Just a note, it's 160hp at the crank and ~140hp to the wheels. I wish it was 260/240 :D

Also, the optimal shift point for "racing" is always going to be a few RPMs higher than when power starts to drop off. This is so you hit higher in the power band in the next gear; however, you don't want to carry it to redline. I'd say optimal shift for the tC is between 5800 and 6000RPMs. One other thing you can do is double clutch to prevent the RPMs from dropping to much between gear shifting. Just be careful when doing this, as you can drop your transmission if you don't do it right (I have actually seen this happen, hilarious when it isn't your car).

Also, the term for losing traction when shifting gears is called "chirping" that gear. It's actually not the best to do this because when you lose traction with the surface of the road you are just spinning the tires and not actually getting any power down at the road.

 

if u all r goin to be racing ur tC's at the track, drop the tire pressure below 20psi, or else u will get nothing but wheel hop/spinning....

do not rev and dump the car at more than like 4, even thats too high for the track....
the street is another story

somewhere around 3 or so is good neough with the rite tire pressure, u'll be alright
make sure those tires get nice and heated before u run, u ain't goin nowhere
u will stand still and spin tires all day.....

shifting, on this car..between 5/6k will work good, nothing higher or lower....do not redline the car

ive spent numerous weekends at the track with mine and other tC's and found these work best...but its all dependent on track conditions,etc.

theres my two cents----

 

If you want a hardcore burnout do this.

Pull the e-brake up as far as you can
Put the car in 1st gear
Rev the car to around 3500-4000rpms and drop the clutch (make sure you pop it out, dont ease off the clutch)
Pump the gas so the rpms stay in between 5000-6000rpms.

Im sure the tC can hold a burnout for a long time. Take at look at the Sport Compact Car article. Ive got my moms Automatic tC to hold a nice burnout. Pulled the e-brake, put the car in L and smashed the gas. Did it with ease but I didnt hold it long because its not my car. :?

 

ok everyone shift at 5700 and tell me what you clock in

 

while ur doin ur burnout...if the car starts movin forward, grab the e-brake and hold it up...soemtimes they aren't tite enough and u have to hold it instead to keep the car steady

 

Fatter tires will reduce the chance of wheelspin, but increase the chance of breaking other parts of the drivetrain...

It costs money to go fast, sometimes before, more often after.

 

yes, speed is a costly thing....

 

wait wait wait

If you are NEW to manual, then chirping your tires may not necessarily indicate that you are shifting properly. . .
It is possible that you are accidentally giving it too much gas (or still have your foot on the gas) while shifting. When you shift, there should be zero application of throttle (can wear down the clutch).

Sure you can give it gas while you shift, but say good buy to your clutch.

And a launch is a completely different matter (bad for the clutch, but not as bad as gassing while shifting). If you are shifting properly, and you still chirp your tires, then you are doing it right. But it IS possible to chirp incorrectly.

 

I know. I was talking about another car when I said 260/240. ^_^

Well torque is your source of power. And it peaks at 4000rpm so technicaly after that is when you start to loose power. I always thought that the peak HP was the optimum time to shift.

How do you avoid this? Hit the gas slower?

-ps- And I make sure to keep my foot off the gass/push the clutch all the way in when I shift. I make sure to pay attension to those things when I'm driving hard.

 

Errr! Wrong. Double clutching is used in downshifting, specifically in older cars that lack syncro's. D-Cings gains you nothing while upshifting other than a huge drop is RPMs... it's like granny shifting.

 

Well, actually it does allow it to go into gear easier. I wouldn't say it's necessary at all, and it definitely doesn't help "keep the rpms from dropping" as you pointed out.

The rpms HAVE to drop. That's what up____ing does lol. The whole point in upshifting is to lower the rpms. Unless you move in slow motion, you're not going to have to worry about dropping the clutch too late in the tC as it takes forever for them to drop to the necessary rpms in the next gear.

