Originally posted by: ivan2
i got a question for you guys. lets say your car red line starts at 6k rpm but your engine wasn't limited so you can rev up to 8k rpm although with a slight reduced power. do you shift at 6k or 8k? or somewhere in between?
It is all about when the power kicks in. Sometimes the max horsepower kicks in before the redline and sometimes after. If you shift right when you hit max horsepower then the next gear has a bigger hill to climb to get back to that point. Thus taking longer to get back to max horsepower and increasing laptimes. If you shift a little past max hp then you are losing a little hp for every second you stay in that gear, but when you shift into the next gear it has a smaller hill to climb.
Now, keep in mind everytime you shift you have a split second of no power. So using 6 gears isn't always the best idea, especially on shorter tracks. While it may allow you to stay in the powerband longer, you are losing time for every single shift and begin negating the steady powerband trip.
I try to use five gears max. On longer tracks I've found that five gears are optimum for me with most cars. On shorter tracks I use four and even three depending on the vehicle. On the big tracks I try to stay in a gear a little longer than usual to "slingshot" the car into the next gear. It also helps when a long straight leads into a very slow 2nd gear corner. Fifth gear might give me a little more speed but it will be brief, so I stick to 4th and then as I am slowing down I downshift into 3rd or 2nd. Therefore I've wasted no time shifting on acceleration and I've wasted no time shifting from 4th to 5th then back to 4th in a very short distance.
Damn, didn't mean to ramble. Hope some of that is coherent. Good luck on the track. If you need anymore help just let me know.
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