On 30/03/2016 18:39, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
Clive George wrote:
Regardless of the gear chosen, the peak acceleration *in that gear*
will occur when the engine is developing peak torque.

Are we still doing this?

I'd long since given up. But someone decided to revive it.


What you've said there is true, however it is
not the way to accelerate the car the fastest.

We're not talking 0-60 times here. Just the best rate of change of speed.

Ok. Which is achieved with the gear chosen so the engine at its maximum
power, not maximum torque.

No vehicle with an IC engine gives a linear rate of increase in speed from
0 to top speed. It will obviously produce the best acceleration in the
lowest gear, slightly less in the next one up, and so on. But that is a
red herring as regards when the engine produces the best acceleration in
any one gear.

I think people aren't concerned about when the engine produces the best
acceleration in any one gear, they're concerned about what is necessary
to accelerate the car the fastest, which means choosing gears which will
put the engine closest to maximum power, not maximum torque.