Quote:
Originally Posted by HOJO
Cammer, i've tried the E-brake thing on a country road a couple of times. i will get a bit of burnt clutch smell, is that normal? It may be that i held it a bit to long I'm not sure. At what point, sitting at the tree, do you decide to come up against the E-brake?
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I roll into pre-stage, and stop the car with the foot brake, and then immediately go to the hand brake for roll control. I'll creep into the full stage when I'm ready using the clutch and hand brake exclusively. Now, my approach to preloading the driveline changes depending on if I'm racing the guy next to me, or just trying for slips.
If I'm racing I usually try to go into full stage second - and I'll target my launch rpm before I roll into full stage, and just lightly bump clutch engagement against the brake to get to full staged. Then I'll keep that clutch real close to where I know I just felt it want to engage, and as the tree drops I just tip into that engagement zone ever so lightly, then I make a quick release on the brake and smooth release on the clutch.
If I'm just trying for time slips I don't bring the launch rpm up till I'm fully staged and the tree is dropping. You have plenty of time after green to leave, so no rush. Once I'm happy with the launch rpm, I ease the clutch till I just feel it start to bite a tiny bit (you'll feel the car tense up) and then I make my quick release on the brake and smooth release of the clutch.
A little bit of clutch smell is pretty normal honestly. You're trying to get a 4000+ lbs car moving, and to do that without a violent release (some guys do it that way, I can't afford axles and diffs!) you need to use that clutch up some. It's hard to quantify how much is too much.
You'll know if you over-did it for sure if the clutch slips in first gear on your launch. Just get out of it, and let it cool good. A key for me is to NOT hot-lap the car, meaning do not make consecutive "max effort" launches without a good long cool down period. Last time I was out I broke my own rule, here is the result - a really unhappy clutch. You'll see the stage process too, although I wasn't really trying hard to cut a light I was practicing going in second. The clutch was fine, but did need to be properly cooled. I was also not running my usual RFB600 clutch fluid, but just some cheap DOT3, which I think wasn't helping things either.