Practical Redlining Techniques
 

I didn't want to hijack the thread that made me think of this, and I searched through 13 pages of hits on redlineing and didn't find what I was looking for.

This is my first sportscar, and my first rotary engine vehicle. I have a question about practical redlining techniques, and in general what it means to you guys to Redline the car.

I love driving my 8, I however have never had a performance vehicle before, and had been conditioned to believe that running a car into the red area on the tachometer is generally a bad thing. I have read enough threads around the boards to see that people generally recommend with the RX-8 to give it a little hell to keep the engine clean and running smoothly, that makes sense to me, blowing off the carbon buildup and all, groovy. I have been playing with the car, and it does feel like a beast in the upper RPM ranges, but I knew that from the test drive.

Redlining this car in any gear above second is essentially illegal in any of the 50 states I have driven in (Yeah I have heard there is some speed free road in Montana, but you know what I mean). Redlining my car in third puts me around 90 miles per hour. So I have a couple questions about redlining in general.

1. What does redlining mean to you? Does Redline mean, run the car at or above 8500-9k rpm for a prolonged period of time? Several seconds? Just touch the line then shift? ( This is how I have been treating it) Run it into the 9 to 10K range?

2. What gear do most of you redline in?


I know we arent' supposed to advocate illegal behaviour on the board, street racing, whatever, and I don't condone driving like an idiot in traffic, but I have a half mile long stretch of road that I hit on the way home that is straight as an arrow and generally abandoned, no houses and hence rarely ever a car on it. I usually lay into 3rd, hit the upper 80's when I hit the redline go to fourth and ease off it. I haven't redlined in second, and I am just frigthened to try it in first, it seems like it would put an enormous amount of strain on the engine and gearing to redline first.

Some posters on the board basically make it cound like, if you don't take this car to the racetrack every other weekend it is going to self destruct and it will be your own damn fault for not driving it 113 miles an hour every day.

Thoughts on the subject?

I do this on the street mostly in second gear, but will run through from first to second redlining both because as you said anything above that and you're going way faster than most laws/states will allow.

My definition of it is going a bit above 9K, then shifting quickly. I'm maybe a bit slower about this since I'm trying to baby my transmission as much as possible. I think what you're doing is fine.

There's lots of arguments on this site regarding if this method (redlining) should be done at all, or to the reverse how often. In my case, every day I drive the car it gets redlined in 2nd gear probably 3-4 times. No need for the racetrack, a few redlines here and there should suffice.

Redline through every gear and treat the road like a track until the road doesn't treat ya like a racecar (i like to call this latter phenomenon traffic).

but seriously stop worrying about it and just drive it in a spirited and controlled manner. You can redline in first and second and you can keep it above 8000 in second for extended periods of time as i've encountered on the track and at the dragon. It does no real harm except go through gas at rates of 6.5mpg and lower.

the easiest/best place i have found is on an onramp to an expressway/parkway. i have one that is perfect on my way to work every morning and i drop into second and go just enough to hear the beep and get into third until i feel the need to lay off but don't get near redline since, as you said, i would be doing around 90mph.

Welcome to my world. Living in New Jersey, the most densely populated state makes this an important issue for me also. I do go to the track a few times a year but it was about 20,000 miles in-between track days and the lack of high RPM use I feel resulted in a misfire issue this past Friday. I have done some things I believed solved the problem but how do I replicate a 25-minute run over 7,000 RPM?
I travel about 50 miles a day on the Garden State Parkway to work and when enter it I reach about 8,500 RPMs in 1st & 2nd and try and stay there for a few minutes before going into the higher gears. With a Greddy SP2 exhaust that can be quite noisy but so far no problems with cops. This hurts mileage but that is one the price of owning this car. I can’t really think of anything else we could do

I usually dip into the redline on the highways. It all starts with a 6 to 3 downshift to catch or tag along with other faster moving cars.

Highway on ramp=entrance speed of ~80mph=beep, shift, beep, shift, beep, shift, bye bye.

The turnpike next to my house is 75mph speed limit, so I have no issue hitting redline in third every once in a while, as EVERYONE does 85mph+ on the TP.

Other than that, hitting redline in first is fine so long as your not power shifting into second. If you find some open road ahead of you and youre rolling at 20-25mph just put the pedal down, thats how I getmost of my redlining done.

hmm....good stuff here..........I usually redline in 2nd based on conditions of the road, speed limit, etc. I have been redlining in 3rd tho to merge with traffic faster, altho it probably makes me look like an aggressive driver.....I have also redlined in first and 2nd off the light.

