How consident shifting without tach ?

Just curious how many racers shift without using the tach ? I try to but it seems I always like to shift by the sound and feel of the eng. I went racing in Oct and drove to the track. I put two time runs and two eleimination passes on my 63 and I even surprised myself how consisdent it was since it was my first time racing it almost two years and after driving to the track I never lifted the hood when racing. Its basically stock suspension with SS springs and 90/10 shocks up front. After my first pass of 10.81 when I felt it spin a bit it ran 10.76 three passes in a row. I had a blast that day and did not drive home a first round looser. I did loose to my brother in the second round even though I went 10.76 on my 10.75 as he killed me with his .012 lite to me .078. Just thought I would post the slips and maybe some others will while its slow here in the winter time and give us something to talk about. Ron


This was my time passes as I am car #201.

This was the two rounds in eleiminations I ran. Ron

how about a shift light?

You no 383man i'm in the process re-doing the halio in my car and decided that i was going to elimate the tach in my car and just go with one of these http://www.jegs.com/i/Auto-Meter/105/5350/10002/-1?parentProductId=760208 but sense i'm elimateing the stock cluster the 5" tach fits nicely were the speedeo ga. goes so i'll put it there.Cause i also shift by ear

Ron I seem to short shift my 440.If I dont use the shift light.Its way easier than watching the tach.Light comes on at 6700 and I pull a gear.The rev limiter is set at 6800.Without the light I seem to shift at around 6000.Rocky

Ron I shifted my screw blown alcohol dragsters twice in 5.5 seconds without looking at the tach. The 1st shift occurred at .9 tenths of a second into the run at 9800 rpm and I had to try to hit that rpm twice without looking at the tack. You are going too fast and your vision is a blur for the first second of the run to see the tach.

I was within 200-400 rpm after lot's of expensive runs. It you shifted too early you smoke the clutch and too late you break valve springs and hurt rods and bearings. Brutal cars to drive.

Playing back the "runs"from the LM2, I can keep shift points about50 to70 r.p.m. spreads. This is after a lot of practice getting used to the sound and feel of the car.

I think there are at least a couple of factors involved. First some people simply have a better sense of feel & hearing than others and secondly some cars are more forgiving of variation in shift rpm. When you have one or the other it's quite possible to make consistent runs without the use of a tach. Some people are fortunate enough to have both.

I won the PRO ET track championship years ago at a local track running a small block with a 4-speed and no tach in the car. I think that most camshafts that we typically use in bracket motors are forgiving enough so that shift points can be missed by a couple hundred RPMs without affecting consistency.

Ron,
That's the beauty of having a big dumb stroker! As long as you are still in the meat of that fat torque curve, shift point isn't critical.
Two of my brothers were having tach problems this year on Drag Week, and when resolved, realized they were short shifting by a large margin.
I've totally bought into shift lights, all my cars now have small tachs and shift lights in very visible locations.

Its not that I dont want to shift with the tach its just something I guess that comes natural to some of us gearheads I guess. I usually only look at the tach going thru the traps and listen to see if the eng feels wrung out yet.I guess if I was a every weekend bracket racer I would use the tach more trying to be more consisdent but it just seems to me I can tell when its time to shift. I keep telling myself to take a day at a T & T and make alot of passes making myself shift at many different rpm's and see if my way lets the car run its fastest. I remember in the early 70's when I saw a smallblock Pro Stock Vega in a SS & DI mag that was Dave Stricklers car and he built it with no tach in the car as he said he shifted without using the tach. And I guess when I hear people on here ask what rpm they should start shifting their new eng at I think.........I would not need to ask that as I can just feel when its shift time with the eng wide open and the go pedal mashed to the floor. My buddy ask's me how I can hear the sound of my eng with the full exh on my car and racing next to cars with open headers and I tell him I dont know as its a combination of hearing and feeling how the eng is pulling. I mean I feel as if I could jump in any car and race it and never look at a tach. My brother always gets mad at me when he ask's me where I shift at and I tell him I really dont know as I just shift when it feels right. I must do somethink ok as years ago I raced my 4-speed 340 Dart with no tach and no rev limiter and I never over reved it or blew the eng. My brother used that old Mallory rev limiter from the early 70's that was about 500 rpm off and he told me I was nuts racing it with no rev limiter on it. Ron

I have a big 5" tach sitting in front of my face and
never look at it... I do have a shift light and thats what
I go by... on the Rampage I put a small 2" tach down on
the counsel that has a shift light in it and I can
see the flash of the shift light but cant read the
numbers while running... I was planning on taking the
tach out of the race car and use it for set up only..
seems like a waste to even have a tach in it

Not very.I have the red eye msd shift light on the steering Culomb shining dead in my face.I'm usely the slowest car and like to look over to see where my opponents at.I know when i miss my shift because it bumps the chip in the msd box and i lose the round/car don't run the #.

When I first got my Dakota at the track we didnt have a tach in it and I was able to run several passes that were consistant. I think having the Redline racing game as a kid was a help. LOL
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFQcCYtzQ8Q

When you could run with no helmet I shifted by sound.With it and my hearing going I use the light.Too many years of air tools and shooting big guns I guess.I can rev past 6700 and mine is still pulling strong.I just figure that 6700 is good enough.Ill find out more when I get the Dana cut down and 4.30s instead of the 3.91s that are in it.4th gear it drops RPMs a lot with them.Rocky

for the price of a cheap case of beer you can find shift lights for sale.... heck I've got two of the old Autometer ones sitting here collecting dust from other projects.

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Ron I shifted my screw blown alcohol dragsters twice in 5.5 seconds without looking at the tach. The 1st shift occurred at .9 tenths of a second into the run at 9800 rpm and I had to try to hit that rpm twice without looking at the tack. You are going too fast and your vision is a blur for the first second of the run to see the tach.

I was within 200-400 rpm after lot's of expensive runs. It you shifted too early you smoke the clutch and too late you break valve springs and hurt rods and bearings. Brutal cars to drive.

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Sounds easy enough