Gasoline and Knock

By admin

Most of you know that your particular car’s engine is designed to operate with a specified minimum Octane Rating (it’s in the Owner’s manual!), but wonder why. The answer is all about engine knock. Combustion Knock The source of power in a gasoline engine is burning of a mixture of gasoline and air. Some might…

Power or Torque?

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“Torque wins races” is a very often repeated but inaccurate saying, even though it seems right and is very often repeated in the popular press.   The equation of motion of a vehicle is: Acceleration is proportional to [power at the wheels] / [(vehicle speed) x (vehicle mass)] This is just physics and is derived from…

How to shift a manual transmission for both performance and economy

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There is no one correct answer to what rpm you should upshift.  It all depends on what you want to do with the car in the next seconds of driving. If you want more power, then you might want to downshift or stay in your current gear.  If not, upshift to keep the engine revs…