i dont know if this is the right place to ask but here it go's. my friend drag races his el camino from time to time. its a automatic car and he launches it by holding his foot on the brake, and bringing the rpm's to about 2 grand then lets go of the brake and mashes the peddle. i was wondering if this is bad for the car? what can it fuck up?

Originally posted by 00soul
what can it freak up?

I was unaware that cars were capable of having sex.

Come on man, watch the language.

To answer your question, yes, it can mess things up. It can screw up your transmission, torque converter, and other misc. parts. Will it mess it up just doing it every once in a while? Doubtful.

Yes, the torque convertor will take the brunt of that sort of launch over prolonged periods of time with an automatic. Although, that is a good way to launch at the strip for good short times...

It all depends on the type of converter. That is the way I launch my drag car. I line lock it to heat the tires, then pre stage. I wind it up to about 3000 to engage the converter and ease into the staging beam. As soon as I am full staged I stand on the brakes and bring the R's up to about 3500-3700 depending on the conditions and let off the brakes when the last yellow lights. This gives my the best RT's and 60ft's so far with traction bars and 9" slicks on a 3500lb vehicle. It helps that I use a 700R4 OD tranny and have 4.11 gears in a Currie 9" rear.

He probably won't do any damage in the short term but a performance converter and tranny rebuild w/ a shift kit will increase the reliablilty of the tranny. If he is using A TH350 they can take alot of abuse, and are cheap to find and rebuild. They can be built to handle a ton of power.