A friend of mine who has about 5 drag cars told be that an automatic is better for drag racing because of the quicker shifts. Agree? Disagree?
1320stang said:Well, for the beginner, an auto is faster, but most serious drag racing is done with a manual. Pro Stock cars make 1500-1600 HP and they run 5 speeds, not autos. There wiould have to be a reason, wouldn't there? There are Power Glides built to handle 2000HP, the problem is, they're 2-speeds, a 5 speed stays in the power band better.
Now, most heads up guys running 1400hp or better are running a hybrid tranny, they're 5-speeds with a converter. Do a search for Bruno transmissions to see what I'm talking about. One problem is though, they're heavy, but most of those cars have to weigh 2800# or better. The other thing is, clutch management is a little above many people's understanding. Billy Glidden runs a 5 speed in his outlaw 10.5 and is way more consistant than most guys running a auto that run against him, but he has years of experience. Dan Millen changed from a auto to a 5-speed, there has to be a reason.
Driving a clutch car is way more fun.
Eyeless_Seven said:To each his own but there are advantage's to being able to stay in a gear for a few second longer. Just because you shift faster with an auto, that not going to win the race for you.
DJE55 said:Your post is a little misleading. All the transimission you are referring too funtion as an auto. Billy Glidden isn't pushing in a clutch like any 5spd. He's pulling a gear lever just like an auto. What are the Top Fuel guys running? They aren't running 5speeds and bang'n gears. Also, the transmissions that you talk about cost more than double what most of these guys spent on their motors. You want see them in any street car unless it's a high end Pro-Street show car. Put a built auto in any 5spd Mustang and your ET's will go down. I've drag raced both manuals and auto. You are not bang'n gears quicker than an automatic period.
1320stang said:It's not misleading at all, clutchless 5-speed, it's still a manual, if anything, your post is misleading, that auto is functioning like a manual, your shifting the gears. An auto that you put in drive is an auto. The top fuel guys are running manual transmissions, why are they putting multistage clutches? Have you not seen them shifting with the in car camera? And Pro Stock cars don't have clutchless 5-speeds. A brand new Jerico is about $3450, that's not including the scattershield, double throw-down clutch and pressure plate, but really good converters are around $800-900, so that is about a wash. The Bruno type trannies are the $7500 ones.
The point is, a manual transmission is lighter in most cases than an automatic. There is less parasitic drag with a manual than there is with an automatic. A novice will run faster with a automatic than they would with a manual, granted, but with experience, I think the same car, same driver, the manual will be faster than an auto, mainly due to the car being able to stay in the powerband of the engine. I've grabbed 2nd with the wheels in the air before.
Lets let someone look up the records in NHRA Stock or Super Stock for Manual and Automatic classes. See which are faster between the two for each record, that should settle the argument, agreed? The engine and suspension rules should be equal for both with the only difference being the transmission. Those cars should be more indicative of the power range of the cars most of us have although these cars are tuned to the Nth degree, so it should show the greatest potential available.
95CobraStang said:If we are going to generalize -as it appears you would like to do - then you are right.
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