Having moved to my MCS from a turbo BMW 335i, is there many reason to rev higher than 5500 rpms.
Although the BMW had a 7000 rpm redline, If you wanted max acceleration, you did not rev it higher than 5500-6000 rpms since it ran out of breath and accelerated beter if you just shifted up into the power curve.

Is this true for the MCS turbo?

And yea, its my day to ask dumb questions since I can now drive my MCS with some vigor.

 

If you look at the horsepower and torque curves, I think you will find that it's just gratuitous engine abuse to go higher.

 

God invented rev limiters so we can bounce off of them....

 

It's true the turbo motor is not as rev happy as the r53, once you find the peak for your car you'll know it....

 

I had that feeling. Its a 335i BMW, ONLY smaller.



BUT you know,.......That's what I was hopeing for when I bought it!!

 

Here's a reason...

You are joining a 70 mph traffic flow by slipping into an adequate hole, but you need to get there smoothly from the on-ramp.

Sometimes acceleration can contribute to traffic safety.

Dunno 'bout your 2nd gen, but my first gen comes out of 2nd at 60 (at 6,000 rpm, 1.200 rpm below the limiter) and that tall 2nd gear can be quite handy once in a while.

As a habit? Fuggetaboutit! Gratuitous engine wear.

But there is no place in a Cooper gearbox where a higher gear will pull harder than the next lower gear, within the range of 2k to 6.5k.

Here's the thrust chart for a 1st gen for your dining and dancing pleasure.

The Y axis is pounds of forward thrust at the contact patch, and the X axis is RPM. One curve for each gear.

Cheers,

Charlie

 

so then the general consensus is that the optimal shift point on the 11' MCS is at 5500 rpms?

 

Optimal for what? I think that's too low for maximum acceleration, and probably too high for just casual driving.

In spite of the rather broad torque curve, I'm pretty sure that short shifting is not the quickest way around (or down) the track.

It should a fairly simple matter to test the acceleration rates of different shift points in one's own car by measuring time to a certain distance, or time to a certain speed. Either way, shifting near redline gets me there quicker than shifting 1000 rpm sooner. Your times may vary.

 

Optimal for what indeed! 'tis the most important question.

I shift up at 4k when I'm moving, 3.5k when putting around and looking for best mileage.

I never use full throttle under normal circumstances.

How do I stand to have such a performance oriented car, and yet drive it so gently?

Autocross! That scratches the "boy racer" itch completely, and leaves me patient and calm on the street.

But hey, that's just me - perhaps I am doing it all wrong.

Cheers,

Charlie

 

HPDE for me!!

For those that think reving all the way to 6500 is better: the
next time you run it up to 6500 full throttle, note the acceleration from 5500 to 6500 vs 1000 to 5500. Think about the time gained if you had shifted up and stayed in the power curve.

Or don't, because I'm a 63 yr. old track rat and I don't know Jack!

 

Thanks for the graph!

Looks like peak torque is available from roughly 3875 rpm to roughly 4200 rpm (1st and 4th) or 4600 rpm (2nd, 3rd and 5th).

 

The r56 engine does pull nicely until slightly above 6500 rpm then at slightly over 6600 rpm, the power drops off, kind of an avalanche due to the limiter As long as there is good strong pull, I tend to leave it because it takes time to shift and re-spool the turbo so there is limited power initially even at wot after a shift. This is more noticeable at 4 th to 5 th gear shift at redline.

 

true, but the main thing is within normal range there is never a point where selecting the next higher gear will increase the thrust at the contact patch

for maximum acceleration, the red line is it.

now the torque curve used for this graph is the Gen 1, but unless the Gen 2 falls flat on it's face at high RPMs (which it does not, right?) the same will be true.

selecting the next higher gear results in a significant loss of mechanical advantage, which in all cases is greater than the gains made from a lower engine RPM producing more torque

 

Yes the reason not to shift is because it keeps on pulling hard!

Now to do that you will need a tune and a water meth system, but if you have those then yes Hold that shift..... It keeps pulling up to the rev limiter