Miata Mailing List: August 1995, Message #45
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   From: Miq Millman 
Subject: Re: Skip shifting
   Date: Tue, 1 Aug 1995 15:47:56 -0400

Eric Rowland says:
> A while ago Miq wrote about a 5th to 3rd downshift, but recommended against
> 'skip upshifts'.  Any particular reason for this?  He wrote it was a 'bad

When I shift from 5th to 3rd I still hit 4th gear on the way, I just don't
release the clutch pedal there.  If you make it a continued habit to shift
from 2nd to 5th, you could get yourself into trouble someday during a
downshift or upshift to get into a powerband.

Consider this situation:

Wet, slick road surface, accelerating out of a turn (to keep the weight on the
rear tires) You shift from 2nd to 3rd to get into a powerband smoothly, and
instead hit 5th because of your bad habit.  The engine lugs, you lose power
to the wheels, weight transfer occurs, the car spins.

Don't scoff, it could happen.  I don't ever remember professional racing
instructors telling me to skip gears while shifting.  I'm not condoning it.

> habit' but I can't think of why it would cause any harm.   I often do a 2nd
> to 4th or 3rd to 5th shift after enthusiastically reaching the appropriate
> speed and can't see a reason to shift/engage/shift/engage if I'm not going to
> 'use' the intermediate gear.   Just yesterday I discovered a 2nd to 5th works
> as well - redline in 2nd is 55+, or cruising speed in 5th.  

What if you're (gasp!) cruising along at 80+ mph on the highway, and you
(shock!) don't notice the rate of speed (hey it could happen in 5th gear on
some of the freeway systems around here), and decide to downshift to pass the
Chrysler Die-nastily putting along at 56 mph? 

Whoops!  You hit 2nd gear instead from force of habit, and instead of getting
a boost of acceleration from 3rd or 4th's powerband, you get a stumbling
bumbling engine as you bounce off the revlimiter and quickly drop 20 mph in
speed.  Or worse break something.

Sure the risk is minor, but why practice a bad habit that encourages it in
the first place?



-- 
Miq Millman   mmillman@ptdcs2.intel.com	  503 642 6139   (Aloha site)
AL4-55  Intel, 5200 NE Elam Young Parkway, Hillsboro, OR 97124-6497
See also miq@teleport.com