"Launch control ready" without "launch control active"?

[StingerOwner]

I've tried launching my Stinger AWD 3.3L about 10 times total and have been disappointed with the result every time. The timings are not important for this post but I discovered something odd.

I checked all my past Dragy recordings and there is only one time when launch control engaged with two ding sounds. This seemed very strange because every good launch video I've seen has two dings. The first ding comes for the message "launch control ready" and the second ding comes for the message "launch control active" (this is when you let go of the brake pedal).

I'm attaching two random youtube videos from the same person, first is when launch control actually engaged (minus the check engine light) and second is when launch control did not actually engage.

Does anyone know what are the conditions that stop you from getting the "launch control active" message after the "launch control ready" message? And does the lack of "launch control active" mean launch control indeed never kicked in?

 

[Snicklefritz]

Something new almost every day I come here. I've never noticed or heard of before, two dings and "ready" followed by "active". I've always just pushed the gas pedal and instantly the "ready" message appears and you lift left foot and mash right foot. Turbos kick in almost instantly and away you go like a scalded cat. Ima thinking that "active" is for when the car is about to abort LC after telling you "ready" and you haven't gone yet. If I recall the manual says that is 4-5 seconds of continuing to hold the brake after LC "ready" appears. This entire toy is a strain on the transmission. LC won't even engage, be "ready", if the trans fluid gets too hot, from too many launches. I've never experienced this because I never do more than one launch at a time.

 

[bfglitch]

I believe you need to let off the brake fairly quickly after the launch control ready pops up. I think if you hold it too long it kills launch control.

 

[StingerOwner]

Something new almost every day I come here. I've never noticed or heard of before, two dings and "ready" followed by "active". I've always just pushed the gas pedal and instantly the "ready" message appears and you lift left foot and mash right foot. Turbos kick in almost instantly and away you go like a scalded cat. Ima thinking that "active" is for when the car is about to abort LC after telling you "ready" and you haven't gone yet. If I recall the manual says that is 4-5 seconds of continuing to hold the brake after LC "ready" appears. This entire toy is a strain on the transmission. LC won't even engage, be "ready", if the trans fluid gets too hot, from too many launches. I've never experienced this because I never do more than one launch at a time.

It seems that "launch control active" is something that must appear on the screen for sure. If it does not not appear then launch control did not work. The manual also mentions that "launch control active" needs to appear once you let go of brake. There are videos with "launch control active" appearing with both short and long delays between "ready" and "active". My first attached video has a short delay and here is a long delay video

.

I believe you need to let off the brake fairly quickly after the launch control ready pops up. I think if you hold it too long it kills launch control.

I tried exceeding the 4 seconds so that launch control deactivates itself. This 4 seconds is a pretty long time, it honestly feels like forever.

Today I attempted launch control 5 times and "launch control active" never appeared. I'm a bit worried about how hard this is on the car but technically none of these were real launches. When I go back to the performance graph for the one time I got launch control to actually work a few months ago then the 60ft time is much better than it is for all the failed launches. So it seems "launch control active" is something you really need to get. I just do not understand why it does not work. For me "launch control ready" simply stays for some time and then fades out in the middle of the failed launch. If a launch succeeds then "launch control active" stays on the screen until you let go of gas.

Actually, like 25% of videos on youtube do not show "launch control active". I think people just don't realize the launch failed.

 

[Snicklefritz]

I think people just don't realize the launch failed.

Could be. I haven't ever watched the screen once I "launch". The moment I see "ready", as I said, I give it the beans and am watching the road, not the stupid LCD screen. I'll try a launch today or tomorrow, if I can, and watch to see if "ready" changes to "active". Ahead of time, Ima going to go with "active", and I just never saw it before.

If I've been doing failed launches all this time, oh well. When I want to get a good dig in at a green light I usually use auto hold anyway and don't set up a launch.

 

[StingerOwner]

I got it to work. "Launch control ready" followed by "Launch control active". 2 dings. Only did one launch and that's enough for now. 0-100 km/h 5.32s and 0-60 mph 5.02s (1ft rollout times are a bit better). Not very good times but ok'ish.

The Dragy app shows the g-force curve - it is certainly different when comparing successful and failed launches. For successful launches there is an initial spike in g-force and it keeps increasing. For failed launches the initial spike is followed by a huge drop and only then g-force increases - I guess this is what some people on this forum have meant when they write that launch control is disappointing and "car fell on its face". I must agree - a failed launch does feel like that but a successful one feels quite ok.

Did a few things differently, not sure which of these things mattered:

• Spent more time to perfectly align the car and steering wheel on the road. Although the car was quite straight previous times as well and I would imagine if these conditions are not met then you shouldn't even get "launch control ready".
• Kept pressing gas for a bit longer than usual before letting go of brake - meaning that I let the car be longer in the "launch control ready" state.
• Turned on high beams because it was dark.

 

[Snicklefritz]

I went to the New Bingham Hwy and did half a dozen or more launches. Sunday afternoon is definitely the time for that. There was next to no traffic and I could stop in the middle of the lane and launch without a single vehicle in sight. Yes indeed, if you do not push the gas pedal to the floor before releasing the brake, you get no “active” message and “ready” simply disappears. You don’t have to engage the kickdown switch, just push the pedal to the floor and release the brake.