Nothing to do with gears. When you’re drafting behind an opponent you can accelerate slightly faster than them because you have less wind resistance. You can also reach a higher top speed before the wind resistance is too much for your engine to overcome. Building up enough speed in the draft can let you make an overtake or get alongside before the next corner.
Whether it is actually an effective way to pass depends on the type of car and track. It’s an important part of many types of racing but totally ineffective in others.
I know about wind resistance lol. I’m talking about the fact that some extra acceleration can be achieved by lowering the gear. When you overtake someone in your own car yourself (or if you ride a bike it’s more noticeable when you draft behind) you will notice that acceleration is easier if you lower your gear. That’s because you have more torque / angular momentum in a lower gear. Of course that means that you also start your acceleration while still drafting, like you mentioned, but that isn’t the entire effect. Whether that effect is actually strong enough to overtake their opponent is another thing, depending on the car and speed at the time.
Oh, you generally always drive in the lowest gear possible because that’s how you go fast. If you are accelerating and downshifting means you will go faster, that just means you made a mistake by not being in the correct gear in the first place.
There are niche situations where someone might want to short shift e.g. fuel saving.
some extra acceleration can be achieved by lowering the gear
The only thing that can be achieved by downshifting if you’re already at top speed for a particular gear, is making the gearbox shit itself loudly and most likely cease normal operation. Or maybe making the engine stall, which would be the better outcome here.
To downshift safely you need to lower the speed, since the same speed corresponds to higher RPMs at lower gears. The same speed that you’re trying to build in the first place. Definitely no one is doing this ridiculous nonsense in racing.
Mate I don’t mean to rain on your parade, but if you want to make overconfident statements like that I suggest you read the web page I linked above to refreshen your knowledge about Newton’s Second Law, torque and angular momentum. There is nothing ridiculous or nonsensical about Newton’s 2nd law and it applies here :)
If you want to speak about engines and gears, better get past Newton’s laws and learn how engines and gears work. See you when you reach high school, or more likely not, because you’ll realize what a crock of bullshit you were writing here.
Why disengage? Instead, prove that you’re right: borrow a car with a manual gearbox from a relative of yours, redline it in the third gear, downshift to second, and then get back here as to how that went. Just don’t look up what such a maneuver is colloquially called.
Why? Because you’re starting to act like a jerk and I don’t need any of that?
But fine, I am willing to explain if you’re willing to tone down a bit.
To start off: I drove a manual car for a decade until this march. So I kinda know how they work – maybe don’t try to make so many assumptions about who you’re talking to.
And who said anything about redlining? The point is that the drafting car is not redlined. Nor is the one in front, they just can’t accelerate any faster because of wind resistance. Your scenario would only occur when both cars are driving at their maximum achievable speeds. That only happens on very few race tracks like this one.
Maybe you can stop getting stuck in the loop where the only possibility is that you’re right and I’m wrong, but instead explore the possibility that you may learn something.
Nothing. That’s the whole point of the topic. It’s all nonsense.
Stuff like that doesn’t happen in real racing. In real racing you usually pass someone by pressuring them to make a mistake or forcing them to make an opening in a corner. Some motor sports have boost mechanics like DRS or electric boost and stuff but those are limited to specific areas with specific rules on their use. It’s not the winning strategy usually.
It used to be a huge part of F1 but since the cars rely heavily on downforce the following car cannot get too close because of turbulent air, so F1 introduced a gimmick of wing flaps for the following car.
On the contrary, it happens all the time. In car racing, but also in the TdF for example.
DRS is mostly a F1 thing, and doesn’t have that much to do with what’s being discussed here, because it makes a physical change to the car itself. And of course if you get to turn on a second engine that’s something else as well.
There’s also tracks which doesn’t let you maintain top speed. But the car in front can still keep blocking unless it’s a wide track (so basically some off-road racing I think)
Right, so what is it that makes them be able to accelerate past their opponent? More room for acceleration within the same gear?
