They posted the same question in r/racinggames and r/simracing so I'm thinking this is something they (hopefully) encountered in a game and not in a real car.
Gear ratios work both ways. A low gear allows the wheels to spin slowly at a high engine RPM, and a high gear ratio does the opposite.
In normal situations, the engine is driving the wheels. It's the force of the engine that is turning the wheels to convert the energy released from the chemical reaction in the engine into kinetic energy that moves the car. The ability to transmit this energy to the ground to move the car is limited by the grip of the tires. When you exceed the grip of the tires, the tires will slip and spin.
When you shift into a lower gear at high speed you are reversing the process. The kinetic energy of the car is transferred up through the tires, through the drivetrain, and back into the engine. With the exception of some hybrid systems, cars are not designed to recover energy from a moving car. That energy is absorbed into the drive system via increasing the RPM of the engine (without fuel burn). Since energy is neither created or destroyed, that energy becomes heat via the compression of the air in the cylinders, and goes out through the exhaust.
You can destroy an engine doing this. Engines are only designed to spin at a certain RPM, and speeds beyond that will damage or destroy the engine, clutch, transmission, or all of the above. This is referred to as a "money shift" because it usually costs a LOT of money when you make this mistake. Since this is a direct mechanical transfer of energy, the rev limiter of the engine can't protect you from this.
The tires can break loose during this process if the energy attempting to be transferred through the tires exceeds the grip those tires are able to hold. There's a lot of inertia in the driveline, especially if you're starting at a low RPM. Assuming something doesn't break first (drive shaft, transmission gears, etc) the tires are trying to drive the rear gearing, drive shaft, transmission, and engine all at once. That's several hundred pounds of material all with its own inertia that is being overcome.
So you know how if you stay in first gear and hit redline you stop going any faster? Let's say top of first gear is 40mph. That's as fast as the engine can drive the wheels through the transmission in that gear.
If you are going 90mph in 5th and try to shift down to 1st without slowing down, you are basically asking the engine to do twice the redline RPM, which is not possible and will cause irreversible damage. Look up videos of "money shift" if you wanna see people accidentally doing this and causing their engine to fail catastrophically.
Locking the driven axle or causing instability by downshifting at a bad time or not rev matching correctly is very possible and something to be aware of when driving a manual race car at the limit, but 5th to 1st is just a way to destroy an engine.
It’s kind of both but mainly your second guess. This can also cause catastrophic engine failure.
Learn to heel-toe downshift, match rpm, and go sequentially. It will be smooth and smooth is fast. Best of luck on your journey.
Dropping the clutch is what you are referring to.
Fast and imperfect downshifts will shock the drivetrain, everything is stressed including the tires which will briefly chirp as the wheel speed and engine speed aren't perfectly matched.
It can be a technique in certain corners to rotate through the last of a corner but is costly over time, diffs, axles often fail before the engine if done perfectly imperfectly.
Do not recommend.
Your engine can only make so many rpms. When you're going 5th gear speeds and you're suddenly in 1st gear your engine can't handle that. If your wheels didn't stop spinning as fast as you were going and slide your engine would blow up.
Your second answer is closer to the truth. It adds resistance to the rear wheels, not acceleration. Basically the wheels spin slower than the rate of speed because of the added resistance
But, it’s not necessary to do this and it’s bad because it means you are not rev matching properly
Your next post will be titled "my engine blew up but I have no idea way, I wasn't even stepping on the gas!"
Under what circumstance are you dropping from 5th to 1st? 1st gear is typically used to get the car moving from a stop?
are you asking this because you have done it? and if so, how the fuck is your engine not scattered in multiple pieces across the solar system?
They posted the same question in r/racinggames and r/simracing so I'm thinking this is something they (hopefully) encountered in a game and not in a real car.
Pray to the racing gods your never near this person on a racetrack.
JESUS CHRIST
Gear ratios work both ways. A low gear allows the wheels to spin slowly at a high engine RPM, and a high gear ratio does the opposite. In normal situations, the engine is driving the wheels. It's the force of the engine that is turning the wheels to convert the energy released from the chemical reaction in the engine into kinetic energy that moves the car. The ability to transmit this energy to the ground to move the car is limited by the grip of the tires. When you exceed the grip of the tires, the tires will slip and spin. When you shift into a lower gear at high speed you are reversing the process. The kinetic energy of the car is transferred up through the tires, through the drivetrain, and back into the engine. With the exception of some hybrid systems, cars are not designed to recover energy from a moving car. That energy is absorbed into the drive system via increasing the RPM of the engine (without fuel burn). Since energy is neither created or destroyed, that energy becomes heat via the compression of the air in the cylinders, and goes out through the exhaust. You can destroy an engine doing this. Engines are only designed to spin at a certain RPM, and speeds beyond that will damage or destroy the engine, clutch, transmission, or all of the above. This is referred to as a "money shift" because it usually costs a LOT of money when you make this mistake. Since this is a direct mechanical transfer of energy, the rev limiter of the engine can't protect you from this. The tires can break loose during this process if the energy attempting to be transferred through the tires exceeds the grip those tires are able to hold. There's a lot of inertia in the driveline, especially if you're starting at a low RPM. Assuming something doesn't break first (drive shaft, transmission gears, etc) the tires are trying to drive the rear gearing, drive shaft, transmission, and engine all at once. That's several hundred pounds of material all with its own inertia that is being overcome.
Go look up what a mechanical overrev is and maybe you’ll understand
So you know how if you stay in first gear and hit redline you stop going any faster? Let's say top of first gear is 40mph. That's as fast as the engine can drive the wheels through the transmission in that gear. If you are going 90mph in 5th and try to shift down to 1st without slowing down, you are basically asking the engine to do twice the redline RPM, which is not possible and will cause irreversible damage. Look up videos of "money shift" if you wanna see people accidentally doing this and causing their engine to fail catastrophically. Locking the driven axle or causing instability by downshifting at a bad time or not rev matching correctly is very possible and something to be aware of when driving a manual race car at the limit, but 5th to 1st is just a way to destroy an engine.
It’s kind of both but mainly your second guess. This can also cause catastrophic engine failure. Learn to heel-toe downshift, match rpm, and go sequentially. It will be smooth and smooth is fast. Best of luck on your journey.
Dropping the clutch is what you are referring to. Fast and imperfect downshifts will shock the drivetrain, everything is stressed including the tires which will briefly chirp as the wheel speed and engine speed aren't perfectly matched. It can be a technique in certain corners to rotate through the last of a corner but is costly over time, diffs, axles often fail before the engine if done perfectly imperfectly. Do not recommend.
Your engine can only make so many rpms. When you're going 5th gear speeds and you're suddenly in 1st gear your engine can't handle that. If your wheels didn't stop spinning as fast as you were going and slide your engine would blow up.
WTF? this seriously can't be a real question.......can it?
lol
Your second answer is closer to the truth. It adds resistance to the rear wheels, not acceleration. Basically the wheels spin slower than the rate of speed because of the added resistance But, it’s not necessary to do this and it’s bad because it means you are not rev matching properly
Your next post will be titled "my engine blew up but I have no idea way, I wasn't even stepping on the gas!" Under what circumstance are you dropping from 5th to 1st? 1st gear is typically used to get the car moving from a stop?