[QUOTE]Originally posted by scottrnelson
[B]68 mph is close to redline in second gear, so I wouldn't worry too much about it.

What you really want to do is shift to 2nd at about 50 mph.

 

Feel guilty and lucky at the same time. If you had bent a valve by missing a downshift, you'd be facing a $10K repair without the benefit of warranty. AHM doesn't warrant against abuse.

If you had bent a valve, you'd hear a lot of ugly metallic noise and possibly see the engine check light. Always be ready to correct your mistake and save your engine with a quick clutch push when you downshift.....................or let the clutch out slowly enough to see and hear what's happening.

Just my two cents worth.

Old fogey S2000 owner Barry.

 

Originally posted by germ79:
Originally posted by Barry WY Silver/Black '01:
No offense to the chronologically impaired of course!

 

No offense taken.

Age has its own compensations..................including owning an S2000 without a loan.

 

Hitting the wrong gear seems easy to do with our super-short shifter. I never down-shift more than one gear at a time--going through the 6-5-4-3-2 pattern keeps me on track. (this after hitting the wrong gear once or twice with no damage) By the way, this is one old fogey that seldom gets passed.

 

it's never a good idea to shift down into a gear at redline..
but hey the car was made to rev... it can handle a few mistakes..
even tho we have all done it in one way or another

 

I wouldn't worry too much. I have inadvertently downshifted on a track from 5th to 2nd when braking from 220kmh (137mph) , which is more than twice the speed you were going. As soon as I started to hear the engine revs rise when releasing the clutch I just pushed the pedal back down again and changed up into 4th. That was almost 12 months ago and I am yet to experience any problems.

 

ditto

 

The Professor has an excellent point. There is absolutely no reason to downshift and skip four gears. You're asking to make a mistake, even when you're very experienced with the tranny. If you shift sequentially, you'll have to wait an extra second to pass, but you'll prevent $8k mistakes.

2kturkey has another excellent point -- anytime you DO decide to skip gears when downshifting, be poised, ready, to immediately push the clutch down when you hear the engine start quickly building revs. Anticipate it.

- Warren

 

My dealer told me this. Parents by 17 year old son a new S2k. He was going 90mph and downshifted into 2nd. Honda is sending out engineers to try to figure out how much has been destroyed. By the way; the kid has not driven stick before.