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Show 'GEAR SHIFTING TRICK IS TOLD Expert Explains Benefits Derived and Method to Follow BY A. Lt DtiOW CT.AYDEN. (In "Motor.' ) It ia surprising that so few drivers, driv-ers, even experienced drivers, aro familiar fa-miliar with a little trick In gear ehlft-jlng ehlft-jlng that makes the shift easier, les-j les-j sens the strain in tho car, enables higher speed up severe grades and insures safety downgrade eren If brakes fail. The Irak is to shift down from high to sjcond or second to low while traveling at a fair speed Coins; un-I un-I grade -this permits the shift to Tie 1 made beforo tho engine has stalled and -will often enable a grade to be climbed on "nec-nd tbat would call foi low gear by the ordinary method of shifting. To learn the method, go through the following motions: Get in Rccond gfeai find drio the car at twenty miles an hour on a level road. Take the i lUtcfc out quickly and release the accelerator Hold tho clutch about two seconds while the engine slows .. .i w i . ....... ... 'I,,,,, . ,i little loss of Speed. Still keeping the clutch out, press on the accelerator and try to judge the engine speed: try to bring It back to just v. hat it ' was before you declutched. Do thH quickly, as quickly as you can. Th-n let the clutch in again and you will know how successful your judging 1 motor speed was, for If you have hit ; It right there will be no shock. Do J not let the clutch in gently; just taice I your foot off it as fast as you oan when yuu think the speed is correct ' Practice this for a short while till you think you can control the acceler-ntor acceler-ntor so as to hit the correct engine speed for twenty miles an hour on second gear closely; till you can repeat re-peat the stunt several times without a Jerk on letting the clutch In. Now start as usual and get into high. Hring the speed up to twenty miles and then perform the following nctlons as quickly as yoj c;m 1. Throw the clutch and pull the gear shift Into neutral. 2. Let tho clutch In again and speed Up the motor till you have it r unning at what you judge to be the speed equivalent to twenty miles p?r hour. 3. Throw the clutch and simultaneously simul-taneously pull the shift lever ln:o uecond. If your Judgment nf engine speed was correct there will be no sound whatet-r from tho gears and during tho shift the car will have- lost no momentum. To a practiced hand'th; whole job can be performed In much less than five seconds. Of course, 1 hac taken twenty miles an hour as an example and because be-cause it Is usually fairly easy to Judg , i-nclne Bpoed for about that rate of I travel on second, there is generally enough motor noise for Its pitch to b recognizable The same method 1 ; , equally good at any speed. In just the same Way shifts can be made from I S"c ond to low. The driver who knows nothing of the mechanism can learn this shift just as easily as the mechanical sharp jm' - perhaps, because a littl 8 grag of gears while, learning it will not alarm him so much; but any driver who will choose a loel road and try the trick the way I have described de-scribed lt will dlcover that lt Is easy enough. Don't try it on a grade ti1! you nave ucquircu pronciency on ui.' I ioci. i The aluo of knowing how to make this shift is seen In eilmbing B hill which la obviously too steep for high.. MotorlRts who have driven In Colorado Colo-rado or een in the Adlrbndacks or tho Pennsylvania mountains know that there aro still plenty of sum hills. Suppose the maximum the car will do on the level In second gear is thirty miles per hour, then tho best speed at which to shtt lown Is wh?n the car has slowed on him to twenty-fj twenty-fj . . by the time the shift Is made the loss of speed will not bo nioro than a mile or two an hour. The engine en-gine will then be engaged on second gear and running at a speed which ei' 05 nearly maximum power, so it will handle tho grade easily. By the conventional method of shifting tho change to second con' J not be made till the car had slowed to nearer ten than twenty miles an hour. At ten miles per hour th-engine th-engine would likely not develop enough power to keep her going and another shift into low -would be necessary, nec-essary, Tho knowledge of the shift ajv helps very often to slip past another car on a grade. If you hao a car In front that is running about fi-miles fi-miles slower than your ear's best Climbing speed on high, then by slipping slip-ping into second you can get rapjd acceleration and hop past, making the shift back to high agaiu as soon as you have clear road ahead. un down grades the shift Is a real source of safety. Few cars with sec-ond sec-ond gear engaged will run down hill, however steep, at much over thirty miles per hour, and none will do more I than twenty miles on low. Suppose' you are faced with a descent that Is exceptionally steep or that a brak-- j lets go, if you are on high gear you Can get into second at any road speed ' at which the engine could drive the j car on second twenty-fhe to thirty miles per hour on any car, so If the car starts to gain more speed throru the cUitch. let the engine roar up to I full revolutions while you hold the lever for an instant in neutral, with the clutch In again, and bank the lever back to second. Let the engine BlQW the car all lt can and help it with i the brakes and repeat the process to get into low if necessary. The mechanically minded can. of j course, think out for themselves the reason back of the method. It is slm- pie enough for anyone who thorough- j ly comprehends automobile systems i In order to engage a ge.-n- juletly th" liding gear and the gear on the countershaft coun-tershaft driven by the movement of tho car through the propeller shaft I when the clutch Is out must be mo-ing mo-ing at tho same rate. Follow through the shifting method 1 described. First, we have the clutch j engaged, the car running at twenty miles per hour and the engine run-nirig run-nirig a', tho corresponding speed fpr high gear. Second, wo throw the clutch and slip into neutral, instantly! engage the clutch again, and speed I UP the engine As soon as the engrine la running at the corresponding speei lu:- second gear the second speed xears will be revolving at corresponding correspond-ing speeds and wc can slip into second I without a sound, even without throw-ng throw-ng the clutch; although taking lt out la safer, as it gives a little leeway for errors in judgment. |