I have the exact same car as you, an '06 TL with AT. I've only got 15K miles on the car, and I use the Sport Shift (aka, SS) mode a lot. Here's the thing...if you haven't familiarized yourself with it, I would highly recommend against using it to better the performance of the transmission during its fully automatic operation...it will work against you.During my early experiences with SS, what happens is that one struggles to get accustomed to the shift rates, and to the shift points. You will risk running the car in 2nd gear up against the rev limiter, where you'll force the ECM to cut out half of your fuel injectors...not good for racing. Consequently, I'd advise to just let the car shift all by itself. I'm not even sure if the SS really enables faster times from a dig. Some other helpful hints:1. You didn't hear me say this, but turn off the VSA (the button on the lower left of your dash...a yellow indicator light will glow). This will prevent the system from shutting power off to your wheels during front axle hop & during extreme torque steer. Frankly however, in so doing, you've turned off one of your car's best safety features.2. Keep your intake as cool as possible. Keep the hood up until just before you race in order to facilitate cooling. This could actually buy you a few HP, especially on a warm/hot day. BTW, there are aftermarket perfomance mods (e.g., OUTLAW ENGINEERING's phoenelic thermal spacers, and CAI reflective shields that are designed to insulate & reduce radient & convective heat from robbing your engine of horsepower).3. Take everything out of the car except you...keep it light.4. Only keep a 1/4 tank of gas in the car...gas is heavy.5. Make sure you've got the best & highest octane premium in the tank. If in doubt, you could add a bottle of octane booster. The TL runs 11:1 compression, and your ECM will detune if you don't have a quality, premium grade octane.6. See if the other driver will agree to a rolling start...the TL's FWD tends to bite the pavement less well than a RWD design. This is less an issue once the car starts rolling. 7. See if you can stop racing once you hit say, 80 mph or less. The TL AT is at its best in 2nd & 3rd gear...it pulls real hard in those gears. Once you hit 4th, you've got a ways to go until you're making optimal use of VTEC, you'll need to be above 100 mph & it's likely in 4th gear that you'll risk losing ground. This is because some sport sedans now feature 6-speed ATs, whereas Honda seems content with its 5-speed versions. On a very long straight & track however, a TL will overcome its gearing & FWD challenges to make some serious speed.Last...be careful...it's kinda illegal.
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15 Mar 2008, 05:31 pm
Linear Mode
