[Shotimes] OT: Pontiac GTO

[Donald Mallinson]

I drove the first year GTO and although the car put me to sleep in the 
looks dept and was cramped for me in room, the shifter seemed just 
fine.  Sure there are shorter throws etc, but I found in nothing like a 
Uhaul truck!  :)

As for speed, for street cars, most Manual tranny cars are faster just 
because of the more horses able to be put to the ground.  If you have a 
good driver, then launching should be no problem, for the average owner 
though, the automatic probably is faster.  All the tests I have seen 
have the manual version faster.

In pro drag racing, even back in the 60's, the auto matic cars were 
faster just because the launch could be controlled so much better, and 
there was more than enough power...this is at the top, super stock etc.  
But in the lower classes where HP was more limited, the stick cars were 
faster.

In the pro ranks, even the manually shifted Pro Stock cars, don't use a 
clutch and are virtually the same as an automatic, but without the HP 
losses.  Top Fuel and Funny car don't even use a tranny anymore, just a 
flexible clutch that locks up over time and they use the slicks that 
grow in size some 25% or more as a kind of transmission giving them 
higher gearing (lower numerically) at the big end.

Don Mallinson

clift@chartertn.net wrote:

>Indeed and it caused much speculation on the GTO boards.  However, like most manufacturers' claims reality has shown different and it is more likely an attempt to get the automatics tell sell better (IMO).  The times I have seen reveal the autos are lucky to hit low 13s, whereas the manuals are hitting high 12s stock.  I think the manuals would be even quicker if the shifter travel wasn't comparable to that on a Uhaul trailer, lol. 
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: shotimes-admin@autox.team.net [mailto:shotimes-admin@autox.team.net] On Behalf Of Carl Prochilo
>Sent: Thursday, September 22, 2005 6:35 PM
>To: shotimes@autox.team.net
>Subject: [Shotimes] OT: Pontiac GTO
>
>The brochure for this car states that the automatic version is 1/10th
>quicker than its manual counterpart.  I find this to be an anomoly. 
>Does this make sense and can anyone explain it?