L99 drag racers

[Motion427]

I do a little bit of drag racing.Decide to go with a L99 Camaro for the next project.
Noticed that the thing has a super low first gear (4.03) and actually the closest 1.1 ratio is forth which is (1.15).So I guess the traditional setup's that we ran in the past is pretty much out the window.

Let say we change the 3.27's to a traditional performance gear ratio,any where from 3.73 to 4.56,and we have 500-600RWH.I'm sure it will take a lot of magic to hook up.

One thing that I noticed the other day,when you set the shifter to sport,and you start playing with the paddle shift,let say we drive at 40mph,and you slow down,the TCM will go to the next lower gear by itself.When I stopped at a stop sign.And took off again,the tranny stayed in 2nd gear instead of first? Wouldn't it be easier to hook up the car at the dragstrip with big HP if we would leave in 2nd gear? Would the TCM let us do that?
I haven't raced the car yet,so maybe somebody tried this,or some might post some info about their setup's.

Same thing with the older cars,most use a GM 2 speed powerglide instead of the turbo 350 or 400's because the 3 speed has too much lower gear for big HP cars.....
I'm just thinking out loud........figured I'd share.No I'm not drinking,but maybe I should.....lol.....

I just wanted to post it.Thanks.....

[SGOS252382]

First yes, when in manual mode (tap shift mode) the tranny drops you down gears as you slow down. It will drop you down to 3rd and then 2nd gear depending on your speed. When you drop below 10mph or so, the transmission drops to 2nd gear and stays in 2nd gear when you come to a complete stop. You then have to tap down to 1st if you want to be in 1st gear.
With tuning you can adjust these drop down speeds and make them more aggressive. That way your car will be in a better gear at certain speeds. My car is even tuned to drop down automatically to 1st gear at speeds under 5 mph while using the tap shifts.

Most the L99 A6 guys don't like to use the tap shifts for drag racing. It much easier to let the computer do the shifting. With tuning, you can set your shift points exactly where you want them. Getting the shifts just right is something very hard to do using the tap shifts. Most the guys I know that try to drag race using the tap shifts end up bouncing off the rev limiter or shifting too early and they run slower times.

I've always run fast times just using D or M (Sport) letting the computer do the shifting (TC off only).

About starting in 2nd gear. You would need some high HP/TQ to make it beneficial. The Camaro SS is heavy and stock or lightly modded (bolt ons) the Camaro tends to accelerate sluggishly off the line if in 2nd gear. Even roll racing from around 20mph, 2nd gear is a little sluggish.

But with enough HP, starting is 2nd could work. But you'd needs some pretty serious HP levels.

[69 Rebel]

Do you think 700HP is a high enough level? I might try this out (starting in second) Ill post results. won't be for another 2 weeks or so though. If any of the high HP a6 cars have tried this i would be curious to hear about it.

[Supercharged SS]

Originally Posted by 69 Rebel

Do you think 700HP is a high enough level? I might try this out (starting in second) Ill post results. won't be for another 2 weeks or so though. If any of the high HP a6 cars have tried this i would be curious to hear about it.

Try it out and let me know!

[69 Rebel]

You must have tried this out J?. Anything u want to add

[paul2010]

It will not work starting in second. We have tried everything. You do however need to keep it from shifting into 5th gear at the end of the 1/4. Program your tranny to stay in 4th and raise the rev limiter to 7200 and that will help a lot.

[se7en]

In regards to your GEARS, RWHP and Hooking up: I had a 2800 stall, 3:73's, 600rwhp and fully pedderized suspension and had a lot of problems hooking up even on slicks. After a lot of tweaking and adding some tricks recommended by others we finally got it to hook and was running high 6's in the 1/8 mile. After doing some research and talking with RPM Trans we decided to drop down to 3:45's to see what we come up with. We're assuming it will hook better with some tweaks of the suspension again, but i wont be able to test it out till the first week of August. With my set-up it feels that anything above the 3:73's i'll have trouble hooking up, but where i went wrong was changing out the 3:27's before installing the power to see the difference in hooking up.

In my opinion i wouldn't go above 3:73's for these A6's unless your dumping a lot of money in your car to have it set-up mainly just for the drag.

[69 Rebel]

Originally Posted by paul2010

It will not work starting in second. We have tried everything. You do however need to keep it from shifting into 5th gear at the end of the 1/4. Program your tranny to stay in 4th and raise the rev limiter to 7200 and that will help a lot.

Thx for that info Paul.

[2010 L99]

Originally Posted by SGOS252382

When you drop below 10mph or so, the transmission drops to 2nd gear and stays in 2nd gear when you come to a complete stop. You then have to tap down to 1st if you want to be in 1st gear.

I've always run fast times just using D or M (Sport) letting the computer do the shifting (TC off only).

Since I don't use tapshift much or haven't drag race yet can you please clarify? I assumed if I was in M, and used tapshift to get into 1st, then I would be in manual mode and have to shift manually until I went back to D or back down to M from D. So is the process to use M, tapshift to 1st, then move back to D if wanting to start in first and then let the computer to shift?

[SGOS252382]

[QUOTE=2010 L99;3438491]Since I don't use tapshift much or haven't drag race yet can you please clarify? I assumed if I was in M, and used tapshift to get into 1st, then I would be in manual mode and have to shift manually until I went back to D or back down to M from D. So is the process to use M, tapshift to 1st, then move back to D if wanting to start in first and then let the computer to shift?[/QUOTE


If the computer is doing the shifting, the tranmission always starts in 1st gear. So if you're using D or M (Sport) where the computer is doing the shifting, your car will always start in 1st gear from a dead stop.

In M (Sport mode) once you touch the tap shifts your in M (manual/tap shift mode). You must shift the car manually in tap shift mode. When you come to a complete stop, you'll be in 2nd gear. If you want to be in 1st gear, you have to manually tap down to 1st. The ONLY time the car starts in 2nd gear from a dead stop is when your using the tap shifts. When using the tap shifts you have to tap down to 1st gear (which can be changed with a tune).


To get out of M (Manual/Tap shift mode) you just move the shifter back to D (Drive). And as mentioned, whenever the computer is doing the shifting, the transmisson always starts in 1st gear when you come to a stop.

[2010 L99]

Excellent! Very much appreciated. Thank you.