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I guess this is the correct forum to post this... cuz it's not a modification question, and I didn't see a racing forum.

Ok. So for all of us with automatic transmission cars, is there anything we can do to level the playing field in a race? I don't really want to power brake, because I don't want to destroy my brakes. What about revving it in neutral and then dropping it into D on the go? How many rpms would you want to be at when you put it in D? Should your floor it as soon as it's in D? (I would assume you don't floor it while you're still in neutral cuz a) the engine rev limiter stops you at 5,000-5,500 and b) you don't want to peel out too bad, do you?)

Anyway, yeah, what can we do?

Also, if you're shifting manually in an automatic (D3 (for first gear), redline, 2, redline, D3, redline, D...) do you need to come off the gas while shifting or not?

Finally, I assume the answer to this question is a big "no," but there's not a way to get an auto into first gear manually, is there? Sometimes I'll be in 2nd gear (in Drive) and I floor it but it won't drop down into 1st, and it pisses me off because I'm losing acceleration. Anyway to fix this or no?

Thanks,

IronFist

 
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Um
Put IT in D
and hope you win

You can race a AUTO but it will cost you! because your tranny will break in no time

 
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brake torquing is safer than neutral drop, dont ever rev it high in neutral then drop to drive ur transmission will BREAK fast

 
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never ever ever ever EVER do that unless you have a lot of money to replace your tranny

dont use a stock auto civic

 
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get sticky tires and floor it.

 
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pointless racing an auto.. just drop a new tranny or trade in your car for a stick.. or get nitrous and just easily press the button.

 
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here's a bette tip than ive heard anyone else say:

dont race. you're gonna lose anyway. our cars are slow.

hope that helps.

 
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first off, our cars are not that slow, maybe yours is for some reason, but i really dont think its that slow at all... and second GET A MANUAL, why do u want auto? especially if u wanna race the damn thing

 
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I agree with slammed civic. I dont think they are that slow. You can try something my friend did in his accord. Start at D1 and work your way up as the rev gets higher. NOTE this will hurt you transmission.

 
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Just floor it. I do agree that our cars is not that slow. Almost any car can use extra power though. I have an auto too, I wish I had stick but you can still race with auto depending on the car.

 
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It doesn't hurt the auto more to floor it compared to the manual does it?

 
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why would it? if you have a manual you tend to rev it even higher than an auto since the auto will change the gears automatically

 
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since non of these guys are really answering ur question, this is what u do okay. u should know that our cars are not race cars. so if u do this daily u will end up in the shop. but it can take abuse or what we call fun. it will just wear out quicker than normal driving. remember that racing any car is bad for the tranny because it wears it down faster!

1. ok at the light u have it in N. rev the car a little and feel the break pedal sink down more. try it again and see if it will sink anymore.

2. from N shift into D3. brake torque the car to 2000 rpms to get a good jump and believe me u will get a good jump. run first gear until 4200 or 4500 rpms. let go the gas pedal then shift back to 2nd and slam ur foot down (u will get a better boost than redlining first gear). leave it in 2nd and let VTEC do its job (if u have an EX) until right before redline. but dont hit the redline. u lose a lil power if u do.

3. let go the gas and carefully shift to D3 again and slam ur foot on the gas (u will feel another little boost). let D3 run to redline but dont hit it.

4. then just put it back in D and slam ur foot on the gas and hope u win.

NOTE: this technique has beaten 6 cylinder cars (AT/MT), 4 cylinder (AT/MT), but never try a V8. pls keep in mind that my car was stock with only an axle back exhaust and lowered on progress springs. keeping the car stock keeps the torque level highest at low end which gives us that good jump that automatics need.

WARNING: if u are going to race an automatic pls get all ur shi+ out of the trunk like ur huge boxes and amps and ur spare tire and anything else u dont need in the car.

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD: if u want go fast mods focus on a lighter body remove front giant rims and use ur steelies during races. invest in lighter parts. lightweight rims with sticky tires. and pls dont try a body kit or an airplane wing because it will weigh u down. u could use a front lip but make sure the lip is designed smooth and helps downforce in the front.

IF U HAVE DOE: and want go fast mods try an engine swap and decide whether to keep the auto tranny or not. a torque converter would help a lot. a shift kit would nice and lets u hold the gear ur in as long as u want without the pesky ECU shifting it for u when u dont want. it helps hold the gear in place while downshifting. anything else is nitrous, turbo, supercharger, twin charger, rework the motor, or one of those slingshots they use to fling the fighter planes into air on an aircraft carrier.

P.S. i hope that was well detailed and helped suit ur needs.

 
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Yes our cars are that slow, I can take a manual EX civi with my 1998 Auto Odyssey LX. I dont feel that the auto trasmission is "slower" I mean you have the same powerplant, the auto transmission is more complicated, and it just shifts automatically, if you keep your footplanted down itll go to redline before shifting, and your have a disadvantage caus eyou only have 4 gears, so your acceleration worsens because its drawn out. My advice to you is race near your house and dont drive before you race you want your cats as cool as possible, turn off your AC, take everything you can out, and gun the gas man.

 
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I was racing an auto Accord once and he tried to do the rev up in neutral, drop it into drive thing... About half a second after I dropped my clutch, I heard this God-awful "SKWEEROAAAAAAK!". I looked at my RPS, I was still fine. I looked over to my right and then back... he was still at the redlight. I felt terrible.

 
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How to race an Auto:

Uh, just don't.

 
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yo i call bs on that unless the other driver was sleeping.

 
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Floor it and hope for the best

 
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You call BS? You're BS. Honda Odyssey has VTEC Accord engine in it asswipe, and a bad *** tranny, come to Plano Texas I'll whoop your civics ***.

 
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There is a slight power loss in autos because of the torque converter and the fly wheel in the tranny. Those two pieces have to spin in opposite dirrections of one another...read up on auto trannies at the how stuff works website...thats where I read that. But again it isn;t much. The main thing that gives autos a disadvantage is the fact that it is AUTO! It automatically changes gears and thus the driver cannot specify what gear he/she wants to be in and thus available power fromn downshifting is not easily possible...this includes douible clutching, engage clutch rev release clutch...there is more to it but I'm not here to teach people to race, I'll leave that to the professionals.

Once you practice and learn the shift points on your auto and how long it takes before you get a burst of power when you slam the gas into the floor then you can control the car a lot better.

Good luck in your findings.

 
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play the music loud, you will drive faster!

 
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1.7 litre naturally aspirated engine = "damn im slow"

8.2 litre twin turbo engine = "holy **** im fast".