SEAFORE

Recently purchased a 2003 Turbo with aero kit, EVO ecu tune at 1.1 bar, Fiske wheels, roughly 17K miles.

This turbo is fantastic, unbelievable power nearly immediate in any gear above 2000 rpm!

Power and handling so good I am finding it difficult to find any roads that I can push it a bit without risk of a major ticket.

One quick question, I know I am an idiot for asking, and I have searched the forum for some answers. What is the best and reasonably safe (mechanically) way to take off quickly from a stop? It seem like the best way is to take it really easy and smooth with limited rpm's until the clutch is engaged and then give it the gas? Dropping the clutch from anything above 2000 rpms seem to be way to rough on the mechanicals. It is not my thing to drag race but sometimes it is tough to not blow away the guys in lessers cars with big hood scoops just taunting..... I wonder what is the standard the car magazines use, surely they do not abuse a car during their 0-60 evaluations?

Macster

Fastest way to take from a stop is to use a rental car.

Car mag writers abuse the heck out the cars they test. They'll do as many launches as needed to learn the best launch technique and get the best time. Matter of "pride".

Seriously let the big hood scoops cars go. Why should you thrash you nice car just to prove what you and the drivers of those other cars know. Almost certainly your car is faster.

What I sometimes do is leave the line quick but not real hard, then once the clutch is fully released nail the gas and pass the other car easy. Hehehehe. Hood scoops indeed. My car has *two*. Turbo scoops!

Sincerely,

Macster.

turbo4 me

If you floor it and drop the clutch, you might as well head directly to the shop for a new clutch.

Follow this procedure:
1) light rev with right foot;
2) ease the clutch out;
3) nail throttle;
4) oops you were late changing to second;
5) oops don't be late going to third;
6) by now you are over 100 so I hope you had clear traffic...

At some point between the gear changes be sure to wave at the big scoops in your rearview-

Dock

Suggestion #1 - Don't worry about running other cars.

Suggestion #2 - If you want a snappy start in 1st gear, bring up the RPM to 1500 or so, release the clutch to just before the initial bite point, when you are ready to go, smoothly release the clutch and just as the clutch reaches full engagement smoothly and quickly go WOT. Shift to 2nd when you see ~6000 RPM.

Suggestion #3 - Always follow suggestion #1.

pnamueller

I must admit I like a little rice rocket or M car smackdown every once in a while. Best way that I have found without toasting the clutch or drivetrain too much is suggestion #2 from Dock. You can do a 4500 rpm clutch drop if you like, just know that clutches are $$. Car magazines do a full out thrash to get the absolute fastest out of the cars. The more real world test is the 5-60mph rollout.

I have a few friends that like to see what my car can do, and every so often I like to show them. One of my buddies has a "400hp" evo and another has a Dinan "400hp" 335i. We take it to the local dragstrip test and tune and do all the smack talk there. I dont ever do a clutch drop. I let it rev to 1500 and let the clutch out. My buddies get me off the line, but its cool to see and wave to them as I pass them about halfway down the strip. And I have a stock 996tt.

SSST

Once you get used to the clutch, Dock's second suggestion works very well.

fly2low

my only real complaint about the 996TT was the vague engagement of the asisted clutch. I have driven manual shift vehicles for 52 years, ranging from farm tractors through several motorcycles and trucks. Too many cars to count. It was embarassing to stall the 996TT from a stop light. First big improvement came with a UMW flash. Final fix came when I did the GT2 conversion. Now it feels "right".

By the way, love the color of your car

petonic

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you, OP, for asking the question.

I got sort of a look of disdain when I shared the fact that I really don't work my clutch that well starting out, and many cars will beat me from light-to-light.

It is what it is. I had to replace a clutch, and so now, I just sort of grease it in there from 1K RPM and then roll it on. I may go up to 1500 from now on, but seriously, once bitten/twice shy. Clutch, Pressure Plate, Flywheel =~ $5K. Not worth it.

I may try removing the clutch assist spring in the future if it continues to bother me, but as the car is, it's damn tough to get it fast off of the line.

My wife's CL55 will smoke it because it's essentially a point and shoot, even though the ttx50 is supposed to do 3.9 in the 0-60 and hers is supposed to do 4.6.

BT ZR1

off the line the tt is embarissingly slow. above 4k it comes to life.

Dock

What kind of 0-60 mph time marks the line between embarrassing and not embarrassing?

BT ZR1

my jeep wrangler is quicker.

petonic

Ouch!

To be sure. This thread is making me feel a lot better about my mad clutch skillz.

After 7 months and about 7,000 new miles on the car since I bought it, I'm just now getting to the stage where I can drive it for more than a week without stalling it from a traffic light.

Dock

Is your Jeep stock?

Twinturbofan

#1) buy a tiptronic
#2) release brake with left foot while nailing throttle with right
#3) repeat as often as desired, won't hurt a thing other than fuel economy!

pnamueller

oh cmon man! your jeep is only quicker for about 10 feet!