Gearchange video

[Yung Man]

WhoseGeneration said:

Used DDC for my IAM test, no comment from Examiner.

Now we are getting somewhere.

[WhoseGeneration]

Yung Man said:

WhoseGeneration said:

Used DDC for my IAM test, no comment from Examiner.

Now we are getting somewhere.

Careful, never assume.
Did I say what I was driving?

[mph999]

Persoanlly, whilst I can I generally don't use DDC, though did for my IAM and one of my RoSPA tests. It was commented on in a positive manner from the examiners.

Day to day, I just match the revs, either by a "sustained" change, for example on approached to a corner, or if after braking, just blip the gas..

The only time I really use DDC is if selecting say 2nd at a fairly high speed, say 40 ish, so as to not over work the syncro.

Martin

[Yung Man]

R_U_LOCAL said:

In the video, you'll see me turn right from a T-junction and then go up through the gears to 5th. Watch the movement of the rev counter to see what I'm doing with my right foot during the upchanges.

You'll then see me do a systematic right turn into a junction, accompanied with a block change down to 2nd.

Following a short drive, you'll see me perform a favourite little gearchanging exercise, where I hold the car at a given speed (40ish mph in this case), whilst changing between various random gears, either raising or lowering the engine revs during the change to smooth it out.

Notice how, with practice, these gearchanges can be just as quick as other techniques.

Other videos to follow...

I thought you were using the revs unnecessarily so I have been trying to be smooth (not that I don't anyway) in everyday driving and have come to these conclusions.
1. Most people start their journey with a cold engine so should keep the revs low for the first few miles (you decide how many).
2. Most people probably start their journey in a 30mph zone then go into a 40mph zone and so on, this means they don't need lots of revs early on in the trip.
3.If my car is typical and does 30mph in 5th at 1450rpm, 44mph at 2000rpm, 55mph at 2500rpm and 66mph at 3000rpm why should most people on most journeys need to be anywhere near the sort of revs you were using in your demo.
4. This article on the news,

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6990446.stm

would also support the use of lower revs rather than higher revs.

Lastly if you change gear at lower revs the engine revs/road speed smoothness is less of a problem, so in my opinion you are simply making a simple job into a more difficult one and I have to ask myself why?.

[GreenV8S]

Yung Man said:

in my opinion you are simply making a simple job into a more difficult one and I have to ask myself why?.

I imagine it would be pointless trying to demonstrate this technique at very low revs so perhaps higher than normal revs were used for the purposes of demonstration. I'd also point out that keeping the revs right down may be OK if you're cruising and don't need much torque from the engine but should be avoided if you're going to ask for more torque, as shown in the video under discussion during moderate acceleration. Laboring the engine is relatively bad for it and not something that an advanced driver should be comtemplating.

[Santa Claws]

Moral of the story: use a technique that smooths out gearchanges and also aids mechanical sympathy.

We can argue all day on what technique may offer 0.000001% difference. It's all swings and roundabouts.

[Yung Man]

If you are trying to get the most people possible to improve their driving then you could suggest for example changing gear before 2000 rpm and set yourself a moderate maximum target revs for 3 months then move the target up slightly as you get smoother this way if you can't master it at 3000rpm you don't move up to 3500 rpm.
When I learned to drive my driving instructor who by the way had been doing it most of his working life (he was about 50 )didn't come across as showing me how good he was (showing off) he just wanted to show me how to drive safely and pass my test.
IAM seem to want to change old well proven driving techniques when there is nothing wrong with them, It's been mention that by rev matching you keep the balance of the car at it's optimum level, If you are 1% away from losing control of the vehicle fare enough but I can't imagine a IAM ever admitting to driving like that, even a police pursuit driver.

[R_U_LOCAL]

Yung Man said:

R_U_LOCAL said:

In the video, you'll see me turn right from a T-junction and then go up through the gears to 5th. Watch the movement of the rev counter to see what I'm doing with my right foot during the upchanges.

You'll then see me do a systematic right turn into a junction, accompanied with a block change down to 2nd.

Following a short drive, you'll see me perform a favourite little gearchanging exercise, where I hold the car at a given speed (40ish mph in this case), whilst changing between various random gears, either raising or lowering the engine revs during the change to smooth it out.

Notice how, with practice, these gearchanges can be just as quick as other techniques.

Other videos to follow...

I thought you were using the revs unnecessarily so I have been trying to be smooth (not that I don't anyway) in everyday driving and have come to these conclusions.
1. Most people start their journey with a cold engine so should keep the revs low for the first few miles (you decide how many).
2. Most people probably start their journey in a 30mph zone then go into a 40mph zone and so on, this means they don't need lots of revs early on in the trip.
3.If my car is typical and does 30mph in 5th at 1450rpm, 44mph at 2000rpm, 55mph at 2500rpm and 66mph at 3000rpm why should most people on most journeys need to be anywhere near the sort of revs you were using in your demo.
4. This article on the news,

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6990446.stm

would also support the use of lower revs rather than higher revs.

Lastly if you change gear at lower revs the engine revs/road speed smoothness is less of a problem, so in my opinion you are simply making a simple job into a more difficult one and I have to ask myself why?.

Just to piss you off.

[Yung Man]

I asked for that one

[Daaave]

Alright guys,

So in regard to the thumb up, thumb down hand position when changing gear; what position should it be in when going from 2nd to 3rd and from 3rd to 2nd?

I'm guessing down, but just wanted to check.

Cheers,
D.

[Phisp]

My understanding is that the reason for the thumb up/thumb down is so that the palm of your hand is controlling the gear lever from the correct direction i.e pushing against the spring that holds the lever in neutral between 3rd and 4th.

I use thumb down for selecting 1st/2nd gears from any other gear and thumb up for all others.

If I've got this right then I have actually managed to learn something since I passed my test 22 years ago .

Edited by Phisp on Tuesday 25th September 13:04

[hardboiledPhil]

Yung Man said:

When I learned to drive my driving instructor who by the way had been doing it most of his working life (he was about 50 )didn't come across as showing me how good he was (showing off) he just wanted to show me how to drive safely and pass my test.

You were taught to a minimal level of standard that was reasonably safe and met the legal requirement for the day. This could be a considerably different level from those that are taught to drive at high speed.

If you pulled out onto my local bypass and tried to stick to using 2,000rpm then you'd soon be punted off the road by a van/articulated truck. Use an amount of revs suitable for the situation that you're in not an artificially limited one.

[Yung Man]

hardboiledPhil said:

Yung Man said:

When I learned to drive my driving instructor who by the way had been doing it most of his working life (he was about 50 )didn't come across as showing me how good he was (showing off) he just wanted to show me how to drive safely and pass my test.

You were taught to a minimal level of standard that was reasonably safe and met the legal requirement for the day. This could be a considerably different level from those that are taught to drive at high speed.

If you pulled out onto my local bypass and tried to stick to using 2,000rpm then you'd soon be punted off the road by a van/articulated truck. Use an amount of revs suitable for the situation that you're in not an artificially limited one.

I can't really complain at you leaving out part of what I said, there is no one worse than me for doing that but what I said was.

Yung Man said:

If you are trying to get the most people possible to improve their driving then you could suggest for example changing gear before 2000 rpm and set yourself a moderate maximum target revs for 3 months then move the target up slightly as you get smoother this way if you can't master it at 3000rpm you don't move up to 3500 rpm.

From that you could say we are in agreement, whether you have "L" plate or a "P" plate on the back of your car you probably wouldn't want to pull out on your local by pass (especially when you are around)