Turning Off Speedo

[WTFestiva]

Hey guys I was wondering something.

I'm not much of a mechanic, I'm a rookie as of this year, but I'm trying to learn more and more. We had a friend of ours saying that he was able to turn off his Speedo by switch, claiming that it made him faster since he was not worried about his speed, just looking at the road/tach. Is this actually possible or is he blowing this switch stuff out his behind? If it's possible to do this I think I would actually consider it because when we get up in speed I tend to let my eyes wander to the speedo. I tried searching for threads but mainly came up with replacing or upgrading the speedo instead of switching it. What are your guys' thoughts on it?

[Team Lightning]

Festiva's use a cable from the transmission to the back of the speedometer so using and electrical switch wouldn't work.
Some of the newer obd2 cars use a sensor at the transmission to send the signal. I had to replace the sensor on my 98 Dakota several years ago.
Dont really see any benefit in turning it off on those.
I'm fairly sure it sends the signal to.the computer.
No signal from the speed sensor would probably cause the computer to set the a/f ratio wrong on the engine.
A/f = air / fuel ratio.

[GenevaDirt]

it is mechanical...no way to switch it off. You could unscrew the cable from the tranny before a race

[WTFestiva]

Yeah I kinda thought it was mechanical in some way or another. I have a friend that turns his speedo off during stage rallys, and turns it back on during transit. Says he's had better luck like that. His car is a Subaru impreza though, not a Festiva, so its not as cool anyways.

Thanks guys

[sasquatch]

rip out the whole dash, lighter weight, you will go faster

[Damkid]

i never ever thought a speedo would decrease horsepower enough to actually want to disable it

[shadetree]

Its a mind game . Cut a piece of black paper for the center of the dash !!!

[Damkid]

seal the doors windows etc. and fill the passenger compartment with hydrogen, makes it lighter and faster :lol:

[WTFestiva]

seal the doors windows etc. and fill the passenger compartment with hydrogen, makes it lighter and faster

lol hell yeah! Shave all the hair off your body, drive naked... ect. thats our next plan

[Damkid]

Don't forget you can't eat anything 3 days prior to race day, go to the bathroom repeatedly the day of the race,..... Nah just throw in 2 more cylinders haha

[iceracerdude]

Not knowing what type of car your friend is driving might make a difference on what he's telling you. All of my more modern cars have electric speedos, the festies and aspires are mechanical. If your friend is in the same boat, mechanical, then he's probably refering to the psychological edge he's getting from actually not knowing how fast he's going into turns. He's not thinking things like "I wonder how fast I really did that turn at, if I subtract some of the wheel spin" etc. I've actually used my boost gauge to gauge my wheel spin! Loosing boost, let off a little till the boost continues assending, roll on more throttle. You can have a certain amount of wheel spin and still be accelerating of course, but having more of a reference point than just sound or an inaccurate speedo system is an advantage. GPS would give you the most accurate ground speed reference, but some races, or more specifically, some stages of some races won't allow them. The Dakar comes to mind.

[WTFestiva]

Dakar is definitely interesting. I believe he has an electric speedo, giving him the ability to turn it off... What i'd really like to do is just replace the speedometer with a tachometer. We have a GPS installed into the dash (even though most roads we race don't show up). We gauge our speed off of it though. Gotta get that tach is in my mind right now...

Edit: oh yeah his car is a Subaru Impreza WRX, I believe from 2004.

[eurotiva]

1. Cut dash out for weight savings

2. Install huge tach, because racecar

3. Just keep up with traffic in tansit

Oh and put a bp or v6 in it.

[Advancedynamix]

Make a sticker out of masking tape that reads, " not fast enough" and cover your Speedo with it. Lol

[blkfordsedan]

seal the doors windows etc. and fill the passenger compartment with hydrogen, makes it lighter and faster :lol:

Then hope your passenger doesn't launch an air biscuit :p