Michael, Have you tried double-clutching? You'll probably find
that lugging in 2nd gives faster times, but it's nice to be able
to grab 1st if you really need it.
Just in case you're not familiar with the practice, a double-clutch
2nd-to-1st downshift is done as follows:
1 - push in clutch, shift 2nd-to-neutral, release clutch
2 - blip throttle momentarily (to match revs in next lower gear)
3 - push in clutch, shift neutral-to-1st, release clutch
With a little practice, it can be pretty quick. If your pedals are
positioned and adjusted correctly, you can can use the ball of your
right foot to brake while you use the right side (or heel) to blip
the throttle. This is the "heel-and-toe" manuver.
I used to be really good at this when I owned a 1955 Porsche with
a tired 1st gear synchroniser. The car had lived the first 10
years and 30k miles of its life in the US Virgin Islands.
4th gear was indeed virgin.
/Bill
--------------- forwarded message ----------------------
Date: Fri, 05 May 2000 16:24:00 -0700
From: "Michael R. Clements" <mrc01@flash.net>
Subject: Re: best line
Sure, the rear end ratio would be included if one is measuring
the total gear ratio from the crankshaft to the wheel. That would
be the transmission ratio multiplied by the differential ratio.
For example, in my RX-7 1st gear is 3.483 and 4.1, which amounts
to 14.2803, which means 225 ft. lbs. at the crank is converted to
3,213 ft. lbs. at the wheel. Incidentally, divide that torque by
the wheel radius, divide by the mass of the car and you have more
than 1 g of acceleration in 1st gear which thanks to lofty rotary
redlines goes to just over 40 mph.
Too bad I can't get it into 1st when it's rolling anything faster
than 10 miles per hour.
--------------- end forwarded message ----------------------
Bill Hamburgen - Senior Member Technical Staff
Western Research Laboratory
Compaq Computer Corporation
250 University Avenue
Palo Alto, CA 94301
Phone: 1-650-617-3329
FAX: 1-650-617-3374
e-mail: bill.hamburgen@compaq.com -or- billh@pa.dec.com
project: http://www.research.compaq.com/wrl/itsy
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