Launch Control, it's Neat!

Kinja'd!!! "Tripper" (tripe46)
03/14/2016 at 10:46 • Filed to: None

Kinja'd!!!0 Kinja'd!!! 8
Kinja'd!!!

I thought that I had engaged launch control before and figured that it just wasn’t that impressive/something was not working. The car would rev up, then bog down like a bad manual launch. I don’t encounter many stretches of road that are both reasonable and safe enough for me to try it out. Saturday I found myself first in line at the red light, looking straight on at a long highway entrance ramp with no traffic. So I figured that I would give it another try.

It turns out that you really have to stand on the brake to get launch control to engage. I briefly warned my fiancee and my dog before we launched. My fiancee made a face that looked like she just took a bite out of a lemon and then exclaimed that it “tickled her brain”. Then she asked that I not do that again until she had a chance to recover. Miles (the dog) just looked at me disapprovingly like “fuck you dad, you know that kind of stuff scares me.”

I expected a FWD launch as the Haldex AWD system is mostly FWD. However it was the rear wheels that spun as we took off. The flappy paddle box in this car is pretty smart! I forgot how weird hard acceleration feels with AWD, no push, no pull, just stand up & go.

There are 5 or 6 other guys in my office that have cars with launch control and didn’t even know about it until I told them this morning. I’m supposed to give an instructional at lunch. Monday ain’t so bad.

I hope everyone had a good weekend!


DISCUSSION (8)


Kinja'd!!! Party-vi > Tripper
03/14/2016 at 10:53

Kinja'd!!!1

The drive-by-wire delay in my E46 causes it to lurch forward with gusto if I haphazardly hit the gas. Every time this happens I get the stink-eye from my wife.


Kinja'd!!! Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap > Tripper
03/14/2016 at 11:22

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What car is this?


Kinja'd!!! Tripper > Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap
03/14/2016 at 11:22

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S3


Kinja'd!!! Leadbull > Tripper
03/14/2016 at 11:23

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I have launch control; it’s called my left foot, hur, hur, hur.


Kinja'd!!! Leon711 > Tripper
03/14/2016 at 11:29

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I want to try it on my GTI but I can never find the right opportunity.


Kinja'd!!! Tripper > Leon711
03/14/2016 at 11:33

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Yea it’s hard as you need a quick pause to to set the car up, then you have to make sure no ones around and you can safely accelerate to 60 or so. I can’t wait to give it a try with my summer wheels/tires.


Kinja'd!!! Leon711 > Tripper
03/14/2016 at 11:40

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Due to the road layouts in the UK there’s very few stoplights before on-ramps, It’s usually a roundabout. The stoplights are usually in 30-40mph limits, there is one candidate near me but stopping there when no one is around is hard because the lights change on traffic sensors.


Kinja'd!!! uofime-2 > Tripper
03/14/2016 at 15:27

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Awd launches always get high scores on the giggle dyno.