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ACCELERATING
techniques
It's probably most people's favourite aspect of driving. It gives
cars their ultimate appeal: the power to reach huge speeds, entirely
at the whim of your right foot. Add the hard-edged wail of high
revs, the thunder of a big engine, or the whoosh of a turbo.
But many drivers are unaware of their engine's
true potential. How can a driver fully exploit it? This
section will share a few techniques on how to get every drop of
power out of your engine.
gears and rev range
Some cars are blessed with engines that have broad, flat torque
curves, or give huge rushes of power at dizzying rpm.
But sometimes a car with a 1600cc engine can actually be more
fun than the exact same model with a bigger motor. It all depends
on how the 1.6 goes about its business, and what you, the driver,
can make of what is available.
When many drivers want more speed, they will
floor the accelerator, but they rarely pay attention to engine
speed (revolutions per minute, or rpm) and upshift perhaps halfway
through the rev range. By doing that, they have missed
out on the part of the rev range with the most power on offer.
A typical engine will rev to a maximum of about 6500 rpm, but
for normal driving we usually don't venture beyond, say 3-4000
rpm. But this is just below the point where a typical engine will
start making the most power - between 4000 and 6000 rpm. This
is known as the power band. Even though many high-output
engines can pull up tree stumps at 2500 rpm, even they don't start
making maximum power until much further up the rev range.
So the key to maximizing acceleration is higher
revs (diesels are the exception - they usually peak somewhere
in the middle of their rev ranges). Different engines will
peak at different revs, so work the rev range to find out where
your engine's power band lies - it is something you can easy feel
through the seat of your pants. For those of you blessed with
high-performance motors, the rev range can soar to between 7000
and 9000rpm, and the power band can extend right up until the
rev limiter cuts in.
For drivers with less extreme motors, you will probably feel
the engine's power band flatten out and then fizzle away as you
get toward the redline. It is just after that flattening-out point
that it is probably time to upshift. Upshift too soon and the
engine revs will fall below the power band, leaving you frustrated.
Wait too long, and you are simply thrashing the engine for no
good reason.
accelerating out of a corner.
Fast progress through and out of a corner requires (surprise)
a smooth right foot. Today's modern driver aids can make up for
some untidy driving, but there is nothing like doing it your self
and getting it just right. Here
is how:
- Once you come off the brakes, and have settled onto your cornering
line, start applying a tiny amount of power to help steady the
car and prepare it for the exit. This also helps you maintain
momentum as you travel through the corner.
- As you start to see out of the corner and down the road, gradually
feed in more throttle until it is down to the floor. Remember:
as you add another task for the tyres to cope with (acceleration),
their ability to cope with the other forces at work diminish
(cornering) so you will want to experiment to get the best trade-off
for your car, and for different corners.
Make sure the gear you are in puts your engine in the part of
the power band that will give you the most acceleration out of
the corner, and that you are do this before you start to turn
in.
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