# Traction Control '05 GTO



## Mike Kortney (Nov 28, 2005)

This was probably covered in earlier discussions, but since I'm a new owner...
When at the track is better to have the traction control on or off? It seems like off there is a tremendous amount of spinning of tires (practice and larger tires should help here) with it off and with it and whenT/C is on it seems to cut back on the HP when starting to spin.

I will also be getting some sort of supercharger withing the next month or two (plus CAI). Moderndaymusclecar.com has the pro-chargers and Lingenfelter has the Magnuson. Both of these companies require you drop off the vehicle to have the work done. Problem is that I live in Northern Virginia and Lingenfelter is in Indiana and the other is in Georgia. I would make the drive if I have no other choices but what happens if something goes wrong with the SC? - I would probably need to make another 500 mile trip.

Any advice?
Thanks


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## Guest (Nov 30, 2005)

HEY! I am in northern VA also! Woodbridge actually. Welcome to our playground!

As for your questions, leave the traction control off, with it on you are losing some serious power! If you want, I can meet up with ya and help you on your launching techniques. Believe me, with the IRS, that sucker will HOOK!

As for the supercharger, you dont have to leave VA to get it put on. You can order the blower from a vendor here, and have it put on at any one of the fine shops we got. Hell, even Pallone Chevy in Springfield would put it on for under a grand.

And if there is a problem, you can just go back to the dealer.

-Mike

p.s. - hit me up with any questions you may have, and let me know if you want to practice on that launching. I got the PERFECT place to practice, with -0- cops.


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## dealernut (Oct 22, 2005)

big_mike said:


> p.s. - hit me up with any questions you may have, and let me know if you want to practice on that launching. I got the PERFECT place to practice, with -0- cops.



Don't you love those spots!!!


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## Guest (Nov 30, 2005)

oh god yes! Endless practicing for hours on end!


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## baron_iv (Nov 17, 2005)

Mike,
Generally when you get a supercharger put on by someone who's done it many times, they give you a warranty and you can be reasonably certain that it's not going to break down on your way back home. 
One thing I would suggest that you look into is the difference between a roots/twin-screw type and a centrifugal supercharger to determine what you want. They have different properties and they work in different ways. The differences are rather significant in low-mid range horsepower/torque. It comes down to do you want a ton of low-end torque/hp or do you want a positively SCREAMING top end with not much gain at low-rpm. Each has their advantages, as well as disadvantages.
Other than that, as long as you have a proper tune, a supercharged engine will be as reliable as a naturally aspirated engine as long as you take care of it.


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## Guest (Nov 30, 2005)

agreed. more long winded, but fully agree.


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## baron_iv (Nov 17, 2005)

Sorry, I have a bad habit of writing novels instead of replies. Sometimes that's what it takes to get my point across. 
As for me, when my goat gets supercharged, I'm going with either roots or twin-screw. There's just no substitute for all that tire-smoking fun.


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## Guest (Nov 30, 2005)

NO, there is not! And for an auto, its an even greater mod as they lose so much power anyway so with a Maggie, 3200 stall with a 2.5 STR, and a set of 3.73 gears on a sticky tire?!?!

YANK! to a 1.5 short time!


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## Mike Kortney (Nov 28, 2005)

*Thanks*

Thanks for the info guys. I'm sure I will have more questions when I find a local distibutor and installer. Any advice on this would be appreciated as well.


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## Guest (Nov 30, 2005)

I got tons of advice for ya! Just get in touch with me.....


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## fergyflyer (Apr 18, 2005)

Mike Kortney said:


> This was probably covered in earlier discussions, but since I'm a new owner...
> When at the track is better to have the traction control on or off? It seems like off there is a tremendous amount of spinning of tires (practice and larger tires should help here) with it off and with it and whenT/C is on it seems to cut back on the HP when starting to spin.
> 
> I will also be getting some sort of supercharger withing the next month or two (plus CAI). Moderndaymusclecar.com has the pro-chargers and Lingenfelter has the Magnuson. Both of these companies require you drop off the vehicle to have the work done. Problem is that I live in Northern Virginia and Lingenfelter is in Indiana and the other is in Georgia. I would make the drive if I have no other choices but what happens if something goes wrong with the SC? - I would probably need to make another 500 mile trip.
> ...


I've launched with both the TC on and off. In my car it did not make that much of a difference. Others on here say that it slows them by a full half second or more. In my case at the track, I found a pretty consistent tenth to 2 slower with TC on. I left it on on the street for safety reasons, plus mine seemed to be very loose. It would let me spin a good bit before it shut the fun down.


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## Guest (Nov 30, 2005)

but you admitted to it slowing you down. Truth is, with practice, you will never use traction control anytime other than winter.


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## fergyflyer (Apr 18, 2005)

big_mike said:


> but you admitted to it slowing you down. Truth is, with practice, you will never use traction control anytime other than winter.


