I appologize for the multiple posts guys, but I've been away and there are several questions that deserve a response.

Take_one_77, I assume you're asking about launching to light the tires. I never do a burnout going up or down hill and always from a standstill. As for sidestepping the clutch, that's what XViper does, and after discussing it with him at length he managed to convince me that it is the safest way to launch the car (assumning that you are running the OEM tires or other tires with no greater grip). I usually drop at 6k ... If the surface has enough grip to need 8k to break the tires then I won't be doing burnouts at that location. Not saying that it would damage the car or anything, but it's more stress than I care to put on my own car. As others have said, if you play, you pay, and while I can pay for a replacement differential if I blow mine, I'd rather not, so I stick to things I'm confortable with.

There is no need to panic over a little smell from the clutch, but normally the only thing you should smell is burnning rubber.

EVERYONE - Please don't try burnouts unless you are ready to fork over the cost of anything you might break. While some of us have done hundreds or even thousands of hard burnouts without having any problems, it only takes one mistake for the fun to get VERY expensive. If you dump the clutch with the revs up and the tires don't break lose for one reason or another it can be really hard on the driveline, and if you have larger than OEM tires or R compound tires, are on a surface that delivers more grip than you expect, or even if you have an extra load in the trunk or are going up hill (where more weight is transferred to the back tires making the initial stiction higher and harder to break), you can break your car. If you just want to make tire smoke, find a safe and legal place (like a gated private parking lot), stop, turn the steering to full lock, start off normally and then after you are moving and the clutch is all the way out, get on the gas hard. Be SURE that you have room to slide, because when you get on the gas the car is going to slide. Get on the gas hard enough and you'll be spinning the tires and spinning in small circles, and you can burn all the rubber off your tires in short order without ever having to launch the car hard.

LOL, it sounds stupid, so it probably is stupid, but it's also fun, and many people would pay to watch.

 

If the goal is maximum acceleration off the line, you need to limit tire slip to around 10% (more or less, depending on things like tire compound and surface conditions). I like to bark the tires (regardless of what car I'm driving) and I do it in the S2000 sometimes, but ONLY when I'm starting off and turning and I know that the tires will bark easily if I rev a little and let the clutch out aggressively. Hopefully it is obvious that doing this on the street is going to lead to a spinout sooner or later and should be avoided, but it is fun to chirp the tires this way when and where it can be done safely.

The problem with launching the S2000 with just a chirp is that you end up at 3,000 to 4,000 RPM (or less) after the chirp, and you have to wait for the engine to pull to 6k before the car starts accelerating well again. You *could* keep the revs up in VTEC and control the tire slip with the clutch, and this would be the quickest way to launch the car, but I am pretty sure this will burn up the OEM S2000 clutch in short order. I haven't actually tried it to see, so I could be wrong, but asking the clutch to tolerate high loading when it's turning 2,000 RPM or so slower than the flywheel is asking a lot. I'd expect to smell more clutch than rubber burning.

To get the S2000 moving as quickly as possible you have to keep the engine above 6k. To do this, something has to slip, and it's a choice between the clutch and the tires. Slipping the clutch will allow you to control the amount of torque going to the contact patches so you can make optimal use of the available grip, but it is hard on the clutch. Spinning the tires enough to keep the engine in the powerband is slower than slipping the clutch, because there is excessive slip. The closer the revs are to 6k the quicker the grip will "catch up" and the better the launch will be. The difference between maximizing grip by slipping the clutch and keeping the revs up by spinning the tires is probably on the order of a third of a second. I haven't actually measured this, because I won't expose the S2000 clutch to that kind of abuse, but I've owned other cars where the difference between a near perfect drag launch and boiling the tires was a third of a second or more in the 60' time.

IOW, your highschool teacher was correct.

 

"If you play, you pay." - Steve McQueen

This story was published before most of you were old enough to drive, and even before some of you were born, but did you know ...

Steve McQueen was stopped for speeding (in his Plum Red Ferrari). When the cop approached the car and saw who was driving it, he appologized for stopping him, to which Steve responded, "That's ok. If you play, you pay."

I think that's the origin of the saying, and would like to know if anyone is aware of it ever being used prior to that time (late 60's or early 70's).

Plokivos, we always preloaded the drivelines in our Chevy drag cars, but those cars had so much slack in the driveline that you dare not snatch it out suddenly. I still can't make myself sidestep the clutch. I let it drop as fast as it will drop, but my foot is moving up at the same rate only a fraction of an inch ahead of the pedal. I want my foot over the clutch so that if anything goes wrong (like unexpected grip) I can get the clutch back in as quickly as possible. I also stop the clutch release right after the full engagement point, rather than letting it fly to the top of the stroke, becuase I want to be close to the disengagement point if anything goes wrong. However, keeping your foot above the clutch the way I do involves a couple potentially serious risks. If you don't move your foot fast enough you delay the clutch release and blow the launch, and if you stop the release too soon you blow the launch. Better to side step the clutch and remove those risks, but I just can't make myself give up some of my old habits.

 

Thanks Red.

Was just a query as I decided to launch the 07 one and could smell clutch. Remembering doing the same in the 00 and all i could smell was the tyres.

I always dial maximum revs to ensure the tires fry first above and beyond anything else

I too would prefer to upgrade tyres and not a diff.

Thanks for all the good replies as always!

 

i floor the clutch let the 2step do the work then pop it and go

 

UOA. Used Oil Analysis. You send a sample of the old oil to a company like Blackstone, and they can tell you all kinds of neat stuff about what's going on inside your machinery.

http://www.blackstone-labs.com/index.html

 

The clutch smell would worry me. Why don't you remove the CDV?

 

hmm i've heard of this before, but i thought it was only for engine oil. i should give this a try! thanks!

 

IMPORTANT STUFF
DO NOT do repeated burnouts or aggressive launches. The diff gets hot quickly and doing repeated burnouts without letting the differential cool down in between will cause the diff to fail. Do a burnout or a few donuts, and then drive the car around gently for a while, to let the airflow under the car cool the differential before repeating the antics.

SOMEBODY is going to go out and find a really grippy surface, try a hard launch, and blow their diff or break some other part of the driveline. I can see it coming (and it won't be the first time nor the last). You guys know you do this crazy stuff at your own risk, and there ARE risks. Please be careful.

 

It worried me also. I'll just have my clutch "checked" when I take it in for a service. Am prepared to pay for a new clutch if its wrecked.

I'd remove the CDV but that would encourage me now wouldn't it