Originally Posted by Yagermeister
I talked to the Cobra Jet engineers when I was at Watson Racing and they use a C3 prepared by Joel's on Joy a local race trans shop in MI. They chose it because of one main reason...quick access to replacement parts. When you are racing at the level the CJ's race on, you are generally checking/replacing/modifying parts on the car all the time and need quick access to parts. I'd venture to say most transmissions in 6-9sec cars (in the 1/4 mile) are autos of some sort due to consistency and needing two hands on the wheel  |
And also because they don't shock the tires anywhere near as hard as a manual car does allowing it to be much more settled going down the track.
Regardless, this conversation has gotten retarded. It only applies to the people building a purpose built, point and shoot track car. There are still a lot of people out there who still like rowing gears taking up the challenge to add the driver equation to the mix to get the car down the track.
Personally, I find driving a car like Brent's boring as hell to drive. It's just not my personal thing. While it puts up great numbers at the track, when driving a car like that it's pretty boring and uneventful. Set the air pressure, stage it, load the suspension, hit a good light and let it fly. Not much to it. No drivers skill to it after the light turns green, not much of a challenge at all. I prefer to row gears, improve my technique and being more connected to the car to enjoy the expierence.
Again, like I said before, we are doing the same things here, just going different ways about it. It all comes down to personal preference and how a car is going to be used. Auto/manual both have their positives and negatives.