Dear All, I just took delivery of my 2000 360F1 2 weeks ago. I am having problems getting the car off the line from standstill quickly. When I step on the accelerator aggressively, the car will be jerking (felt like misfiring) at about 4000 to 6000rpm. Can anyone advise on how to get clutch engaged efficiently and do a perfect standstill start. Or am I having clutch problems? although normal starting at 2000rpm is fine. Thanks Phil
Sounds like the traction control is kicking in to prevent the wheels from brakeing loose. Try shuting it off and see what that does.
be extremely careful if you turn off the TRACTION CONTROL. if you don't know how to properly drive high performance racing cars, you might end up crashing it.
Try putting your gas foot down to a certain level, you pick it, maybe 2,000 RPM and hold it steady, let the computer do the take up and take off, once the clutch is engaged and you are rolling, depress all the way. If you try to match the RPM or "modulate" the gas, the computer can't compensate and the take off ends up a mess. (There is some rumors about adjustments, something about PIS levels with regard to the clutch and maybe even a later software upgrade is available, I have not had to get into this area however.) For what its worth, the '03 F1 seems to work really well and and '02 I tried seemed to have a jerky take off, sometimes, I would have to back all the way out of the gas and retry the take off in the particualar '02 I tried. Maybe have a dealer take it around the block so you can tell if its you or the car. Good luck.
The ASR did not come on, and I think it is unlikely that the traction control is trying to compensate the wheel spin.
I have tried this, but will loose time in getting the clutch kicked in at 2000rpm. If I do that, these is no way that I can do a standstill start of 0 to 100km/hr in the claimed 4.5sec. Maybe this is the way F1 should work? I am new to F1 shifting and is still trying to get used to it. I have heard of this F1 software upgrade, and it will cost about US$2000. Is this upgrade standard only from My03' cars?
Feather on the throttle slowing, as you begin moving. Then you can give it some peddle. The fly by wire throttle is like a feather trigger. You can also start out in second gear.
When I floor my 360 from a standstill.... I do not encounter any jerky or awkward clutch firing that you have been experiencing. Maybe you need to get it checked out.
Maybe what you are experiencing is wheel hop, and it feels like the car could be missfiring since the whole drivetrain is bouncing up and down.
If you hit the gas with more than just a bit of throttle from a complete stop or very low speeds (5 mph or so and under) and are on pavement that is not fairly smooth, that will often lead to jumpiness and jerking. Give the car less gas off the line and continue with a more progressive throttle application. Jerkiness is otherwise a regular situation on crummy city streets; no traction control light going off on me, however. - A-Train
I have an 03' and experienced the same jumping that you did on my first drive. I found that I was unconciously letting up on the throttle ...ever so slightly. This caused the computer to back off of the throttle so I got the jumping or hesitation. A smooth, constant movement on the pedal eliminated the problem. I have found that over time (3 weekends) I've smoothed out my starts to where it is no longer a problem. It was pretty embarrasing on that first day though. Overall, it was driver inexperience not mechanical.....Hope this helps.
Thanks for the advice. It could really be a driver's fault and most likely I will get the dealers to check and confirm.
My only advise is get out into the country and drive the car learn to relax just driving,She's an angry powerful Red haired lady,get to know her then get fresh
Good suggestions in all of the above. But to get a baseline to work with, have the PIS set correctly and perform an auto-learn on the gearbox.
Nov 18, 2003 Thanks for the advice. It could really be a driver's fault and most likely I will get the dealers to check and confirm. Nice bump here mate