|
Shifting causes all the engine's momentum to be lost, only to be brought right back up again as accelerating-that takes fuel. On carb'd stuff the sudden closure of the throttle can cause the mix to go rich- that is why VW fitted their carb'd cars with vac operated throttle dampers- so the throttle would gradually close and not cause an emissions spike. It is easy to skip shift and still remain in the BSFC sweet zone; usually there are just more gears than needed. More gears are nice for very heavy loads and steep hills but the rest of the time are not needed.
|