Nothing to do with gears. When you’re drafting behind an opponent you can accelerate slightly faster than them because you have less wind resistance. You can also reach a higher top speed before the wind resistance is too much for your engine to overcome. Building up enough speed in the draft can let you make an overtake or get alongside before the next corner.
Whether it is actually an effective way to pass depends on the type of car and track. It’s an important part of many types of racing but totally ineffective in others.
I know about wind resistance lol. I’m talking about the fact that some extra acceleration can be achieved by lowering the gear. When you overtake someone in your own car yourself (or if you ride a bike it’s more noticeable when you draft behind) you will notice that acceleration is easier if you lower your gear. That’s because you have more torque / angular momentum in a lower gear. Of course that means that you also start your acceleration while still drafting, like you mentioned, but that isn’t the entire effect. Whether that effect is actually strong enough to overtake their opponent is another thing, depending on the car and speed at the time.
Oh, you generally always drive in the lowest gear possible because that’s how you go fast. If you are accelerating and downshifting means you will go faster, that just means you made a mistake by not being in the correct gear in the first place.
There are niche situations where someone might want to short shift e.g. fuel saving.
The only thing that can be achieved by downshifting if you’re already at top speed for a particular gear, is making the gearbox shit itself loudly and most likely cease normal operation. Or maybe making the engine stall, which would be the better outcome here.
To downshift safely you need to lower the speed, since the same speed corresponds to higher RPMs at lower gears. The same speed that you’re trying to build in the first place. Definitely no one is doing this ridiculous nonsense in racing.
Mate I don’t mean to rain on your parade, but if you want to make overconfident statements like that I suggest you read the web page I linked above to refreshen your knowledge about Newton’s Second Law, torque and angular momentum. There is nothing ridiculous or nonsensical about Newton’s 2nd law and it applies here :)
If you want to speak about engines and gears, better get past Newton’s laws and learn how engines and gears work. See you when you reach high school, or more likely not, because you’ll realize what a crock of bullshit you were writing here.
Wow, doubling down now and acting like a jerk on top of that? No thanks.
This conversation is over, I’m disengaging
Why disengage? Instead, prove that you’re right: borrow a car with a manual gearbox from a relative of yours, redline it in the third gear, downshift to second, and then get back here as to how that went. Just don’t look up what such a maneuver is colloquially called.
Why? Because you’re starting to act like a jerk and I don’t need any of that?
But fine, I am willing to explain if you’re willing to tone down a bit. To start off: I drove a manual car for a decade until this march. So I kinda know how they work – maybe don’t try to make so many assumptions about who you’re talking to.
And who said anything about redlining? The point is that the drafting car is not redlined. Nor is the one in front, they just can’t accelerate any faster because of wind resistance. Your scenario would only occur when both cars are driving at their maximum achievable speeds. That only happens on very few race tracks like this one.
Maybe you can stop getting stuck in the loop where the only possibility is that you’re right and I’m wrong, but instead explore the possibility that you may learn something.
Nothing. That’s the whole point of the topic. It’s all nonsense.
Stuff like that doesn’t happen in real racing. In real racing you usually pass someone by pressuring them to make a mistake or forcing them to make an opening in a corner. Some motor sports have boost mechanics like DRS or electric boost and stuff but those are limited to specific areas with specific rules on their use. It’s not the winning strategy usually.
Drafting is a huge part of most motorsports (f1 included) in real life. It just doesn’t look like the movies.
It used to be a huge part of F1 but since the cars rely heavily on downforce the following car cannot get too close because of turbulent air, so F1 introduced a gimmick of wing flaps for the following car.
Great example of an enshittified sport.
No, it very much still is.
On the contrary, it happens all the time. In car racing, but also in the TdF for example.
DRS is mostly a F1 thing, and doesn’t have that much to do with what’s being discussed here, because it makes a physical change to the car itself. And of course if you get to turn on a second engine that’s something else as well.
There’s also tracks which doesn’t let you maintain top speed. But the car in front can still keep blocking unless it’s a wide track (so basically some off-road racing I think)