a manually shifted auto is an auto with a manual valve body, what gear you have the shifter in, thats what gear it will be in, not just putting an auto in 1 or 2 but if you were to put a manual valvebody in D then you would be trying to take off in 3rd, it lets you shift exactly when you want to, not when the trans thinks you should shift

a auto with a shift kit and stall will be faster than a manual any day with the same car and driver

in a car under 300hp a manual is usually faster stock, for example a fox body but really anthing above 300hp, they are about even stock, but autos can be made way faster than manuals, because even if you can shift like a ****, a shift kit, just takes a click and it is in the next gears, i know a guy with a 98 dakota r/t that only has the stock 240hp with a shift kit and it will chirp the tires into 3rd (thats 4th gerar for you manual guys guys)

ANYONE CAN SLAM GEARS FAST!, its all about the launch

and imo the biggest part of being a good driver is the reaction time, why has noone mentioned this yet?

 

All im gonna say is if you havnt driven a 2.73 geard ls1 it sure is hard to make the tires burn, at least new tires. And I do shift my car manually when I am in a dead spot on my auto all I do is put the car in 1st or secondthenfloor it and quickly put it in od. It made a big difference when I raced this guys srt-4 from a roll. Oh yeah one thing I do hate about auto's is the dead spots I hate it with a passion.