Manual Trannys

[joespanova]

Originally Posted by Ed Wright

Yep. Nobody wants to run behind a stick car. That and all the " man card" BS, "man lever" BS, etc. most of us ran stick cars back when they were harder to drive than now. Just annoying to listen to guys crow about nothing. Most of us know it's not any big deal at all. Just more work. Some of us got old enough diving under that cars is not as easy as it used to be. But, most do hate the starting line torn up. Faster stock cars don't care for bald spots either. I was sitting in the water box behind Jeff Covert's CJ at No Problem last year, saw the whole side of his car due to that lane going bald.
I never knowingly choose the same lane as a stick running ahead of me.

Sounds like "smack talk" to me. Whats the quickest you've ever been in a "clutch assisted" manual car?

[Mike Taylor 3601]

Kris,
Sorry to hear about extended time,and yeah,I know all about paying the goverment.

Ed,
You sound bitter,I think a stick would help that you must not be having enough fun in that auto,things like that will make a man grouchy.LOL I'm sure all the comments about manhood etc. are just jokes. I don't think I made any comments that would offend,if so I apologize.
Are you about to get your car runnin?

As far as auto/sticks combined,some classes would be fine maybe in higher classes the lower in the alphabet you get the more advantage a stick would have.
Mike Taylor 3601

[randy wilson]

I have no problem with any transmission. That being said, I've only drove clutch assisted cars, (cars that I actually clutched in between gears), those, to me, being the hardest to drive. Now, Steve Thompson drives the cobalt with a clutchless G-Force, and says it is nothing but an overpriced automatic. And he was, is, one of the best clutch, and shift drivers I've ever seen, and gained less by going clutchless then most. But, clutch cars are quicker then autos, in my opinion.

[Ed Wright]

Originally Posted by joespanova

Sounds like "smack talk" to me. Whats the quickest you've ever been in a "clutch assisted" manual car?

Very low tens, in 1977, 78, 79, ....
Shifting in the air is no big deal either, was doing that back then too.

[Bobby Fazio]

Originally Posted by Patric Fox

That's funny Bobby, I havn't seen your reaction times change or you argue with your dad.

Haha thanks Pat.. come to the trailer more often!

[Troy Henderson]

Originally Posted by Bobby Fazio

Cons:
-Clutches get hot in late rounds and hit harder, changing reaction time and 60' time.. also makes it harder to pull gears too.
-Shift times vary since you are human and not a timed C02 bottle shifter.
-You argue every race with your dad about how foolish you both are and that you are switching to automatic, until you finally win one then you decide you might stick with it.

PROS:
-The crowd (if there is any) usually roots for you!
-You are up there on Alan Reinharts "Cool-o-Meter"
-That warm fuzzy feeling you get when you put a modified car on the trailer

That one always makes me grin.

[Joe Schaechter]

pro manual trans - while driving a race car is fun regardless of your transmission choice, nobody has started a thread on classracer.com to say how cool their auto-shifter works or how much fun it is to race with an automatic. :-)

I have read the statements about the amount of work clutch versus auto, consistency of clutch versus auto but there are enough examples of both cars having success at the racetrack it just comes down to personal choice. Driving a clutch car makes racing a better time at the racetrack for me and thankfully my brother convinced me to try it with our 69 Camaro twenty years ago with our first Jerico transmission.

[joespanova]

Originally Posted by Joe Schaechter

pro manual trans - while driving a race car is fun regardless of your transmission choice, nobody has started a thread on classracer.com to say how cool their auto-shifter works or how much fun it is to race with an automatic. :-)

I have read the statements about the amount of work clutch versus auto, consistency of clutch versus auto but there are enough examples of both cars having success at the racetrack it just comes down to personal choice. Driving a clutch car makes racing a better time at the racetrack for me and thankfully my brother convinced me to try it with our 69 Camaro twenty years ago with our first Jerico transmission.

I've driven a high 8 second big block , glide , Camaro chassis car and I can tell you , from having driven both.....I have a lot more fun running 9.50s in my small block , Nash equipped Nova. And clutch assisted definately makes it more fun!

[Jeff Lee]

Most rounds with my AMX in D/S @ a National event: Friday qualifying with Class runoffs, Saturday and Sunday Eliminations to final round. 10.62-10:64 ET all three days. If that's inconsistent, I guess I don't know what consistent is!
A good clutch will allow for very consistent ET's. Dwight Southerland told me back in his glory days of racing he had the same experiences with consistency. And that was long before my favorite clutch was even available.
If you want to have a overly tight clutch that is too big / too heavy, then you will break parts and be inconsistent.

[cutta]

Sounds to me that the biggest con to a manual is lack of knowledge. So for those of you that started from scratch with a manual, how long was your learning curve to start doing things right? Also, how often is clutch maintenance necessary(resurfacing, re-tuning, etc). Thanks