[MIKEYMIKE]

Definitely not a stranger to "spirited driving" in the canyons. I wouldn't consider myself an expert driver by any means, but not a total noob in that regard either.

However, this is my first car that's a manual transmission so it's definitely a different experience than a steptronic transmission.

I know I should be in a lower gear entering a turn, then upshifting and accelerating out of the turn. How solid is this rule? I went driving in the canyons tonight and I ended up just staying in 3rd gear through a lot of the turns and simply accelerating out of them. Is this acceptable, or asking for trouble with a higher-powered RWD car?

Any tips or experiences you guys could offer? I am definitely looking to improve by attending a driving school sometime in the future but I figured maybe I could get some pointers on here as well.

Please discuss, thanks in advance.
-Mike

[RaptorKTM]

well it seems like what you were doing worked fine. Most of the time you shift if you have a staright away before the turn but if it is one turn after another staying in 3rd or a gear with a desently high rev would work fine

[Gearcraft]

if you feel that the engine is not having difficulties in the gear you are in then i think thats fine. if you're kinda fast i think 3rd gear sounds fine. you'll feel the engine or transmission anyway if you're doing something wrong.

[MCS]

Generally speaking, In an autocross or race, keep the maximum rev/RPM

So if you need to slow into the corner, Downshift prior to the apex to get maximum RPM speed to power out of the corner at maximum torque/HP

The E90 has a nice broad torque curve so I don't see any problem with your leisure pursuit of canyon fun and staying at a higher gear.

[ward]

keep the engine in the power


it's as simple as that.

and don't shift mid corner

[shimshimhada]

Staying in the same gear for something like a canyon run should be fine. Unless there's like a really tight turn, you may want to heel-toe downshift for that. It's better to focus on steering through the course rather than focusing on shifting points initially anyway.

[NFS]

Originally Posted by MIKEYMIKE

Definitely not a stranger to "spirited driving" in the canyons. I wouldn't consider myself an expert driver by any means, but not a total noob in that regard either.

However, this is my first car that's a manual transmission so it's definitely a different experience than a steptronic transmission.

I know I should be in a lower gear entering a turn, then upshifting and accelerating out of the turn. How solid is this rule? I went driving in the canyons tonight and I ended up just staying in 3rd gear through a lot of the turns and simply accelerating out of them. Is this acceptable, or asking for trouble with a higher-powered RWD car?

Any tips or experiences you guys could offer? I am definitely looking to improve by attending a driving school sometime in the future but I figured maybe I could get some pointers on here as well.

Please discuss, thanks in advance.
-Mike

On a track the plan would be to keep the engine in the powerband all the way round. This is going to be high in the rev range, so a downshift may be necessary for a slower corner.

To take this to the ultimate degree you would look at you torque curve, gear ratios and cornering speeds and work out what gear you need to be in at any given point on the circuit.

However, you are not on a track - you are just tearing up a twisty road, which you may know well, or which may be new to you. In that case it's more important to be safe and not make a mistake than to keep the revs high - especially in a BMW which has a nice broad spread of torque.

When turning - you should try to avoid changing gear / braking or accelerating hard since they might de-stabilise the car - so best bet is to get into the right gear before a turn.

If a turn is fast enough - there is no need to downshift and it will actually slow you down.

[MIKEYMIKE]

Originally Posted by socalm3

well it seems like what you were doing worked fine. Most of the time you shift if you have a staright away before the turn but if it is one turn after another staying in 3rd or a gear with a desently high rev would work fine

That's exactly what I was doing.... 3rd gear high revving around 5k RPM and up.

BTW, this thing is blast in the canyons...especially now that I've ditched the RFT's