i'd put my money on the pulsar for the drag, unless it had a crap driver. The ca18det has much more torque than the 20 valve. If it was a late model 4agze in the rolla, the rolla would have a lot more going 4 it.
I think we can assume the crap driver is pedalling the 20v in this case, if you need to ask on a forum what rpm to launch your car at then you obviously have issues. A minute or two behind the wheel of a car and a few practise launches should find you the best rpm to launch at on a given road surface