your aim is to lose as little time as possible between pressing and releasing the clutch pedal, because when the clutch is pressed there is no acceleration at all. When correct Revs are reached do the following very quickly - press the clutch pedal with your left foot as quickly as you can. - ease on the gas pedal but don't release it completely. - shift to second gear as quickly as you can : don't meddle with the neutral zone - just throw the lever firmly and very quickly from 1st to 2nd. Do not grasp the knob of the stick with your fingers, just place your hand above it with your fingers in front and pull. - Release the clutch pedal to the point of friction. - Start pressing the gas pedal again and release clutch pedal not very quickly. - press the gas pedal firmly back to full throttle. Best acceleration on the shift should be accomplished with no wheelspinning at all. Skilled racing drivers will complete this step in about 0.5 second, losing less then 0.2 seconds of no acceleration when clutch is disengaged
7. Most fast cars will reach 60 MPH on second gear, but if needed - follow step 5 and 6 again to change from 2nd to 3rd gear, and again from 3rd to 4th gear if needed. Most sports cars will reach their top speed on top gear, but family cars will usually have their top gear for cruising, and reach top speed on one down from the top. To get best acceleration do not up shift before the correct RPM for a change.

Tips & Warnings

• When shifting from 2nd to 3rd you do not need the clutch to disengage from 2nd - just to engage 3rd, so you can simoultanously press the clutch AND shift the lever, shaving another split second off your times. this, however, is not recommended with 1st gear which in most manual cars is asynchronious.
• Racing a manual transmission car takes a big toll on the car's mechanics. Slipping the clutch shortens it's life considerably and spinning the tires wears them at accelerated pace.
• Never practice racing on the road. Choose a location where you can focus on improving your skills and not on how to avoid accidents. A race track is a very good choice.