What on earth is the purpose of launch control??

What on earth is the purpose of launch control??

Author
Discussion

daveenty

2,357 posts

209 months

Tuesday 23rd May 2017
quotequote all
Never used it.

Tried it once and failed miserably. There are so many conditions to meet, especially with a Mercedes, that by the time you've set it all up and actually got away from the line/traffic light or whatever, several small diesels and push bikes will have got away cleanly.

croyde

22,700 posts

229 months

Tuesday 23rd May 2017
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I have line lock as well as LC on my car.

In 11500 miles I have never used LC, it is fast enough as it is.

I used line lock once, to impress my children in an empty industrial estate when the rear tyres were due to be replaced.

Loads of tyre smoke, kids loved it but it felt very hard on the car plus the clutch was stinking for ages afterwards.

SturdyHSV

10,083 posts

166 months

Tuesday 23rd May 2017
quotequote all
daveenty said:
Never used it.

Tried it once and failed miserably. There are so many conditions to meet, especially with a Mercedes, that by the time you've set it all up and actually got away from the line/traffic light or whatever, several small diesels and push bikes will have got away cleanly.
I've witnessed this in action at Santa Pod in fact, chap in an A45 AMG, he obviously knew it'd take a while to set up, so he nipped up to the staging lights and set about performing the dance whilst the other car did its burnout.

Sure enough he was ready in time, revs banging against the launch control limiter, the other car took its time ambling up to the staging beams, lined up, first amber lights up annnd the A45 decides it's been 3 seconds now and nobody has launched, so deactivates it.

Poor chap just sat there and asked to have another go as the queue was massive hehe

Saleen836

11,061 posts

208 months

Tuesday 23rd May 2017
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How many times can it be used before 'FUBARing' the clutch or something else?
If it can only be used say 6 times and they have all been used and you sell the car do you/would you have to be honest with the buyer and inform them LC wont work unless you replace 'insert part'?

Leins

9,413 posts

147 months

Tuesday 23rd May 2017
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Never used it once in my CSL, just didnt really see the point

MrBarry123

6,025 posts

120 months

Tuesday 23rd May 2017
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Nope, I've never used it either.

SonicShadow

2,452 posts

153 months

Tuesday 23rd May 2017
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Saleen836 said:
How many times can it be used before 'FUBARing' the clutch or something else?
If it can only be used say 6 times and they have all been used and you sell the car do you/would you have to be honest with the buyer and inform them LC wont work unless you replace 'insert part'?
If the system is any good it'll do them all day if you want to - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5DRCTW-Q7o

Actus Reus

4,229 posts

154 months

Tuesday 23rd May 2017
quotequote all
Had a VW with DSG and launch control.

Ran the car in and decided, very late on a Tuesday night, to stop on the local bypass and 'launch' the car to see what it was like.

Proceeded to launch the car, and at about 70mph some sort of animal ran out in front of me - under the front wheel, tore the wheel arch liner and disappeared. I stopped and tried to find the animal, but couldn't.

Never used LC again.

SpamCan

5,026 posts

217 months

Tuesday 23rd May 2017
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I used to drag race (licenced competition at national events after moving up from RWYB) up until the end of last year. Launch control is a pointless addition for somebody that wants to race because it is illegal under the regs for a drag car. Fitted as an aftermarket is relatively easy to spot if you know what you are looking for, though how they would police it being used as a factory fit option is another question entirely.

Line locks are useful for warming and cleaning the tyres at a drag strip if you are using a tyre of the right compound; street tyres just go 'snotty' and you actually lose traction if you get them too hot (been there done that). Other than that line locks are also good for show boating if you quite literally have money to burn.

Martin_Hx

3,951 posts

197 months

Tuesday 23rd May 2017
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Just watch the episode of Grand Tour were they did it in the 911, very funny biggrin

tankplanker

2,479 posts

278 months

Tuesday 23rd May 2017
quotequote all
Launch control is useful for bragging rights as anybody should be able to hit the advertised 0-60 time rather than requiring a degree of skill and lack of mechanical sympathy. I remember a story somebody posted on here about a newly launched American muscle car than the journalists couldn't get near the advertised 0-60 time, the manufacturer sent over a test driver who then hit the time by bypassing the clutch for 1st to 2nd.

Also with modern 4 wheel drive systems launch control helps to pro-actively assign load to each wheel rather than re-actively, thus improving launch times. This is becoming more important as we start to get to the (current) limits of road tyres, 0-60 times help sell fast cars.

Personally I'd never use launch control, I'd be too worried about the impact to the drive train, even if the manufacturer deemed it safe. I rarely if ever do standing starts in my own cars.

zeDuffMan

4,054 posts

150 months

Tuesday 23rd May 2017
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I've used it a few times to show off to friends. Everyone's got a kick out of it so far.

Day to day it has zero use, but it's easy for manufacturers to program in and is good for the occasional party trick.

You don't really do it around other cars or at traffic lights though. You'd look like a total berk. Think industrial estate on a Sunday or something like that.

Durzel

12,232 posts

167 months

Tuesday 23rd May 2017
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Don't personally see the point of it either, always felt it to be completely unnecessary and potentially a ruinous thing if used too much. But I've never dragged/tracked my own cars. Never even touched the L/C button in my 458 (nor turned the Manettino to CT or CST off boxedin )..

Yipper

5,964 posts

89 months

Tuesday 23rd May 2017
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Doing standstill to 60 in 3 seconds with necksnap, tyre smoke, howling engine chaos and a big grin. Immature? Of course thumbup

SuperchargedVR6

3,138 posts

219 months

Tuesday 23rd May 2017
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JPJPJP said:
Fun
On PH? I thought that was banned ages ago.

These days people like to question features instead of embracing them. They should take their cars back to the dealer and ask for LC to be coded out because they are too boring and sensible to ever use it.

RDMcG

Original Poster:

19,093 posts

206 months

Tuesday 23rd May 2017
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When I did it in a Porsche Turbo S ( Porsche's car not mine) it just felt unnatural and very abusive to the car. I am not someone who abuses cars although I drive quite briskly at times, and I just felt I was flogging the thing,,,

addz86

1,439 posts

185 months

Tuesday 23rd May 2017
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I noticed my dads 330d has launch control, not really sure why on a auto 4wd 'cos you can't really get it wrong off the lights, just boot it.

seems a right faff to activate it too

Rawwr

22,722 posts

233 months

Tuesday 23rd May 2017
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Was at a Pistonheads meet a couple of months ago and observed some hulking great bell-end in a McLaren using it in a public car park to impress young teenagers. I think he may have been a paedophile.

joe_90

4,206 posts

230 months

Tuesday 23rd May 2017
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Even my 3.0 v6 Q5 has launch control.. I assume its just a standard software thing, so they all get it by default.

VetteEd

44 posts

91 months

Tuesday 23rd May 2017
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Unless you like shreading your expensive rubber than LC is a waste of time. As my old mate said to me "it's not the 0-60 that counts it's the 70-150"