Launching a completely stock, and probably well worn car is not terribly smart. You'll put a lot of wear on a lot of things simply because a number of bushings and other components are not in good repair, or are approaching 20 years old in some cases.
If you're going to be launching the car with any regularity, you want:
- Stiffer, or at least new engine mounts. Poly is best.
- Stiffer, or at least new front crossmember bushings.
- Stiffer, or at least new rear subframe and diff bushings.
- CV shafts in good repair.
- Driveshaft in good repair (they're hard to break, but if you have driveline vibrations, it's probably out of balance)
... at a bare minimum. If those items are not in good repair all you're going to do is bounce things around in the driveline and generally make the car unhappy.
That said, if those items are in good repair, in all cases you want to:
- Warm the clutch by slipping it at ~3k for a few seconds.
- Once staged/stationary, bring the revs up to your launch rpm, and PRE LOAD the driveline. That means barely engage the clutch so as to take up the lash and slop in the driveline. This is how you avoid breaking things.
- Depending on your setup, either drop the clutch and feed the power in (twin plate, unsprung puck clutch), or engage the clutch rapidly (about one full second to fully engaged) while feeding in a moderate amount of power, going to full power once the clutch is locked up (sprung or stock-ish clutch).
As to launch RPM, depends largely on your turbo setup and power level, but for a rough guideline:
- Street tires on pavement, ~4,500.
- Slicks on pavement, ~5,000-5,500.
- Slicks on prepared track (sticky goo), ~6,000.
- Anything else on dirt, snow, etc: ~3,500.