Is there anything magical about an actual "redline"? I make it a point to get it up around 8000 for 5 or 10 seconds or so a few times every day. I've done this consistently since getting through the break-in period.

I'm curious as to whether there is a school of thought out there suggesting that the extra 1000 rpm to redline is essential, or that this should really be done for minutes at a time rather than a few seconds.

Nothing completely magical about the redline, 8K should be pretty good as well. For me, 1st & 2nd for redline with the once in a while 3rd on a clear highway from the on ramp. For the MTs I think is is most important to ensure you spin it up at least to the point that the third ports kick in (above 6700).

my understanding of it - which is to say "what it seems like the more knowledgeable members here say" - is that over 7k is generally good enough for carbon blowout. there's no need to push it to the rev limiter/cut off.

I generally hit the redline in 1st from a stoplight. Of course I have a lower redline than you MT guys, and with my new rear gear it is pretty easy to get there. I shift somewhere between 7000 and the buzzer going off. I generally do it once or twice a day. And I drive it in manual mode most of the time to help keep the revs up somewhat. But I don't hold it at high rpms for extended periods, except for sometimes on the highway.

curious, i do the 6 to 3 shift also, i was wondering if u can blow ur transmission like that, i do it prob once in a blue moon, mostly in fear of messin up the car

nope. but you should rev match to reduce the stress on the tranny.

unless of course you're over 100mph, then you'd be downshifting to 3rd already past the redline.

Just make sure to blip the throttle and match your engine speed to wheel speed before disengaging the clutch in the lower gear.

Redline the car an average of 2-3 times per drive. I usually shift around 9k and maybe a few hundred over. So, pretty high. First and second are my primary gears to redline in but occasionally I'll do third if no ones looking

redlining is needed for this engine, if i remember correctly (someone correct me if i'm wrong) the final intake ports open up at 7300 rpms, and those are usually the first to get carboned locked due to their less usage compared to the other ports. And of course us knowing how quickly the rpms go from 7300 to 9000 just remember that is the only brief time that the ports will open up.

Hell my third gear usually ends around 90 mph, so sometimes for a few miles on the highway i'll do 70-85 mph in third gear(imagine that with an HKS hi-power exhaust, sounds like an f-1 car blowing past you), yeah gas mileage sucks, but gas is alot less cheaper than a new engine down the road if i'm out of warranty.

You will think you're abusing your engine but in reality it loves it and was designed to love it.

Wow, you guys treat it like such a chore.

Just drive the car and have fun with it. If you aren't hitting the upper RPMs and generally driving like you have a sports car you need to start doing coke.

I Love Hearin The Beep That The Car Makes At Redline....... Vroooooooommmmmm.... Beeeep....... Chirp(tires)....... VROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMM...........beeeppp... ....Chirp VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVVRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMM MMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

not that im overly sensitive about, well, just about anything...but don't joke about coke. i know enough people who blow that stuff and kinda can't help it that it's a little scary.

to a lighter (higher?) note, I redline once every other drive or so, and always in second gear. i just don't like the idea of redlining in first, don't know why really. i rarely redline in third because my fourth gear grinds a bit and i dont want to challenge it if i dont have to. but yeah, i figure a few times a week is kosher, and good enough to keep the engine clean? :dunno:

LOL :beerchug:

Just make sure that the engine is well warmed up before you go for the magic beep.

That's for sure..............make sure it's warmed up. I generally will hit the beep at least twice a day. Twice in 2nd and twice in third. I just have this one stretch of road(as most of us do) that lends itself to it. Downshifting into 2nd for a 90 degree right hand corner and nailing it 1/3rd to 1/2 way through that corner, hold 2nd until beep, shift, the road starts an strong inline for a highway overpass over a set of Railroad tracks, continue to nail it in third until beep, shift to fourth and completely back off as I have reached the top of the incline/bridge. Road starts to bank left on the down slope on the other side of bridge. By the time I come around that corner..........I'm back down to a somwhat reasonable speed.

None of us treat it like a chore, it's just when this subject comes up the first thought for everyone is that one stretch of road that they love (and redline on )

Any tips on making that 1->2 shift after redlining 1st? I usually lift all the way off the gas and wait for the RPMs to fall from 9000 to around 5500. But then I tend to ease back into the gas for fear of burning clutch. Is it just a matter of getting off the clutch and into the gas faster? It feels like that shift takes forever. And I've yet to chirp a gear.