 

Yeah ummm... double clutching (rev-matching???) is only used when downshifting. I'm not sure if there's any other useful upshifting "race" technique other than power shifting, which is bad for your car so I hear...

 

Rev matching isn't the same as double clutching. Double clutching is just that, clutching twice per shift. Once to go to nuetral. Once to go into the other gear.

Rev matching should always done. Basically by waiting for the engine to slow down to match the speed in the next gear in an upshift is rev matching just as much as giving it gas before dropping the clutch in a lower gear is.

 

When launching from a start, I don't like to rev it too high (maybe 2-3 k rpm) cuz if I mess up, I'll be sitting at the lights with wheel spin while the other person pulls away. As far as optimal shift points, in my stock tC, I can feel the HP drop quickly after 5700. I'm going to see what a CAI and exhaust can do to help that.

Yeah, I was going to mention the hand brake for burnouts. I hold it up manually (I don't let it set), so I can just drop it when I'm done. I made the mistake in an earlier car I had where I jacked the hand brake all the way up, revved it high, and dropped the clutch. I did a nice burnout, but I started to pull forward after about 7-10 seconds. I ended the burnout and shifted into second, and my rear end started sliding out...Oops, I forgot to put the hand brake back down! Both of my rear tires then had a major flat spot from being dragged, and I was stuck riding with a "bump bump" until I got new ones.

You live and learn.

 

Yes. . . I had flat spots once. . . that was when I was driving my old corolla sans ABS, and some kid stoned off his @ss cut me off. . . me? Well my side view mirror and my tires were just about a total loss. Him? He was out a driver's license and about $800 hehehehehe too bad he was on a date too. . . I hope he lost his lady friend as well.

 

ok guys here is an example of what i was talking about with the powerband
https://www.scionlife.com/forums/pos...=reply&t=37405

look at the rpms. yes the power drops after 5700 roughly but it's still alot better then the roughly 3k you'll be at when you shift there, so by shifting out at 6.2k you'll catch the next gear prolly around 4k and making more power. but hey if you want to shift out at 5700 go for it, just one more race i'll win

 

linky no worky. . . it just brings up a post reply screen

 

That doesn't make sense to me. Why would you want to start each gear at 4000rpm and have your torque do nothing but drop all through the gear? If you were to start at 3000rpm then you go up through the 3k, 4k, and to 5700, where it drops off and you shift.

Say all tCs have a torque curve where 3k makes 140ft/lb, 4k makes 160ft/lb, 5k makes 140ft/lb, 5.7k makes 125ft/lb and 6.2k makes 110ft/lb. I'll set up two cars in a race. They are even untill the first shift. Car1 shifts at 5.7rpm and Car2 shifts at 6.2rpm. And I tried taking these numbers from an actual tC dyno. They are general, but not exact.

STAGE1
Car1 shifts into 2nd and Car2 pulls ahead slightly because of the pause in the shift.

STAGE2
Car1 starts pulling ahead making 140ft/lb compared to Car2's 110ft/lb. Car2 shifts as Car1 pulls ahead.

STAGE3
Car1 is almost at around 3.5k making around 150ft/lb to Car2's 160ft/lb. The speed evens out for a second before Car2's torque begins to drop while Car1 is just passing 4000rpm. Car1 continues to pull ahead.

STAGE4
repeat STAGE2 but in third gear.

Everything pretty much repeats from that point and Car1 is pretty well ahead at the end of the race.

Am I wrong?

 

^ It depends on how fast the torque drops actually. The idea is to have the maximum torque through the whole gear. I don't remember what the curve looks like :-/

You also didn't calculate in (in your favor) the fact that it will take longer for car 2 to drop the clutch from the time he clutches in due to his shifting at higher rpms.

 

sorry posted the wrong link before, here is the right one, they have the dyno map at the bottom,, maybe a visual aid will help you guys understand what i'm talking about

http://www.cardomain.com/memberpage/695429/5