As most of you know, the Z is my first car with a manual transmission. Having it for almost 2 months now, I've drastically improved.

My question is about when to shift when trying to race/drive in a straight line as fast as you can. Like say for instance if you were trying to test your car for 1/4 mile speeds.

I've heard various things on how to start from a complete stop, that is launch at 1700-2000 RPMs. However, that's not my concern. My question is...When should you shift to each gear when trying to accelerate as fast as possible?

What I've been doing it is bringing it near redline (before 6600 RPM) and then shifting into the next gear. My friend who has been driving a truck with a manual transmission said I've been doing it all wrong. He said I should shift about 500 RPMs before redline (which is 6100 RPMs). Is he right? I'm asking because I really don't know. I'm a noob, so excuse me if it is a dumb question. I've just seen a lot of posts, especially in the racing forum about beating other cars & people testing their 1/4 mile when they install performance mods. I'd just like to know how to do the same.

I have a stock Z btw.

 

Those 500 rpm are insignificant if you can't shift fast enough. FOr a beginner, i would work on that. Take your car to a drag strip. You get three runs. See what gives you better results, provided you keep everything equal.

Technically, with the VQ, it's just before redline so your friend is correct. This will give you the most use of the power band. If you shift at redline, it puts you well into the upward slope approaching max torque. You end up losing some extra power. Basically, those lower 500rpm benefit you more than the higher 500rpm.

 

Max horsepower for the 350Z occurs at 6200rpm (mostly around the same for other VQs), so you'll want to shift around there. Max torque is at 4800rpm; not really being a "car guy", I don't know if that's going to be more important in a drag ... after all, isn't it torque that gives you the acceleration?