top speeds in 1st gear ?

i dont really know for any of those, but if you shift at redline in any car its going to be pretty high up.

 

back in the 80's, couldn't the countach 5000 quatrovalvole exceed the national speed limit in 1st gear?

 

oh yea, hahahahahaha.

The McLaren F1 can spin the tires in every gear.

 

No it can't.

 

ok, i heard it could.

 

I believe it's probably only 35-40, at least that's what it is on a G35 which has the same transmission

 

You heard wrong, I've been in cars with 1100hp+ and they only spin to about 90-110mph. I honestly doubt a car with half the horsepower could spin at 6th gear going 210mph. I'd be suprised if an F1 spun past 2nd gear.

 

Here's some numbers from road test articles for top speeds in 1st gear:

348 (1994): 41mph
355 (1995): 47mph
360 (2001): 46mph
456 (1995): 51mph
550 (1997): 49mph
F40 (1987): 61mph
F50 (1997): 61mph
Testarossa (1989): 61mph
Enzo (2003): 52mph

Quick Edit: The 350Z (2003) will only do 38mph in 1st gear.

 

i meant that you could start from a standstill in 6th gear and spin the tires.

 

Start from a standstill in 6th gear and spin the tires???? I don't think so.... the clutch would burn out in about two seconds. Let's get a McLaren owner to try it!

 

My fiat used to run faster than that
You're lugging the engine by doing that. Not good. Shift your 1st to 4th numbers one notch to the right then you should be okay. 2nd should be 20s, 3rd should be 30s, 4th should be 40s....

 

It's all about the gearing anyway.
Speed per gear is one of those fun comparisons, but aside from driveability in an environment where you're shifting a lot (cities/traffic), it really doesn't mean much.

That said, I have no idea what speed I shift at......I do know it's 5000 rpm though.

 

I know I don't shift below 3k rpm, usually 3500 to 4000 rpm for normal driving.
Max will be 6300 rpm

 

Regardless of what car you drive, try to pay attention to the revcounter instead of the speedo - switch gear just before the red. If you know your car, you'll know which RPM on which gear gives the speed you're looking for.

 

That's probably the only thing I don't like about my Z when I'm just normally commuting. It's a lot of fun when you just want to floor it through 1st, though. It surpries a lot of my friends who drive TT cars.

 

I wouldn't let it bother you (if it even does). Afterall, it's not an indicator of bhp. JMO.


Dane

 

When I said that the 350Z "only" did 38 mph in 1st gear, I didn't mean it was slow. I just meant that it couldn't do anywhere near 60mph in 1st gear, as suggested in the first post.

 

He didn't say what kind of car he had. I mean it could be a Geo Metro for all we know. But I when I tried to learn stick, I was shifting into 2nd at around 25-35mph in a Civic.

 

I know that gearing doesn't have much to do with hp. I was just saying I would prefer not shifting as frequently as I have to in a daily commute. I've heard the 996 TT also has a very short gear and the GT2's first gear goes to 39mph. Just seems to be an incovenience imo.

 

The TT does have a short first, that's why I like to get it into 2nd quickly. However, I can still clear 50mph in 1st if I wanted to. It's just with so much power coming in 2nd and 3rd, there's no need to push 1st as hard

My 2nd can clear 80, 3rd clears 125, 4th does 175. There's where the meat is

 

My Dino is happy at 55mph, 7000 rpm and climbing fast. I shift! The tach is analog and it tells me what was going on a second ago!
Dont play drag strip games with this vintage Ferrari. First to second shift delay kills all 0-60 times. It is impossible to shift Dino and 308 transmissions fast enough to set record times in this league.
I just know that I will pass them in the next mile so who cares about impressing the tourists at the last stop light.
For the record: see "second gear myth" thread that I will post next.
John

 

246GT, accoring to my owner's manual, will do 41 mph in 1st gear.

Gotta be honest, I have never redlined the engine in 1st, shifting at about 7000 RPMs, and I've never peeked at the speedo to see how fast I'm going, as I'm busy trying to sneak it into second smoothly.

DM

 

Really! My Lotus is twitchy at redline in first so I shift by 6000 RPMs. Any lack of smoothness with the gas is a huge jolt for the car. Good for practicing modulation of your right foot but not so good on parts.

Ken