You obviuosly have no clue about fast cars. Lets take a 10 second car or faster in the 1/4 mile, and an automatic is vastly superior. Maybe even an 11 second car. The more power you make, the better you will benefit from an automatic.

 

Actually the faster the car is the more useless any transmission is. Eventually you hit a point where you need nothing more than a direct drive.

A manual is always superior to an automatic for speed, one good reason:

No lossy torque converter

Building a manual strong enough to handle the power is difficult, more work for the people throwing together the cars. But it is worth it.

 

That couldnt be farther from the truth. When you start making big horsepower, a manual becomes hard to control the car with. An automatic with a high stall converter will launch more consistently, shift much faster, and put the power to the ground more smoothly, resulting in faster times. Why do so many fast cars use the 2 speed powerglide if a manual would be superior?

i am of course talking about 1/4 mile drag racing.

 

Drag cars are just that, Drag racing cars.
A protege(and any other automatic road car) has this new-fangled thing called a torque-converter that robs your engine of power.
I don't know how you came to the conclusion that an auto is faster off the line, when I can dump my clutch at 3500rpm and pretty much spin the tires all the way to second gear. Ever spun the tires in your automatic? I doubt it.

 

spinning tires are not a sign of speed, they are a sign of a lack of traction. a smooth transition of power will be faster off the line. spinning tires is lost energy. a perfect launch has no tire slippage.

anyone drag racing in a remotely stock protege (auto or standard) is just a posing anyway. go out and buy a v-8 car if you really want to drag race and turn real times.
i bought mine because it handles well in the twistys, not because it goes in a straight line.

 

"When you start making big horsepower........"

Apparantly you missed that part of my explanation. Yes, a 5 speed, 120 HP, 4 cylinder will beat the same engine in front of an automatic. Thats not what Im talking about. Im talking about the blanket statement made that racing an automatic is stupid, which is not true, and was obviously made by somebody misinformed about high power drag racing cars.

 

Mach 1 - do you know what kind of transmission an NHRA top fuel uses? Ooopssss it doesn't have one. They use a special clutch.

Automatics are for people that can't afford to have a decent manual built or need the hand holding in order to get good times. I've known a lot of serious V8 drag racers. They almost all used manuals, and the ones that didn't were given hell by the others.

 

WHo cares if there giving them Hell, If the Autos are winning I wouldent care...

 

Lets just say, he's racing for fun. When it comes down to it, I personally like the Manual for the driver control while driving, I find it a hinderance while racing. I've seen people miss shifts and cause motors to blow, Hell I've turned my little honda motor 9 grand with a accidental downshift from 3 to 2nd that was supposed to be to 4th....

But What it comes down to is this. Its a personal choice, A serious drag racer would have some type of highly modified automatic.

I personally think a real driver perfers the Manual because of the sense of control. Driving is more than putting your foot on the floor and holding a steering wheel.

(I drive a 2002 honda Civic EX, White, with 200 HP taillights)

 

Let's see: Colin Mc Crae drives a manual, Michael Schumacher dirves a manual, most race cars have manual transmissions for a couple of reasons. Car control, and the ability to control the power put to the ground.

 

Ummm... Actually... A Ferrari F1 car is an Automatic.... And as for Collin McRae, he has a Semi-Auto... Pretty basically a Automatic in which the driver selects the gear himself


(2002 Honda Civic EX, with 200 HP Tail lights)

 

Will this battle ever end

 

(announcer on speedvision) "Look at Makinen work that automatic gearbox!"
I gotta admit you're right. With no clutch pedal, you got no manual.

 

Lets see, were talking about DRAG RACING. last I checked, Schumaker wasnt a drag racer...

 

No **** sherlock.

Obviously they werent serious enough, or they would be driving automatics. You dont know as much as you think.