Howdy,
On Sun, 14 Oct 2001, James Creasy wrote:
> ah, well, i was referring to an earlier email where the question was whether
> to downshift or not to 1st, and then back to 2nd. my comments pertained to
> staying in 2nd, not staying in 1st.
>
> i was not advocating running the whole course in 1st gear on the rev
> limiter!
Everyone's gotta do what they gotta do, but it always seems like I'm
faster if I leave the thing in 2nd vs. downshifting to first. When I'm
watching others drive, it also seems like unless there's some mitigating
factor, they're better off in 2nd. Mitigating factors I've seen include:
1) its a pretty tight course, the driver is pretty good, and they're
driving something like a GrandSport that has a tall 1st gear.
2) its a pretty tight course, the driver is pretty good, and they're
driving a turbo car.
3) its a pretty tight course, the driver is pretty good, and they're
driving something like an S2000 that revs to the moon and has to to make
power.
Take it for what its worth (not a heck of a lot :-), but I'd leave the car
in 2nd if you're on the fence. The evolution school instructors I've
talked to all seem to recommend just sticking it in 2nd and driving for
most situations as well. Of course, they may just be tailoring their
advice to my driving ability :-)
Better would be to talk to a few of the really fast folks and see what
they're doing in cars like yours...
Mark
|