Just wondering what speed my 1978 308 GTS should obtain before I shift to second
The gauge that looks like a speedo but isn't will help If you are cold go from first to third at only a few thousand revs If you are driving normally try about four or five thousand If the car is hot and you are flying go from first to second at nearly max revs
I use this. A bit of explaining: On the Final drive ratio cell you find the diff ratio multiplied by the cascade gears ratio. On the upper right corner you find alternate cascade gear ratios you could use. The other stuff is quite straight forward. Can be used for any car, any situation by updating the relevant values. Image Unavailable, Please Login
A Dragster it isnt. Use first gear only to get rolling, start to play hard once your in second. Things last a heck of a lot longer when shock loading under very high torque conditions is limited. This is the mentality the cars were designed with and I agree with. Ferrari didnt plan this out when they delivered cars to the US market and put them in the hands of former Vette owners whos knuckles turned white while grasping the shift knob and threw their body weight behind the first to second shift. "Hey Enzo, whats this drifting thing all about?" Three finger tips on the shift knob only, gingerly shift to second once rolling at speed and then flog the heck out of it, are the instructions I give to new owners. They will take anything you dish out for a while but will last a very long happy life if used as they were designed. Dave
Ferrari designed the H shift pattern with the idea that once you got moving you would forget about first and stay within the H. If you do hold first to the redline, you will only be in second for a very short time. Your best acceleration is probably shifting from first to second at 30mph and at redline on 2,3,4. this way you bracket the peak power curve between your shifts. But, that is academic. I want to hear the motor scream. So, I like to shift at redline in all gears (except in normal driving which would be 3K-5K rpm). As long as you come in easy with the throttle and take a half second to revmatch your shifts (rather than slam the gears) I don't believe going to hurt your car. Let's say you are pole position at a stoplight and the speed limit is 55. First gear to redline, second to redline, skip third ,go to 4th and cruise. A hell of a thrill and you haven't broken any laws. If you shift early out of first you deprive yourself of that wonderful sound. Dave
This is not very true in fact. As you may have seen from the graph I posted the gearbox is designed in a way that if you shift at the red line in every gear you find your self at peak torque in the next upper gear hence max acceleration. You can shift at whatever revs you want but to achieve maximum acceleration you need to change at the red line
Edit: Caution - this post has been discredited You may be right but I have noticed that first gear seems to be an anomaly. In our Mondial (similar to the 308) max speeds in all gears are approximately 40,60,90,120,150. It is easy to spot the oddball in the pattern. If you balance it to 30, 60,90,120,150 I believe you may be making better use of your power curve. However, I have not seen a graph of hp/vs rpm. You may be right if the max Hp is closer to redline, but I would guess it is probably closer to 6000rpm, so if you leave 1st just after peak HP is achieved, you should enter second just as you are approaching peak HP, after that you will want to go to redline in order to meet the next gear as peak HP approaches. Just a theory. Either way, we are not going to win many drag races in 3.0-3.4 liter Ferrari.
I'm sorry but max HP for the 308 is at 7000RPM, max torque at 5000. You're sure we're talking about the same car? If you shift at 7000RPM you find yourself at 5000RPM in almost all gears. This is how the gearbox was designed.
