Step 5: Accelerating and Moving Up Through the Gears
If you've mastered the previous step "Starting Off" you would probably have a good chance at escaping from the T-Rex at Jurassic Park (assuming it has a top speed of about 30 KPH which is what most paleontologists say it is). Although if you remained in first gear over the entire pursuit you could run out of fuel long before you're safe. And it's possible that you'd end up blowing the engine. So not knowing how to shift up from first gear is very very bad. So let's see how it's done...
Again it's best to try this in an open, flat area such as an empty parking lot. We'll start the procedure from when the car is parked. The first little bit wont be in any great detail since it's covered in the previous step "Starting Off".
Fasten your seatbelt.
Press in the clutch pedal all the way to the floor and hold.
Turn the key to start the engine.
Press in and hold the brake pedal. Disengage the handbrake.
Move the shift knob from "neutral" to "1"
Move right foot from brake pedal to gas pedal. Press gas pedal a TINY BIT while quickly moving the clutch pedal to the friction point. Slowly release clutch the rest of the way while holding the gas pedal down a TINY BIT.
Once the car gets going, apply more force to the gas pedal to get the car to accelerate.
As the car accelerates, the engine speed (the RPM's on the tachometer) will keep increasing until the engine becomes very loud. This is when you should shift up. The precise time you shift depends on your driving. For good fuel economy you should shift up at about 3000 RPM. For racing you'd wait until the tachometer almost touches the redline before shifting.
When you decide it's time to shift up:
Release the gas pedal.
Press the clutch all the way to the floor and hold.
Move the shift knob from "1" to "2".
Quickly release the clutch to the friction point and slowly release it the rest of the way.
Apply force to the gas pedal to get the car to accelerate.
You may notice that shifting to second caused the engine speed to go down. Now the car can accelerate to even higher speeds without revving the engine too much. When the engine does start to roar however, you follow the same procedure as shifting from first to second. The only difference is you shift from second to third or from third to fourth and so on.
Here are some good "rule of thumb" shift points if you want to get good fuel economy and maximize the life of your car. Again, the exact shift points that are best depend on the make and model of the car.
1st to 2nd - 15 KPH
2nd to 3rd - 30 KPH
3rd to 4th - 50 KPH
4th to 5th - 60 KPH to 100 KPH
The reason the last shift point has a high range is because the fifth gear is what we use as the "holding gear". Whatever our final speed is, we use fourth gear to reach it and then we shift into fifth once we are there. We remain in fifth gear the whole time we cruise at that speed.
Again it's best to try this in an open, flat area such as an empty parking lot. We'll start the procedure from when the car is parked. The first little bit wont be in any great detail since it's covered in the previous step "Starting Off".
Fasten your seatbelt.
Press in the clutch pedal all the way to the floor and hold.
Turn the key to start the engine.
Press in and hold the brake pedal. Disengage the handbrake.
Move the shift knob from "neutral" to "1"
Move right foot from brake pedal to gas pedal. Press gas pedal a TINY BIT while quickly moving the clutch pedal to the friction point. Slowly release clutch the rest of the way while holding the gas pedal down a TINY BIT.
Once the car gets going, apply more force to the gas pedal to get the car to accelerate.
As the car accelerates, the engine speed (the RPM's on the tachometer) will keep increasing until the engine becomes very loud. This is when you should shift up. The precise time you shift depends on your driving. For good fuel economy you should shift up at about 3000 RPM. For racing you'd wait until the tachometer almost touches the redline before shifting.
When you decide it's time to shift up:
Release the gas pedal.
Press the clutch all the way to the floor and hold.
Move the shift knob from "1" to "2".
Quickly release the clutch to the friction point and slowly release it the rest of the way.
Apply force to the gas pedal to get the car to accelerate.
You may notice that shifting to second caused the engine speed to go down. Now the car can accelerate to even higher speeds without revving the engine too much. When the engine does start to roar however, you follow the same procedure as shifting from first to second. The only difference is you shift from second to third or from third to fourth and so on.
Here are some good "rule of thumb" shift points if you want to get good fuel economy and maximize the life of your car. Again, the exact shift points that are best depend on the make and model of the car.
1st to 2nd - 15 KPH
2nd to 3rd - 30 KPH
3rd to 4th - 50 KPH
4th to 5th - 60 KPH to 100 KPH
The reason the last shift point has a high range is because the fifth gear is what we use as the "holding gear". Whatever our final speed is, we use fourth gear to reach it and then we shift into fifth once we are there. We remain in fifth gear the whole time we cruise at that speed.
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Not NiceInappropriateSpamemay4
says:
Jan 7, 2013. 8:29 PMReply
Thanks for this very informative article. It was very much appreciated by this reader who has never driven a manual in her life!
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