I've heard that people feather their clutch when launching. How do I do this? Usually when I race, I rev to 3500 rpm then release the clutch all the way. Should I only release the clutch half way or slowly release? Anyone wanna give me racing tips for launching?

 

releasing it enough to get power to the ground, but not fully released, you want to be riding it.

 

Yeah, I'm not sure if "feathering" is the term you want. You want to "slip" the clutch fast, but not too fast. Slip it right from right under your peak torque rpm.

It's tough...slip it too fast, and you'll either spin, bog, or even stall. Slip too slow and you'll just launch slow and burn out your clutch while doing it.

 

sounds tricky... .so I would slip the clutch just enough so it engages but not all the way right?? How should the car feel if I were to do this right? Currently I launch at 3500 and spin tires until 6000.. I thought that was good cuz that's when the vtec kicks in...

 

Well, you got it kinda right, but see how you're spinning? If you're spinning at even 3500rpm, then you know you're letting go of the clutch too fast.

Well your car for instance, (I assume it's a Honda), is going to have a high rpm torque peak, such as 5800rpm for example. Launching has nothing to do with where your vtec will engage, just so you know. You want to launch where you have maximum torque (not horsepower). Torque is what gets you moving.

Now say your peak torque is at 5800, you actually want to launch at about 5000-5200. That sounds high, but when you slip the clutch right, you might get the tiniest chirp and you'll be right at 5800 where you want to be.

That's why launching is so difficult. When you're launching that high, you really have no room for error. It's hard on your clutch disc, and there's a high chance you'll end up spinning way too much.

You want to slip the clutch fast, and not let the rpm drop much at all.

Practice in a parking lot or something.

Remember, this is for the drag strip. Doing the same on the street will probably just make your tires spin forever. The street has bumps, the road isn't as sticky, and chances are you didn't just do a massive burnout to warm up your tires. Hehe.