and you own a z....

 

Power shifting is pretty silly IMO.

Hitting the rev limiter is not very good for engine vibrations… Fuel and ignition cut is responsible for many race engine failures. Drivers that learn to control the power of a car and prevent the TCS from coming ON have longer lasting engines.

It’s not faster anyways. Wheel spin must be kept to a minimum. It's just “easier” for people who lack skills and don’t want to learn better…

 

Thanks to everyone who has contributed to this discussion. Ya'll are gonna make me want to go out and try to instigate some racing.

I've been playing around a bit with some of the stuff mentioned in the thread, and it seems that it's already helping me smooth out the upshifts. Downshifting is a little awkward while double-clutching, if only because not covering the brake while slowing down is very counterintuitive.

Which means it's also time to start groking heel-toe driving.

 

I agree with you on power shifting, but I thought the fuel cutoff was there to save the engine when you hit the limiter. Does it not do a good job?

 

I thought that the Traction Control on the Z only applied the rear brakes as necessary and did not cut power. At least that's what seems to be happening on mine. Also, on the track, this eats up the rear pads faster.

 

If you want to get all the right info go to the racing section/Drag racing.
That is where the experts on this hang out.

btw: my SB color provokes a lot of attempted street racing. I don't race on the street (has occasional slips )

It takes a lot of practice to get the Z launch down. rolling starts should be pretty simple. I have a 5AT, so even though I drive stick cars i am not familiar with how the Z reacts. I know that at the drags there is a lot of trouble when guys are shifting. Particularly 2 to 3rd gears.
I would not leave it floored while shifting only because of the risk of missing a gear which seems to be a problem in the Z's.
The other thing is do not shift at red line shift a bit before, becasue the engine will go up 200-300 rpm while you are shifting. My 5AT goes up 500rpm beween shifts, but I do keep it at WOT during manual shifting.

 

^^ wait a minute so what your telling me is that when I'm shifting from 1st to 2nd instead of lifting my foot of the gas when engaging the clutch I should just let my foot down on the floor and just shift really fast

 

I don't think I mentioned that in regard to a 6MT, but that is what you do when you power shift. I don't recommend it with the problems Z's have had with their trannies.

 

"never lift to shift", as someone says...

go ahead and give it a try, just don't redline it because when you switch gears the RPMs will climb up a bit and you don't want your car to hit the limiter when you are racing.

 

^^ exactly mt takes a little more skill

 

If you want to wear your tranny down, then power shift all you want. Double clutching, like everyone said, is for older cars, they needed to engage the clutch to get the car out of gear, into neutral, then engage the clutch again to get from neutral into the next gear. Newer cars have helical cut gears and can slide out into neutral without pushing in the clutch. So the only time the clutch is needed is when you want to go into another gear. Rev-matching is good for racing, but power shifting is not.

 

I believe in double clutching on a race track when you are heel and toe downshifting around 5000 rpms but not on the street when shifting at 3000rpms. There is also less need to downshift on the street while still at a high RPM.

With that said, it does not mean that I double clutch ! I would like to but I'm not there yet. Still getting used to heel and toe.