Word: downshift
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...climb into a cockpit, strap in and start the car. You shift upward, first, second, third, fourth and then down. Gas. Clutch. Shift. Now gas, clutch, gas again. Downshift. You are learning how to double-clutch. You are learning to control a car. You cease to hear the swallows. Your universe becomes an asphalt strip. It will be afternoon before Couture regards you as competent to corner in a Formula Ford...
...geometry. It has a theoretical maximum speed. Without being on a track or without a diagram in front of you, it may be hard to visualize, but there is a specific technique for attacking, say, a 90° right turn. Approach down the extreme left. Brake and downshift from fourth to third. Brake and downshift third to second. Steady throttle. Now turn at an angle that touches the inside shoulder at the very center-the apex-of the corner. Accelerate out. Unwind the wheel. Breathe...
Northeastern and Rutgers, both undergoing rebuilding years, replace Holy Cross and Boston University as the non-Ivy teams on the schedule, and the downshift in quality should make the Crimson's initiation period a little less hectic. The game with Columbia at New York will be a nice test-one which Harvard should win, but not as easily as it did last year...