The Best Time to Shift for Maximum Acceleration

There is a unique feeling and ego-inducing pleasure that comes from being able to control a manual transmission. Some people think that because they can drive a stick, they are automatically the best driver on four wheels, a God of the Tarmac. Yeah, well, that’s not always the case. Seeing as though you can get a car with a manual transmission rolling from a stop, do you know when is the best time to shift from one gear to the next?

To understand when shifting is most advantageous and ensures the fastest acceleration possible, check out the video below, featuring Jason Fenske from Engineering Explained. Naturally, this is going to involve some math and physics. The best way to go fast is to make sure wheel torque is as high as possible. That means your next shift should occur when engine torque has dropped far enough that the current gear is no longer providing that torque advantage. That is when you need to shift to the next gear to keep things moving as quickly as possible.

Most of the engineers at the major OEM’s have done this for you. Cars and trucks achieve the fastest acceleration when you run each gear out to redline, and that seems to make sense. However, Jason is not the average person, and he explains what can happen in cars with close-ratio gearsets or lots of gears.

So if you really want to know the best time to shift for the fastest acceleration, you’re going to need to know what your horsepower and torque curve looks like; that will certainly mean having your car dyno-ed. It is also necessary to know what your gear ratios are, where your car redlines, and your final drive ratio. Then you need to do the math. A lot of math.

Once you figure out all the math, understanding when to shift is easy. But as a default, you can just take it all the way to the redline and then shift.

Chime in with your thoughts on the forum. >>

Via [Motor Authority]