here is a question addressed to guys with good driver educ and pdk experience, i was recently in a near accident event when travelling at i would say almost 200kph when a truck suddenly swerves into my lane. 2 lanes nowhere to go except to stop. cant blame the truck he might have looked but was not really used to cars at my speed. i stopped the car the best i could with just the brakes almost hit the rear end of the truck but fortunately with the cars good brakes i managed to avoid disaster. my question is next time it does happen should i try to paddle shift down at the same time as brake will this be better at this event? or should i just let the pdk handle the downshifting?

 

I have a PDK Carrera S, so I think I might be able to answer your question.

The answer is:
DON'T DRIVE at 200 KPH.

 

IMO when you are on the brakes that hard the trans will not be able to do any more than that. So shifting would be pointless. I guess you know that the brakes are very good on these cars.

 

Mark, I was reading an excellent book on Ayrton Senna and it said he downshifted twice before he hit that concrete wall that killed him at Imola in 94. Jesus, how he could do that........

I've only, just once thank God, been in that situation where I had to brake hard at 50mph and I know there's no chance I could have downshifted in that split second.

I had enough trouble braking and steering. What an awesome car the 911 is.

Tom

 

Hi,

I agree with Tom and others. Your best bet is to brake hard enough that you can continue to steer out of trouble. Never give up in those few seconds when you might have a way out of a disaster. Brake, steer, survive.
I have about 40 years of high speed pursuit driving under my belt and have been in some very hairy situations at speeds well above 100. Stay calm - never give up.
Gary

 

One of the best tips. Stay calm if at all possible. I guess you would have experienced being in other near accident incidents to practice staying calm. I think ne thing i did right...i stayed calm while everything was happening.

 

it s physics too, you can only slow down and stop so fast.. point is, watch your speed so you are always in control. Once you pass that point it s often too late.

 

Speed is relative.

 

and good judgment,,,,, "priceless".

 

The pdk will downshift automatically anyway .
I guess you just didn't notice it ?

 

Would you suggest 200kph is too fast for all countries all roads?

(Obviously, not discussing track speeds here, because 200mph isn't that fast, relatively)

I'm only asking, because depending on the road, going too slow can be just as dangerous as going too fast. And in some countries, the speeds vary greatly than in the US.

(hint: check the OP's location)

 

True, but in auto-mode, it only downshifts to protect against stalling, I don't believe the effect of engine-braking is there at all. Let's say you're driving 50mph, and you down shift into 2nd gear. Your engine will throw a fit, and you have a LOT of engine brake. But as you slow down and the RPMs fall, there is less braking. So as you slow to 10mph and lower (still in 2nd gear), there is less braking, less slowing.

(Just as in normal clutch engaged transmissions)

 

This morning , like most , I stomped to a stop at 50 and it changes to second when it hits around 3500rpms... Makes a great sound

I believe in auto mode pdk selects the best gear for you but takes its time catching up with a sudden stop .
In sport mode it does it faster and in sport plus faster still .
In manual it doe it to stop a stall at about 5mph .
I never really notice this as I'm normally left foot braking and shifting down when in manual .

 

I have always been told both feet in. Brakes will always stop you quicker if they are working properly.

 

Both feet in ?
In a pdk ?


As an aside , in auto mode if you blip the throttle while braking it will drop gears for you so you can tell how much engine braking is produced .
Not recommended for emergency stops though