I recently raced a friend, and won, so now he wants to race with me in overdrive and him in drive. We were both in drive last time, I was going to put it in OD but forgot. Would the outcome be the same or any different? My car is a 97 V6 btw.

 

Since you have a 4 speed automatic, the car will always be faster in OD. In D you may be using less gears which you'll get off the line faster, but once you hit around 45-50mph your gonna lose alot of your power because your now losing acceleration due to fact that your in 3rd gear. In OD you may lose a little power off the line because you have 4 gears to go through and your rpms are gonna drop more, but once your in 3rd (D) you'll start to take off leaving you with more power and shifting at a higher rpm for 4th gear. So yeah in the when racing leave it in OD, i do all the time, and kill people with a stick. Since now, your going to race this kid head to head in OD, you'll probably win, and also you'll accelerate quickerand reach your top speed at a 1/4 mile. What kind of car does your friend have?

 

I shift gears manually w/ my auto, that way I can keep them near where I want them. Leave it in D until you get going 70mph or so (3rd gear max is 110mph btw)

 

Why do you shift manualy with and auto?

 

In your 97 car it makes no difference D, OD, or shift manually. Your transmission is computer controlled and at WOT it is going to shift at the right time and override whatever you selected. This is done to keep over enthusiastic people from blowing things up.

 

just when I'm trying to go fast, so I can keep my shifts where i want them

 

He has a 2003 S10 Xtreme, 4.3l V6. I don't know why, but he thought he was faster.

 

Unless you done some major mods, don't worry abut the shift points, they have been optimized for max performance at WOT.

 

you shouldn't have to manually shift and automatic car, expecially if you got a high stall. Pete is right, the cars computers when put into OD will do all the work. When in D or OD, the car's computer is set at its at max performence. Therefore, when you manuel shift your auto, your accually losing power, that is if you can shift just as good as you car's computer can. If you want the best results, leave it in OD. Plus if you tranny is bone stock, without any type of mods, and you don't have a shift kit, you can f*** up your tranny, i learned this the hard way lol.

 

The road we raced on is perfect, aside from its location. Its off in a neighborhood addition, down a back road. Its exactly .3 miles (just the good part) of flat, wide road. It has a turnaround at the end so u can just drive down there, line up and go. Its .3 miles to the end of the new part, then it does to the older road, so its about a 1/4 mile, then some time to brake enough for the other road. The only bad thing about racing my car is that its purple, and there are almost no purple Camaro's around here besides mine. Everyone knows i ts me when they see my car. In fact, Ive never seen another purple one around here, but my sister told me she saw on in a wreck about a week ago.. She freaked out because she thought it was me.