Jim Will

went out for a spin tonight and noticed a few things:
1. When at WOT, I run into my rev limiter at 6800 rpm indicated (just one hash mark from 7000)
2. When accelerating hard through the gears, If I keep the throttle wide-open the engine will dramatically reduce power right at 6800. If you begin to release the throttle slightly (as if you were beginning an upshift) you will see 7000 before the limiter breaks up the party. Seems that just under WOT allows slightly higher rpms.
I tried this in 1st and 2nd gear 2x's (didn't dare try 3rd)
Hope this helps some.

Kenny

Gee, you guys sure like thrashing your cars.. You should consider getting a Honda S2000 next time around, or have the luxury of driving a Ferrari 360 once in your life... You'd be the redline king approaching 9,000 rpm..

TXurS6

I've never thought redlining a car is thrashing it. Now go beyond that, in the case of a non-limited engine, and I would consider it thrashing. If the car is well-maintained there should be no problems associated with hitting the redline occasionally.

Jim

myfirstimport

"didn't try third gear"........No guts = No glory.......just kidding

myfirstimport

Agreed.....cool thing is, most times 6 to 7k is not needed

StealthMobile

I was simply curious why I was unable to achieve a 1/4 mile ET, reached by Jim, when my 60' time was a bit better. Actually, in the 2 runs I am comparing, he had pulled ahead by the 330' mark, or after 1 shift. My quest was aimed at finding out if this was due to differences from 2000 to 2001 models, or just driver error. He mentioned shifting at an RPM that I *thought* my car could not reach. It is very clear that I shifted too early to get his ETs. The reason I shifted early was that I *thought* that my car hit its rev limiter at 6750, so I was making sure to shift earler, at about 6500.

I based the 6750 number on a couple of hard 1st gear acceleration runs. I just today did a part-throttle run in 1st and did in fact see the gauge read at almost 7000. So I suppose the ECU has some "intelligence" built in that uses the rate of RPM change to determine when to engage the limiter to prevent overspeed.

Should I ever venture to a track again, my challenge will be to get as close as possible to that "cut-off" without actually touching it. Whether or not 200 RPM will close the gap is anyone's guess, but it will eliminate 1 more variable. Of course, this is nothing that is really needed for everyday street driving. It is just for my own curiosity!

StealthMobile

So it seems that 6700, where you shifted during your runs, is about as close as is humanly possible to get max acceleration.

I don't know if throttle position affects the manual models as it does the tip models. Ming 2.7T and NASA Racer found that a throttle position just touching (not engaging) the kick-down switch produced the most power. I will not be able to test this unless I meet someone at a track event with a G-Tech. I cannot even begin to think about this kind of "testing" on my 35-MPH residential roads!

Hmm, maybe if I plotted throttle position against requested torque on VAG-COM I could get some clues? In any case, I won't be doing this any time soon.

Jim Will

running to redline won't do much to harm the car. Not much at all. I just consider it "exercise" for the car.
As we all know, you must get exercise 2-3x's per week to live a long and healthy life.

Jim Will

Your launch is perfect, even better than mine, so you're doing everything right there.
Your shifting might be slowing you down some. It's not going to make a huge difference, but it all can add up. I'm a very quick shifter. My 1-2 shift is very quick indeed. From the sidelines, other folks couldn't tell that I was driving a stick (or so they said) I do NOT powershift, I release the throttle completely for all gearchanges, but I would say that it takes under .2 for a 1-2 gearchange (say .15-.17) I've never timed myself, but it feels about that fast. On the 2-3 upshift, I take a little longer, probably a full .2 and perhaps slightly longer. I want to be sure that I get 3rd when I shift 3rd. I missed 3rd gear once when on the track. It's very embarassing.
Do you "deep" stage, or "shallow" stage? Deep staging is when you pull into the staging lights, then creep forward enough so that the "pre staging" lights go out. This is OK, and it will allow you a slight "head start" of approx 18". Not a big deal, but I have seen it cut et's by as much as .08-.10 depending upon the car, but your mph will be slightly lower (maybe .5 mph or so). The other option is shallow staging. You just light the staging lights and stop there. What that will do is give you a "running start" as you have an additional 18" or so to get the car moving. Your et's will be slightly slower than shallow staging, but the mph will be slightly higher. I always "shallow" stage, and launch hard on the 3rd yellow.
I also noticed that on the mild temperature days (in the mid 40's and up) the car performed better than on the bitter cold day that I ran last time (in the low 30's) These factors may all make add up to .2 reduction in your et. I don't think that weight will make a huge difference, as I have always run with almost a full tank of fuel and a 220 lb driver. Needless to say, my car is "chubby" weighing in at 4080lbs on average with driver.
Good luck. I'll be visiting the strip one more time, just for giggles. I want to give it one last go at breaking my 14.4.

Ming 2.7T

Also I wonder if that K&N is helping a tad at the top end?? And spray those intercoolers! while sitting there. Tire pressure should be higher for less road surface grip. Dieting helps too!!! LOL!!! I need to shed 10 -15 lbs, could be the differnece of a few hundreths!!! Oh ya, stickers help also, at least 2 -3 hp...