Wrong!!!!! 
I admitted to traction control being slower at the track. On the street with a seemingly endless amount of variables in the surfaces you drive on, I think most of the time traction control would be consistently faster.

I leave my traction control on most of the time. The only time I turn it off is when I want to use every last bit of performance that the car has and I'm driving on a prepared surface. I think it's foolish to turn it off when it actually may save me from making a stupid error that could hurt myself. You never know when a road surface may be compromised. 
ABS uses the same technology that traction control uses and ABS is superior to non-ABS in most cases. Traction control has improved and can be made to provide superior accelaration to non traction control. Right now we have a horspower race in cars. If we had a situation where the horsepower a car could produce were limited and a minimum weight was required, the next advantage would come from traction control. You would then see all-wheel-drive cars with sophisticated traction control systems. Another interesting issue is that NHRA outllaws traction control in competition. If it made you slower why would teams want to use it and why would the NHRA ban it?


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## slonlo_350 (Sep 22, 2005)

Yeah, if you had the money and technology to tune your TC to back off the throttle JUST enough to maintain power and traction that would be true. BUT this is not the case. And racing at any time in any situation the traction control as it sits on the GTO will slow you down a good bit. For example: I raced my friend's '01 Cobra with a a bunch of suspension stuff (that doesn't matter from a roll) and alot of weight reduction, then bolt ons and long tubes and 4.10's. With the TC on he beat me by about a car length and a quarter. With the TC off we ran side by side to 140mph.

When I first punched it... little car doing a burnout on the DIC... damn... then 2-3, little car doing a burnout on the DIC... damn... at that point i realized I forgot the TC and reached over and hit the button so I'd be ok to go 3-4. When I hit 2-3 i dropped back at least half a car. When I did it on the second run i didn't lose any gound at all.

Maybe with an auto it wouldn't hurt as much, but I hear they hit second pretty hard too, so if it tries to spin on the 1-2 and the TC grabs it, you'll hate yourself as you see the tail lights of your opponent pulling away.

The only time I EVER use mine is when its raining. I hit the button as soon as I turn the car on every time. But then I like kicking the rear end out whenever I can. It's fun scaring girls when they're riding in the Goat!


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## baron_iv (Nov 17, 2005)

I'm going to have to go with slonlo_350 on this one. I have the 6-speed and you can tell a difference in acceleration between T/C on and off. I haven't had the chance to take my car to the track, since most of 'em closed before I got the car 2 weeks ago, but I am fairly sure that you would lose a pretty significant amount of time if you ran with the t/c on. It may be different for cars with an automatic, I have never driven or ridden in an automatic transmission GTO, so I really can't say one way or the other.


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## Guest (Dec 2, 2005)

ask htrdlncn if he is faster or slower with the TC turned on! I can guarantee you he aint running no 12 with it on !!!


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## fergyflyer (Apr 18, 2005)

slonlo_350 said:


> Yeah, if you had the money and technology to tune your TC to back off the throttle JUST enough to maintain power and traction that would be true. BUT this is not the case. And racing at any time in any situation the traction control as it sits on the GTO will slow you down a good bit. For example: I raced my friend's '01 Cobra with a a bunch of suspension stuff (that doesn't matter from a roll) and alot of weight reduction, then bolt ons and long tubes and 4.10's. With the TC on he beat me by about a car length and a quarter. With the TC off we ran side by side to 140mph.
> 
> When I first punched it... little car doing a burnout on the DIC... damn... then 2-3, little car doing a burnout on the DIC... damn... at that point i realized I forgot the TC and reached over and hit the button so I'd be ok to go 3-4. When I hit 2-3 i dropped back at least half a car. When I did it on the second run i didn't lose any gound at all.
> 
> ...


I think we are saying the same thing here. I said at the track, testing back to back I lost 1-2 tenths. That's about 1-2 car lengths. I hear people say that it is a huge difference, but to me, that isn't much more than driver error would be. 
My GTO would spin enough to semi drift at low speed and would lay 20 ft of black stripes before it got stopped. It really only cut in if you did something totally stupid. But when it cut in it really cut in.


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## fergyflyer (Apr 18, 2005)

big_mike said:


> ask htrdlncn if he is faster or slower with the TC turned on! I can guarantee you he aint running no 12 with it on !!!


I'm not disagreeing with you on the fact that production cars with traction control are usually faster with it turned off. I just don't think on the newer systems the difference is very large. Especially on the street with various surface conditions.


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## Guest (Dec 2, 2005)

ok, allow me to clarify myself. At the racetrack, or during a street race, sure leave it off. But on a summer afternoon, or even a cruise through the mountains in the fall, you dont need it on. think of how many cars didnt have it before and how well they did. I understand its a great improvement over nothing at all, but also dont think its something you need to leave on until weather or road conditions warrant it.


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