Tex,maybe your not doing the launch control just right,i didnt get it to start to start with as i was being too gentle on the throttle to build up revs.JUST PUT IT IN LAUNCH .THEN MASH THE THOTTLE.before letting off the brake,works every time now
Just finished running the car in the first Houston half mile top speed event. Lots of fabulous cars there (including a highly-modified, full race Ford GT that ran 212 in the half-mile!). Luckily for us, there was a white 458 Italia coupe running too. I made three passes, all within 2mph of each other. My best run was 157.5mph for the half mile - about what I expected. The best run the Italia made was 147.0! I think this pretty much puts to rest all the BS about Ferraris in the real world being different machines to the cars that are supplied to the journos - the McLaren was over 10mph faster every time.
I could never get launch to work, so all my runs were done in track-track with auto shifting. Maybe its a 160 car with launch? Using 'aero' (spolier up) gave me my slowest time of 155.5
For my last run, an on-line car blog called Gearheadflicks.com fitted two cameras plus a borrowed V-Box. I'll post the link when I get it.
Final comment about MP4 vs 458; there were crowds around the McLaren all day, no-one took any notice of the Italia. Crowd reaction was 100% positive, usually along the lines of "I never thought I'd see one of these" I'm consistently amazed by how much the car-loving public seems to know about the McLaren heritage and technical innovations.
This was a great day, the rumor is that the next one will be a full mile; what do you think - 190+?
Gloat away! it was very impressive ,more so on the fact that you did it yourselve and the fezza would be on launchGuys
I am following the correct sequence exactly. I' ve tried "launch" about ten times. Once it worked perfectly. Twice it aborted with a message saying 'high clutch temperature'. The rest of the times, the light wouldn't come on when I pushed launch. I follow the same sequence every time. Regardless, I much rather gloat over trouncing a 458 than debate the idiosyncrhracies of Ron's software!
Just finished running the car in the first Houston half mile top speed event. Lots of fabulous cars there (including a highly-modified, full race Ford GT that ran 212 in the half-mile!). Luckily for us, there was a white 458 Italia coupe running too. I made three passes, all within 2mph of each other. My best run was 157.5mph for the half mile - about what I expected. The best run the Italia made was 147.0! I think this pretty much puts to rest all the BS about Ferraris in the real world being different machines to the cars that are supplied to the journos - the McLaren was over 10mph faster every time.
I could never get launch to work, so all my runs were done in track-track with auto shifting. Maybe its a 160 car with launch? Using 'aero' (spolier up) gave me my slowest time of 155.5
For my last run, an on-line car blog called Gearheadflicks.com fitted two cameras plus a borrowed V-Box. I'll post the link when I get it.
Final comment about MP4 vs 458; there were crowds around the McLaren all day, no-one took any notice of the Italia. Crowd reaction was 100% positive, usually along the lines of "I never thought I'd see one of these" I'm consistently amazed by how much the car-loving public seems to know about the McLaren heritage and technical innovations.
This was a great day, the rumor is that the next one will be a full mile; what do you think - 190+?
OK, I think I've deciphered my "Launch" problem: The manual states that Launch will only activate provided that the airbrake has performed a self-test during the current ignition cycle. This self-test occurs at the beginning of every ignition cycle when the vehicle is driven at a speed over 9mph. Thus, when I'm waiting in line to make a run and I turn off the car whilst waiting, when I turn back on to creep forwards in the line, the car hasn't gone over 9m,ph, so the airbrake self-test hasn't occurred and the launch is therefore not permitted! I think the solution will be to either not turn the car off whilst waiting in line, or make sure that when I creep forwards I go over 9mph to allow the brake test to take place, or perhaps doing the airbrake self test manually is good enough? I'll figure all this out at my next event and report back, but it looks like this is the source of the intermittent success I've been having with Launch. Told you it was Ron's software - its waaaay too logical.
Oh, and to answer an earlier question on this thread, I've got the heavy "old man" power seats.
Thats good info TEX,another think i didnt read in the manual!!OK, I think I've deciphered my "Launch" problem: The manual states that Launch will only activate provided that the airbrake has performed a self-test during the current ignition cycle. This self-test occurs at the beginning of every ignition cycle when the vehicle is driven at a speed over 9mph. Thus, when I'm waiting in line to make a run and I turn off the car whilst waiting, when I turn back on to creep forwards in the line, the car hasn't gone over 9m,ph, so the airbrake self-test hasn't occurred and the launch is therefore not permitted! I think the solution will be to either not turn the car off whilst waiting in line, or make sure that when I creep forwards I go over 9mph to allow the brake test to take place, or perhaps doing the airbrake self test manually is good enough? I'll figure all this out at my next event and report back, but it looks like this is the source of the intermittent success I've been having with Launch. Told you it was Ron's software - its waaaay too logical.
Oh, and to answer an earlier question on this thread, I've got the heavy "old man" power seats.
Seems about right. The first 458 press cars were weighing around 3500 lbs, which means that most customer cars are probably higher than that. The only customer 458 dyno I have read is the Fabspeed one, which returned 550hp vs factory claimed 570.it should be noted though on my runs I was running street trim, so I was around the 550 bhp mark in a 3700 lb car with me in it, which makes the 458's trap of only 2 mph more then mine more surprising to me.
The Italia's hp is 550. The 562hp or 570ps figure includes the ram air affect whilst traveling at high speeds.Seems about right. The first 458 press cars were weighing around 3500 lbs, which means that most customer cars are probably higher than that. The only customer 458 dyno I have read is the Fabspeed one, which returned 550hp vs factory claimed 570.
Another member on this forum posted his independent vbox tests, in which the 12C had similar accel G to the all wheel drive Nissan GT-R, which is telling.