When do YOU down shift??????

[DAVID GAGNARD]

Clois;

I'm no expert,just a budding beginer,but I like to downshift before turning in also,one less thing for me to do in the turn,my downshifts are governed by my rpms,with my gears I know were my rpms need to be before downshifting,(to soon and I over-rev the motor,rev-limiter will not help with this).....

At the schools I have attended,the instructors all pretty much agree with the 3 second rule of thumb,if you can not stay in a gear for at least three seconds,do not down shift or up shift.........

Case-in-point;at Nashville Superspeedway,about the third turn off the front strait,hard,sharp right hander,exiting into the S's,I would downshift to second going in and upshift to third thru the S's,always a little too loose coming off the turn in second,chasing the rear end,instructor suggested staying in third gear thru the hard turn,tried it and that was the only change I made,lap times improved by a full two seconds,I could "stand on it" in third coming off the hard right hander and stay on it all thru the S's,kinda lugged the motor a little coming off the right hander,but accelarated well thru the S's.........

Of course all this goes out the window when you figure you entered the turn wayyyyyyy to fast and you do not have enough brakes and the wall is looking wayyyyy too close,then anything goes as far as downshifting,braking and whatever it takes to keep the car off the concrete wall.....

That's one of the things I enjoy most about road racing,trying different lines,braking points,shift points to see how it affects my lap times.......nothing like "seat time" to work these things out.............

David