Quote:
Originally Posted by BookerM3
There is one additional consideration, the mechnical gearing / accelleration
advantage of running in a lower gear. (eg your car will accellerate much faster
in 1st gear vs. 6th gear)
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This is exactly why I'm asking, the gear can make a big difference. Riding my bike is a good example; I know that my skinny legs can apply the same (tiny) amount of torque against the crank no matter what gear I'm in (until I get tired
). But, if I'm in a lower gear, the bike will accelerate much faster than a higher gear. Cars are more complicated because both the torque and gearing mechanical advantage change in each gear; one goes up and the other goes down. So, at what point is it a net loss or gain ?
Since this not an S2000, and the torque weakens north of 7K, I'm not convinced I really want to keep it up there, for both longevity and performance reasons. No disrespect intended towards my instructor, the rest of the advice he gave me made lots of sense.
It's not my first track day, just the first in this car. Still, I know that being in a marginally sub-optimal gear for a few seconds is not my biggest impediment to my lap times at this point in my skill development, but being a very analytical person, I find this more interesting than the average sane person would... to be honest, I'm not looking for excuses to shift even more as I am finding it hard to heel-toe in this car with the stock pedals.