ok, here's the scenario. 100m straight, followed by easy left into a medium off camber right. from there into a easy-medium left to an easy right and to the finish. the esses after the medium off-camber right hander were pretty fast and could be taken either in 2nd or 3rd, with the 2nd gear approach hitting the rev limiter at the finish lights. the 100m straight came immediately after a slalom and the shift to 3rd accured about 15m into the straight. the medium right hander required heavy braking to keep from spinning due to the off-camber and was slow enough that the downshift to 2nd could occur under braking. the following esses could be taken wot in either 2nd or 3rd and still be able to drive the same line, a simple smooth line with as little variation as possible. ie straighter is faster. which way do you guys think would net the fastest segment time??? downshift to 2nd, or leave it in 3rd??

car is 93 civic ex in sts trim on 15" wheels


[Modified by solo-x, 2:53 AM 8/27/2002]

 

I'm thinking you may just have to sacrifice a run and try it both ways. You may never know for sure speculating (and that's all you'll get here). I did this at an autocross one time and I found that I was a second faster (despite 5 people telling me I was foolish for thinking about going into first).

 

well, i was hoping to spark a debate. what turned out happening was that 3rd gear was faster. went through the finish lights about 3-4mph faster. oh well. i was hoping for more feedback, guess this topic has been hashed a little too much.

nate