Shift light
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A shift light is a warning lamp fitted to racing cars to indicate to the driver that maximum RPM has almost been reached. Ideally a shift lamp will illuminate at the engine speed that delivers the maximum BHP as accelerating the engine beyond this point is not conducive to rapid acceleration. In use a shift light allows the driver to judge the exact point that a gear change should be carried out without having to glance down at the tachometer.
Beginning in the early 1980s, many US-market vehicles equipped with a manual transmission began to have shift lights as standard equipment; these would usually signal for an upshift at a much lower-than-ideal engine speed. The reason for this was, for a time EPA fuel economy testing rules stipulated that shift lights would be followed on vehicles so equipped- thus, they were calibrated for optimum fuel mileage on the EPA test cycle.
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