Transmission Choice

Manual, as much because it's harder to keep an auto from blowing up as anything else. There are more concerns about keeping the auto tranny oil cool after 12 hours of racing than what would happen to the clutch. If your clutch blows up it's an easier fix than if your auto-tranny overheats and blows up.

Unless you want to get heavily into oil cooler work for the autobox, look hard to get a manual. Good luck!

Make sure everyone on your team can drive a manual.
Stupid thought, I know, but some people can't drive a stick.

If someone on the team can't drive a stick get a slushbox.

THATS what we need for the Camaro

Grooovey...

I've seen a fair number of automatics fail at Lemons, but manuals tend to fry clutches and/or eat their own innards with alarming frequency. Since there's about a 10:1 manual-to-automatic ratio in Lemons, it's hard to say which type is less reliable (particularly since so many automatics are found on small-block-Chevy-powered cars, which generally blow up the engine long before the transmission even gets warmed up), but there doesn't seem to be much real-world longevity difference. Just get whatever kind of car you like. Preferably an '83 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz with the stainless-steel roof.

Manual all the way. It's really hard to keep automatics cool, and getting them to behave in general is a little more of a guessing game. That said, TH350/400, chrysler 727/904, ford C4/6 are cheap and (relatively) easy to make unbreakable.

We've been racing manuals.

We blew a clutch in the first race.

In the second race we lost fourth gear.  Changed the transmission and blew the new clutch we put in mid-race before a couple hours later.

A new clutch and some different drivers and we've made 4 races on the second warrantied clutch.

I always bring a spare clutch.

Step one: First find some cars for less than $500.
Step two: evaluate for funkiness, more is better
Step three: evaluate for survivability.
step four: get extra parts (clutch, automatic trans, engine, wheel bearings, etc...)

A manual transmission will last longer under race conditions. As mentioned the automatics will get hot, and then cooked. But people are making them work.

The clutch should last fine. Exploding clutches are probably from bad downshifts and people trying to be racey (engine braking fancy heel/toe work). Most of these are relatively modern cars with good brakes, so you don't need to engine brake, so all that fancy down shifting (proper heel/toe) isn't that necessary. Brake hard, then shift. You'll be 2 wide, lined up behind 5 other cars in almost every corner, so you'll be braking early most of the time, and will have plenty of time to downshift and find the right gear for exiting the corner.

Volvo 740 Station Wagons with Auto boxes - has anyone run them and how does that auto box hold up?

I have noticed a few Volvo wagons on the circuit and with teh scarcity of stick shits for those I assume at least one has been an automatice???? - maybe???

I agree with the engine braking part, but I'm not so sure about heel/toe.

If you know how to heel/toe properly that's actually the best thing you can do for your clutch and transmission.  Heel/toe braking is actually the opposite of engine braking.  When you heel/toe you're making sure the engine is reved up to match the wheel speed before you engage the clutch.  If you do it properly the clutch will barely slip before it completely engages which is the best possible outcome for its longevity.  Using a heel/toe technique certainly isn't necessary to keep your car on the track, but it's not like you should avoid it.

Engine braking, on the other hand, should be avoided.  When you engine brake the wheels are spinning much faster than the engine and the clutch ends up slipping a lot and generating a lot of heat in order to get the two to match so it can engage completely.  If you do a lot of this in a Lemon you will probably also replace a lot of clutches.