What does upshifting and downshifting in a car mean if I want to accelerate?
In: Engineering
A gearbox allows you to trade torque (pushing force) for speed. If you are in a high gear you may not have enough torque or “push” to increase your speed so you down shift to a lower gear with more torque.
Additionally, the engine works best when spinning at certain speeds. At certain RPM the engine will have more torque than at higher or lower values so you also have to know this to determine when you will have enough torque or are allowed to downshift.
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