lil' IS300

Hey guys, this is my first post at Clublexus.com....I come from IS300.net. Hopefully you guys will know the answer to this; what is the best way to launch a 98' ES 300? Powerbreaking? What RPM?...Would gate shifting work (L->2->D)?

...I'm going up against a friend in his sabb (don't know which year). He has 190hp (auto) and is ALOT lighter then the ES300...I need as much advice as possible to beat him!

BTW, it's going to be a 1/4 mile race. No aftermarket parts...i'm stock. I'm not willing to mod up my ES because in two weeks i'm going to buy my new baby: a 2003 IS 300 (then he won't hang with me )

meZoom!

i have a 95 ES but it launches really really quickly. it wasnt always this jumpy. i somehow "trained" it to go the way i want it to. i just kept driving agressively for a few thousand miles and now, it launches really well. but only until 2nd or 3rd gear. i dont use the power button. if you gate shift, start from 2nd. dont bother with first it will just waste a few precious milliseconds taking your foot off. shift (take foot off gas if you have to) right before redline, maybe 5800 ish. i've never driven a 98 though.

es3 double O_nyc

i have a 98 es300 bare bone wid no traction control, no moonroof, and no leather. i have no clue if it helps droppin the weight consdierably.. i notcied the ecu adapts to my drivin style and i drive like im friggin michael schumacher. after a while, the car revs higher and quicker and the front tires just spin like crazy! i went up against a 98 maxima and it came out dead even.

lil' IS300

Hopefully you guys can answer these Q's because the race is tommorrow, but anyways...

Correct me if i'm wrong, but the 98' ES300 doesn't have a power button, right?

Also, what does the "O/D" button that's on the stick do? Should I turn it off when racing? It seems when I shut it off, the rpms get high...

...Sorry to sound like an idiot, I know more about a car I don't even own (IS300) then my own car i'm driving now. I never took the time to really research my ES since it'll be gone in a few weeks.

meZoom!

overdrive is essentially a mechanism that when turned on, the gears will kick out more shaft turns. essentially, its your 4th gear. that's why the rpms go up when you turn it off at highway speeds. if you leave it in and you start the car really hard from a dead stop, the car will probably jump really weird somewhere around 2nd gear. you should probably turn it off when you are starting. once you punch the accel pedal really hard, the engine(if the ecu has "learned") should jump all the way close to 6000rpm. dont take your foot off the pedal when doing this, keep punching the pedal until you get close to red line. dont actually go well into red line or your car will sound like it needs more oxygen and choking. once you get to the pre-redline, your car should be about 45 mph or close to that. you can either: a)take foot off gas pedal for a quick second to let the car automatically get itself into the next gear and keep punching the pedal, then push in the overdrive after this, or b)push in over now. in any case, only hit the o/d if you are accelerating, not decelerating, although i guess you wouldnt decel in a race. optimal time to use overdrive is after you hit around 55mph. i dont know about rpm cuz that kind of depends. why dont you try practicing on freeway onramps, getting onto the freeway? dont go too fast. and for best results, turn off the a/c and keep all windows closed.

Lvangundy

Power breaking to 1500 RPM or so takes a 10th or 20th of a second off your times also. I.E. Hold the brake hard and push the gas until 1500 RPM or so then let off the brake. Be warned this does put some strain on your torque convertor and if you do this continuously you can wear it out.

In my experience ECT did nothing to help with straight off the line acceleration. It works wonders on the highway though. You lose power after your peak RPM anyway.