[firebirdcrazy1959]

Why do you use it and what HP range do you use them?

[Bruce Meyer]

Its personsal preference. Some like them, some dont. They are necessary for cars with delay boxes.
The main advantage, Ive been told, is that they will give you more consistent and quicker reaction times. The theory is that your finger can react quicker with a button than your foot can with an accelerator pedal.
I dont use one but I know plenty who do.

[JKrull66]

It locks you in First and Reverse at the same time. For me it makes one less thing to worry about at the lights. Just my finger on the brake, foot on the gas, hand on the wheel, and eyes on the tree. Then let it rip!!! I have had it on a couple diff power range engines. Probably more what class you want to race then power restrictions. Some people want the feel of a foot brake, and consider a brake (not real racing) I like it so I can enjoy my run and not worry about rolling in the lights. I don't run a delay box... Most probably do. Again its what your track and class allows.
John Krull

[Mike S]

I put one on my car when I started leaving on a .500 pro tree. Foot braking I would cut .040 lights. Tried the bake to get better lights. Put the trans brake in and would go red on the same pro tree. Tried useing a slow button but found it wasn't cosistant. Got tired of red lights last year so this year I am going back to foot braking the pro tree just bump in a little deeper. The launch is totally diffrent with the t-brake very addicting. My car 60' better with it but just by a hair 1.40 to a 1.38. Will pull the front wheels higher with the brake even thow I left at the same rpm (3000). I am running in a 10.00 class. I noticed just about everyone is useing one on the pro tree even a lot of the 12.00 guys.

I also use a delay box for regular bracket raceing. Now that is a wild ride. Release the button and nothing happens for a second, them bam away you go. That takes a while to get use to. It's tuff running 2 diffrent classes even though they are diffrent days.

Mike

[screamingchief]

Agree the benefit is mostly consistency.

But as has been pointed out,you gotta work with it a while to figure out if it's gonna help you in any given class,and the tree that class uses will absolutely come into that equation.

And no doubt a delay box may be needed for some situations,which is more "learning curve" to take in and experiment with.

And you'll definitely need a two or three step rev limiter with the trans brake.

The trans brake lets you bring the RPM up to whatever RPM you want to launch @,and you cant always do that with a footbrake car,as it will often push the car thru the lights if the RPM is high enough to overcome the brakes holding abillity.

Also,as a result of the launch RPM thing,there maybe some minor carb tuning differences between the trans brake combo and the footbrake combo.

Lots of little reasons,all can help in their own ways.

But just because the trans is built with a brake,does'nt mean you always need to use it.

The choice is up to the driver.

[Ron H]

They rock. Launch harder and more consistent.

[marks73ta]

I'll need it to get the turbo spooling up. Mark L

[Jack Ferris]

Originally Posted by Ron H

They rock. Launch harder and more consistent.

Hell to the ya!!!

[TTS]

More consistant, normally. This car launches without one..I know for a fact.



Ken Weilbrenner covered by FSC Magazine

The pic showed up in a different post, in the clubhouse. It was here, but not now.... I 'll post again when the board allows.

[TTS]

Fawk it, the board won't let me repost what I posted originally.

http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/...d.php?t=593934

Is where the pic showed up....:con fused: Post #12

[Rob B]

Originally Posted by Jack Ferris

Hell to the ya!!!

X2!

[C577]

screamingchief said
And you'll definitely need a two or three step rev limiter with the trans brake.

The trans brake lets you bring the RPM up to whatever RPM you want to launch @,and you cant always do that with a footbrake car,as it will often push the car thru the lights if the RPM is high enough to overcome the brakes holding abillity.

Not all true my car on the brake will only go to 5000. The converter i have will footbrack at 3500 and transbreak at 5000. i use the break because i have not enough motor and to big of tire . need to get the car off the line and moving. 5000 is floored with nothing but to converter to keep it going any higher. so if you have your converter built for your car you dont need a two or three step, but would not hurt. transbreak is way more fun.

[fasteddy]

And when you are old and slow with the foot like Jack FeRRis, you need that tranny brake to cut a light. LOL I turned 60 this year and I now have a T-brake. Results are yet to be determined.

[Jack Ferris]

Originally Posted by fasteddy

And when you are old and slow with the foot like Jack FeRRis, you need that tranny brake to cut a light. LOL I turned 60 this year and I now have a T-brake. Results are yet to be determined.

So are you required to keep a Defibrillator on board now that your 60?

[fasteddy]

That is a great idea. I could wire that defib to a photo cell aimed at rhe third amber. Talk about cutting a light-woohoo and away. That will take the hand off the button for sure. If you have a delay box, you will wake up just about the time to shift into second.

[JKrull66]

Originally Posted by fasteddy

That is a great idea. I could wire that defib to a photo cell aimed at rhe third amber. Talk about cutting a light-woohoo and away. That will take the hand off the button for sure. If you have a delay box, you will wake up just about the time to shift into second.

For Me that would mean... No more sleeping at the light!!!! LOL can't have that!
Good luck
John

[screamingchief]

Originally Posted by screamingchief

And you'll definitely need a two or three step rev limiter with the trans brake.

The trans brake lets you bring the RPM up to whatever RPM you want to launch @,and you cant always do that with a footbrake car,as it will often push the car thru the lights if the RPM is high enough to overcome the brakes holding abillity.

Your took that comment way too literally.

Some guys wont want to take the RPM right up to the static stall speed to launch,they'll often limit the RPM somewhere below that to allow the combo to hit the converter harder,and thus flash the converter to the desired RPM,this increases the torque the combo transfers thru the drivetrain during that process.

In this scenario the two/three step is just allowing the fella to leave with the pedal on the mat and not worry about trying to manage those RPM levels himself,less nonsense to distract the fella,the easier it is for him to focus on what's important.

But as always what works best often depends on each specific combo & driver.

My comments did'nt intend to suggest a fella could rev his car to 10,000 RPM on the transbrake.

Though I concede that comment could have been worded better.

My comment was intended to convey the fact that not all cars can hold back an 800+ hp combo with just the footbrake,not during a 4000 or 5000 RPM full stall launch.

Now might some footbrake cars hold a 500 hp combo well enough in the lights to let the combo stall to 3500,,,sure some might just be able to do that...

You know your combo might flash the converter harder if you had a two step on it and you limited the launch RPM to some point lower than the static stall speed you mention.

Remember that stall converters are also called torque converters for a reason,but even that is a bit of a misnomer,they should be called torque multipliers,as one of the main things that they do is they multiply torque,they do this till they reach that static stall speed,so taking them right up to that point for launching is giving up a good chunk of that torque multiplication right when it's needed most.

Once a converter is above the static stall speed,the torque mulitplication is virtually nill.

This is why some cars can actually launch harder off the footbrake than they do off the transbrake,and no doubt other cars tend to launch harder off the transbrake than they do the footbrake,often the cars that launch harder off the transbrake usually have plenty of torque already,and they really dont need anymore,especially if their light and geared low (higher numerical) enough,but other cars will often appreciate all the torque that can be thrown at them,say a heavy car with higher gears (lower numerical).

I just feel the two/three step is good SOP for brake equipped cars,agree or disagree I really dont care,we all have our opinions,and that's mine.

HTH

BP.