As everybody here probably knows... if you run the car stock on a tight track that doesn't have many straights to allow air to flow over the tranny cooler... you will get the dreaded SLOW DOWN! message. Previously I went to a small tight track in Ontario... and after a while I would get the SLOW DOWN message. This is with the car in super sport and letting it shift so that the car was pretty much shifting at redline all the time. A couple days ago I went to this same track again... and surprise surprise... I got the SLOW DOWN message.
What I ended up doing was trying to shift at lower rpms unless I absolutely had to shift at redline... and it allowed me to drive for long periods of time without getting the slow down message. And all I mean by lower revs is maybe shifting at 6,000 rpm... instead of the 7,000+rpm that even the car will shift at on its own if you leave it in auto mode.
I tried once shifting at 5,000rpm... but that was way too low... I could feel the lack of power. But 6,000rpm seemed like a good compromise. Then if I needed that bit of extra grunt I'd shift higher again... and then reduce revs when that moment passed.
This situation sorta reminded me of F1 where you'd hear the team radio... and the team engineer would be telling the driver "Your gearbox is overheating... try shifting at lower revs..."
Obviously if you track a lot... then you should just get an upgraded tranny cooler. But for those who only do it occasionally like me... this may help.
What I ended up doing was trying to shift at lower rpms unless I absolutely had to shift at redline... and it allowed me to drive for long periods of time without getting the slow down message. And all I mean by lower revs is maybe shifting at 6,000 rpm... instead of the 7,000+rpm that even the car will shift at on its own if you leave it in auto mode.
I tried once shifting at 5,000rpm... but that was way too low... I could feel the lack of power. But 6,000rpm seemed like a good compromise. Then if I needed that bit of extra grunt I'd shift higher again... and then reduce revs when that moment passed.
This situation sorta reminded me of F1 where you'd hear the team radio... and the team engineer would be telling the driver "Your gearbox is overheating... try shifting at lower revs..."
Obviously if you track a lot... then you should just get an upgraded tranny cooler. But for those who only do it occasionally like me... this may help.
Evolving Member
Are your fog lights still installed? If it is, remove them for more airflow to the cooler. See if that helps.
Newbie
Was there an appreciable difference in your lap times? The two tracks in my vicinity are both quite tight, one of them being an F1 track, however the straights are broken up with chicanes for the local track events. I have never yet managed to complete a session without getting the slow down message.
I typically drive in SSport in full auto.
However if the trade off for increased track time is significantly reduced lap times, I'd rather have that then be the laughing stock of the (manual) subis around....
ps. I have done the fog deletes, and it did bugger all for my tranny temps, at least on track. I think that on tight courses, the larger number of gear changes per unit time is what contributes to the over heating. Significant amounts of air will pass over the tranny on a race track, no matter how tight.
Farhad.
I typically drive in SSport in full auto.
However if the trade off for increased track time is significantly reduced lap times, I'd rather have that then be the laughing stock of the (manual) subis around....
ps. I have done the fog deletes, and it did bugger all for my tranny temps, at least on track. I think that on tight courses, the larger number of gear changes per unit time is what contributes to the over heating. Significant amounts of air will pass over the tranny on a race track, no matter how tight.
Farhad.
I wasn't measuring lap times... but how much slower the car felt really depended on how early I was shifting. If I shifted at 6,000rpm instead of the 7,000+rpm that the computer would shift at on it's own... then I didn't notice a huge drop in speed. But one time I tried shifting at 5,000rpm just to see what it felt like and the car did feel noticeably slower.
What I noticed when lapping tho is... there are some points where engine revs are more important than others. So for example when doing flat out acceleration on straights... I would shift at redline... but during other parts of the track I found I didn't need screaming revs to make it thru... so I dropped revs... and that did make a big difference on how long I could drive the car before getting the over-heat message.
So play with the car yourself and see where you can get away with not having extreme revs in order to lower the temperatures in the transmisison.
About the last part of your post... I'm thinking the over heat doesn't just have to do with air flow... but the number of shifts you are doing at high revs.
What I noticed when lapping tho is... there are some points where engine revs are more important than others. So for example when doing flat out acceleration on straights... I would shift at redline... but during other parts of the track I found I didn't need screaming revs to make it thru... so I dropped revs... and that did make a big difference on how long I could drive the car before getting the over-heat message.
So play with the car yourself and see where you can get away with not having extreme revs in order to lower the temperatures in the transmisison.
About the last part of your post... I'm thinking the over heat doesn't just have to do with air flow... but the number of shifts you are doing at high revs.
Evolving Member
Sean i dunno man i redlined all day messed my wga up but still not a single overheat all day 9-5 i did about 80 laps hard racing m3"s and other evos keeping up with less power n tires. But better handling and brakes lol!
Think just some cars are prone to overheat and somecan last longer like all things
Think just some cars are prone to overheat and somecan last longer like all things
Newbie
Another track evening yesterday... 3 sessions of 20 min each, 3 slow downs 
@chester, actually my post says exactly what u said- that heating is dependant on number of shifts per unit time... anyway it appears we are both of the same mind on that one.
Its really disappointing that these cars dont come with better cooling for the tranny from the factory.
Farhad
@chester, actually my post says exactly what u said- that heating is dependant on number of shifts per unit time... anyway it appears we are both of the same mind on that one.
Its really disappointing that these cars dont come with better cooling for the tranny from the factory.
Farhad