New Clutch & the 1/4 Racetrack

Hello,

I recently had a new clutch, master and slave cylinders installed in my 96
Acura Integra GS-R which has 118K miles. The flywheel was resurfaced at the
time the new clutch parts were installed. The clutch feels and operates like
it did when the car was new. I took it to the 1/4 mile track for the second
time before burning up the original clutch. I'm lucky the car went that many
miles on the original clutch to begin with. My question is how much abuse
should a new clutch take at the 1/4 mile track. Anyone have any experience
in this area that can estimate the life in miles, based on going to the
track 2 times or so a month? I know it may be difficult to estimate, and the
life will depend on many factors, but will I shorten the life from 100K+
miles to half of that or somewhere in between? I have no idea what to expect
and may not go if I'm going to burn through another one again very quickly.
It's not an inexpensive repair. Thanks for any insight you can provide.

Troy

"Troy Lumley" <Troy.Lumley.RemoveThis@cox.net> wrote in message
news:hnsAd.8559$Q%4.7247@fed1read06...
 > Hello,
 >
 > I recently had a new clutch, master and slave cylinders installed in my 96
 > Acura Integra GS-R which has 118K miles. The flywheel was resurfaced at
 > the
 > time the new clutch parts were installed. The clutch feels and operates
 > like
 > it did when the car was new. I took it to the 1/4 mile track for the
 > second
 > time before burning up the original clutch. I'm lucky the car went that
 > many
 > miles on the original clutch to begin with. My question is how much abuse
 > should a new clutch take at the 1/4 mile track. Anyone have any experience
 > in this area that can estimate the life in miles, based on going to the
 > track 2 times or so a month? I know it may be difficult to estimate, and
 > the
 > life will depend on many factors, but will I shorten the life from 100K+
 > miles to half of that or somewhere in between? I have no idea what to
 > expect
 > and may not go if I'm going to burn through another one again very
 > quickly.
 > It's not an inexpensive repair. Thanks for any insight you can provide.
 >
 > Troy
 >
 >
Not an expert on the effect of 1/4 mile racing, but I have replaced clutches
twice within a month after towing with my manual-tranny passenger cars so
I'm sure it will take its toll. My uneducated guess is that the clutch life
will be cut at least in half with twice-monthly races, but the "half" part
also depends on your usual clutch habits. Spirited driving and in-town
driving mean more demand on the clutch anyway. (The cylinders probably don't
care about the use - I think they are more of an age thing.)

Mike<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->