I was referring to the drivetrain more than anything else. As far as which is harder on the car overall, it depends on what you are running. The ZO6 is going to get beat up in either venue if you do it often enough and with enough intensity. Road racers wear their parts out, drag racers break them, still expensive. My drag race efforts have always been more costly than the road track experiences, but I never have approached road racing with the same intensity.

I have one second though though, about risk exposure. In drag racing the risk is missing an upshift, which the rev limiter in the car will keep from turning into a mess of twisted valves and pushrods. In road track driving, the bigger risk is a botched downshift, like 5th to 2nd in stead of 4th. In this case, the rev limiter has no effect, and the engine gets zinged, the car goes off-track sideways, as the motor self distructs! :cheers:

 

At the risk of jumping in at the last second, I was at Bragg two weeks ago and saw first hand the effects of this type of accidental downshift in a ZO6 that was in front of me. No motor damage, but there sure was a lot of spinning, dust and and cracked rocker panels. Taught me a good lesson. :yesnod:

 

Hey Power Shifter,

What tire pressure do you run on the F-1's to get a 1.77 60 foot ? You power shift 1-2 and don't get too much wheel spin ?

Thanks.......

 

When you declutch near the limiter with the throttle wide open, the engine is going to lay on the limiter until you re-engage the clutch, which will have to drag the engine revs down to 4500 for full engagement. It's tough on the clutch and shock loads the drivetrain.

Roadracing is a lot easier on a car than drag racing if you know what you're doing. I've been at it for over 35 years. Road racing shifts are quick, but should be adapted to the rate that the revs fall so the revs are matched when you engage the clutch on upshifts, and double clutching downshifts are easy on the synchronizers and clutch. Since you aren't doing clutch drops from a dead stop or pounding on the gearbox, the drivetrain doesn't see all the shock loading that it does in drag racing. The biggest problem with roadracing is fluid temperatures. As a minumum an oil cooler is usually required on production cars to keep the engine oil temperature under control, and usually it take some experimenting to find the best brake pads assuming the basic brake hardware is up to the job.

I have one car that has about 4000 miles of race track hot lapping and 70K miles total. I did a brake upgrade, a bit of suspension tuning, and added an oil cooler. It still has the original clutch and transmission. They've never been out of the car, and there has never been any kind of failure that I can directly attribute to all the hot lapping. You go through a lot of brake pads and tires, but they are consumables, like gasoline.

It's possible to be both quick and easy on the car, but it requires a well developed technique and some limits on how you driving technique. I call it the "Mark Donohue style" - smooth and easy, but a lot of guys drive like Parnelli Jones and pay the price, but they are usually slower than me. Ham fisted driving just doesn't work in road racing. You spend a lot of time in the weeds and fixiing your car.

Duke

 

SWCDuke, The point I was trying to make to YOU was an experienced drag racer Does not touch much less hit the rev limiter on power shifts. It's a problem some road racers that go to the drag strip ocasionaly might encounter. Has this allways happend to YOU, when you ventured to the drags? Do you or have you ever tryed power shifting? It's realy not very complicated. Buy the way when I sold my 01 it had made hundreds of runs, thousands of power shifts, 16,500mi and ran 11.985 on the last day of the season and NOT ONE REPARE of any kind. Point being if it's done corectly, the car will last fine. Ric

 

There's no way you can powershift without the engine hitting the rev limiter. If you shift at 6500 and take 0.1 to 0.2 seconds to complete the shift the engine will lay into the limiter. At WOT and no load it will take only a few milliseconds to hit the limiter from 6500. Of course, without the limiter it will rev to whatever depending on how long it takes to make the shift, so your lucky that Corvettes have a rev limiter.

I've done plenty of drag racing, but I always used relatively easy launches and lift throttle shifts. My favorite kind of drag racing is bracket racing, because I can drive the car like a granny and win trophies.

I feel sorry for the guy who bought your car, but I'm just glad it wasn't me!

Duke

 

WHY WOULD YOU GO TO THE TRACK TO SHIFT LIKE A GRANNY ???

DON'T WE GO TO BEAT THE SNOT OUT OF OUR CARS AND TO GET THE BEST TIMES ???

IT'S LIKE THOSE BRACKET RACERS WITH 78 CAPRICE WAGONS ALL STOCK.........THEY GO HOME WITH A TROPHY, BUT ARE THEY REALLY DRAG RACERS ???

 

Duke, Why would you want to try to power shift at 6500?(if looking for quick et) Isen't the point to get the best et's? I bracket race allso, and if you want to win you use a differant techneque than when looking for best et's. It's not as much fun as going quick. Won many times with my tow car, what a bore for the most part.(it is fun pissing of the dragsters every now and then in a combo race) Ric

 

Duke, I power shift all the time at 62-6300 and NEVER hit the limiter, most of the time I can at 6400 but why take the chance. STUPED to try at 6500 with 6600 limiter. Ric

 

Yes there real bracket racers. It hard to win any race, depending on the competion... :lol: Ric

 

Power shifter I am with you on the shifts, at 6,400 I never hit the limiter and at 6,500 I bang it every time. Now on the flip side my 02 z06 tranny gave up the GOAT at 15,000 miles and many 11.4 1/4 time all and all it has lived its lif dont you think? :smash: :cheers: :cheers: :cheers:

 

I've never power shifted a car. I do lift throttle shifts, usually at the rev limit. If you power shift at 6200 on a Corvette you're giving up some average power because there is very little rolloff from 6000 to 6500.

I like bracket racing because it rewards consistency and quick reaction times. You can come up with a relatively easy way to run the car that's consistent. Then all you have to do is beat the other guys reaction time. I can't tell you how many guys busted out because they thought I was too far ahead, when I dialed in an ET two seconds slower than what they could run. LMAO every time.

Duke

 

Duke, Yup, Racers that win know what tradeoff's to make. There ARE ways to power shift without hitting the limiter and they result in the quickest et's. Happy you have enjoyed bracket raceing, I do allso. You really do get differant rewards from it in an 8sec car but I don't mind winning in a 16sec tow truck it's just differant. The addrenalin and endorfens the quick cars provide cures my achs and pains too!!! Ric
Optic, NOS will shorten the life of the stock parts if driven at the edge, but going fast has rewards that shure are hard to explane to the unknowing. Keep haveing fun!! We only go around once. Ric