I believe it would be a drivers race. I have an '04 auto coupe and I've raced a 6 speed 350z twice. At the time I only had my Z tube w/K&N filter. We ran twice from a red light stop to about 80mph, and each time was a dead tie

Who knows...only one way to find out.

 

My question is how many "experienced" drivers (manual trans) actually exist? *LOL* I would have to say that only a handful could make a significant difference . . .

G

 

I've got an idea.....how about race and then tell us how it turns out...that way we can quit all this guessing

 

haha yeah i guess i should race; my personal guess is that it will be just about a tie up to about 80. Beyond that i think the 6 speed might get the edge due to gearing like others have mentioned.

stock for stock i think he would win, but i think the plenum spacer will give me a slight edge; enough to even things out.

 

I was always under the impression that the 5at was faster 1/4 mile. I think I read it n car and driver or something. But, it was only by a 10th of a second. And, they were testing the 04's.

 

MT is faster because it has an extra gear wich in any speed can have you'r RPM be higher. That is why till 60 its about 0.3 or .04 seconds difference between Auto and manual. Lets say you're going 30 on first (6MT) you can go about 33 on 5AT, on 2nd you go 58 on 6MT over 60 on 5AT (these are all approximation I dont know exact speed on each gear but the ratio is about the same), when u put on 3rd on 6Mt rpm are about 5000 but on 5AT its about 4500 so you have more power at higher RPMs thats why 6MT starts to pull away from about 50 or so. Yes average MT driver would not drive his MT good and AT might have an advantage just because of that. Yes it is harder to launch MT but once you get used to it you know the advantage of 6mt. But as we know most of the members here are car "enthusiasts" and alot of the 6MT guys know how to drive the car to its potential, but since the guy that you're going to race is not on this forum I assume (lol) you might have an advantage with your 5AT.

Good luck

 

to the guy racing:
it depends on how you race.. seeing how you have the AT if you want the advantage tell him to race from 0-80mph.. it will give me more of the advantage since he is opened to more mistakes. Remember it doesnt matter whos car is faster/better etc.. blahblah whoever crosses the finish line first wins PERIOD. you can race a m3 with the dumbest motherfcker in the world with your mom's camry and if u win, you win.

anyways if you want the edge, go from a DIG (not a roll cause you'll just give the MT driver an easyer edge - clutch). Set the race from 0-80ish mph... you'll take away some of his gearing advantages. you can also "cheat" by doing little stuff like getting plugs, lowering your tire pressure, take out the spare and empty the trunk, have your engine cool when you race (do not run it hard before you race.. just give it a nice rev if its been idling.

but if anyones interested in racing an MT and AT.. the real race isnt on the 1/4 mile.. its 70mph and beyond.. that is when the REAL race between the two cars begins

 

I gotta give the edge to the 6M/T too, (provided he makes no mistakes of course). That extra deep first gear is hard to beat.
C.