Launching Your Car

Getting a good launch is important for running the best times. A few thousands of a second difference in the launch and 60-foot times can lead to tenths of a second difference at the finish line, and that can be the difference between winning and losing. The 60-foot mark is approximately where the christmas tree is, and is marked by the orange box between the two lanes.

The Perfect Launch

The perfect launch is one that the car is right on the edge of spinning the tires, and that will be different for each car and each combination of parts, but the general steps are the same. If you have staged yourself, you will need to put the car into neutral as soon as it's staged. If you use autostage, it puts you into neutral automatically once staged. Once in neutral, raise the throttle to about 3,000 RPMs. As soon as you see the lights flash, shift into first gear and begin applying more throttle. From there, you can make adjustments to what RPM you raise the car to prior to launch in order to find the optimal launch RPM. Remember that this will change as you install more parts or change tire pressure, so you may have to change the launch RPM many times as you modify your cars.