I did a search, and it answered most of my questions.

So far I've done 7 autocrosses, and 2 25+ run practice sessions, but I never bothered to take the time to actually figure out how to get the most of my automatic transmission.

I do know that it is best to start off with it locked in 1, kick it up to 2, then leave it there.

However, I find myself coming out of tight turns begging for that first gear. Sometimes, I've resorted to kicking it up to Drive, and let it do it's own thing, but we all know how bad that sucks ("response" time, clutche slippage, gear hunting).

I've thought of pulling it down to 1 when braking, but I'm not sure what kind of stress I could be putting the transmission through by doing this. Bad idea?

Also, the concept of left foot braking is a bit unclear to me. Can someone explain it to me?

BTW, I did install a 24,000GVW B&M Supercooler last year, and I drain+refill 3 quarts of Honda ATF every other oil change

 

i have an accord auto. i usually leave it in D3, because i need it to automatically downshift after turns into 1st because in 2nd at 20-30mph really sucks, but i hate it when im coming out of a turn i floor it, it downshifts to first, my tires start spinning, then it shifts into 2nd early and it bogs. maybe i need to floor it after i get out of the turn and go into the turn a lil faster? but then again im a n00b when it comes to autox.

manually shifting it, might be kinda hard because u actually have to think about which gear u need it in and i like to keep 2 hands on the wheels.

 

I think you should avoid leaving it in D3. So many things are going on in your transmission when you do that! I remember doing that at my first practice session, and the transmission got hot enough that it would gear hunt when pulling out of Park

 

I work at a Honda dealership and Ill ask our autocross mechanics what they think of going to first manually in a turn. Also, I should be at the next A&M event so if you want to ride along with a left foot braker I'd be happy to let you and give you advice.

BTW - How did you do yesterday?


Kevin - The Blue Civic Si in your class yesterday.....

 

my tranny has a sports mode so it keeps it in lower gears longer. i have no problems on gear hunt unless im coming out of a turn spinning and the rpms are like 5k+ then it shifts into 2nd and bogs.

 

Has any of you automatic guys tried to re map the up and down shifts per RPMS by the ecu?

For example you would put the car in (D) and set the 1st and 2nd gears to automatically shift up at 6k rpms and automatically shift back down a gear if the rpm's hit 3k rpms.

This has been on my mind. I didn't know if anyone has attempted this.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Blue Si #72 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I work at a Honda dealership and Ill ask our autocross mechanics what they think of going to first manually in a turn. Also, I should be at the next A&M event so if you want to ride along with a left foot braker I'd be happy to let you and give you advice.

BTW - How did you do yesterday?


Kevin - The Blue Civic Si in your class yesterday.....</TD></TR></TABLE>

yes, I remember seeing you!

I was in the Silver Accord Sedan with the funny setup: 18x7.5" wheels in the front, stock 15" steel wheels in the back. Surprisingly enough, the car was stable once I had 42PSI all around. I'm doing this temporarily, since I destroyed my other 2 18" wheels, and am hoping to find a set of wheels for autocross soon...

Anyways, I got a 79.887. I'm happy with my score, but I kept on pegging cones by cutting it too close

BTW, here are the results:
http://www.tamscc.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1235

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by LX4CYL &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

yes, I remember seeing you!

I was in the Silver Accord Sedan with the funny setup: 18x7.5" wheels in the front, stock 15" steel wheels in the back. Surprisingly enough, the car was stable once I had 42PSI all around. I'm doing this temporarily, since I destroyed my other 2 18" wheels, and am hoping to find a set of wheels for autocross soon...

Anyways, I got a 79.887. I'm happy with my score, but I kept on pegging cones by cutting it too close

BTW, here are the results:
http://www.tamscc.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1235</TD></TR></TABLE>


Update - You won't hurt the tranny if you manually downshift to 1st but the tranny might over-ride you. What I mean is that even though the shifter is in "1" the tranny won't make the shift until it thinks it is safe to do so. The mechanic here thinks it will shift when it would hit 3500 rpm after the downshift. No matter what it does I bet it's better then leaving a slow corner stuck in 2nd! Hope this makes sense.

Will they come out with a better formated results? Dang, that one is hard as heck to read!

Yeah I didn't get a clean run in either. Too bad, if I hadn't hit the cone on my third run I would have had a clean 67.7XX and taken the win Still happy though since it's only the second event the car has been to since I put the coilovers on. It seems I have to re-learn how to drive it....


PS - I'm the Novice Chief at SASCA. If you want some more seat time and some free instruction you should come out to our event this weekend (the 15th). It's a bit of a drive but you will get 8 runs (or 16 if you double enter) on average.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Blue Si #72 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">


Update - You won't hurt the tranny if you manually downshift to 1st but the tranny might over-ride you. What I mean is that even though the shifter is in "1" the tranny won't make the shift until it thinks it is safe to do so. The mechanic here thinks it will shift when it would hit 3500 rpm after the downshift. No matter what it does I bet it's better then leaving a slow corner stuck in 2nd! Hope this makes sense.

Will they come out with a better formated results? Dang, that one is hard as heck to read!

Yeah I didn't get a clean run in either. Too bad, if I hadn't hit the cone on my third run I would have had a clean 67.7XX and taken the win Still happy though since it's only the second event the car has been to since I put the coilovers on. It seems I have to re-learn how to drive it....


PS - I'm the Novice Chief at SASCA. If you want some more seat time and some free instruction you should come out to our event this weekend (the 15th). It's a bit of a drive but you will get 8 runs (or 16 if you double enter) on average.</TD></TR></TABLE>

ouch, I'm heading back home for Houston for the weekend. Thanks for the offer!

Anyways, that's the best they could do with the results, and I agree, they are poorly formatted...

As for the transmission, I guess left foot braking would help me come out of the tight corners faster (like that back chicago box-like corner)??