Had some spirited fun last night. Wasn't paying attention and held first gear (manual trans) for a little too long. Hit the rev limiter and it felt like the car lost all power. Threw it into second and the rocketship came back to life.

is there an eletronic control that kills power to the engine if it senses the driver being an idiot?

 

There is indeed a rev limiter as the DME cuts fuel. Google DME Report.

 

With what you described, probably just some range 1 and 2 over revs. Not a big deal. What you want to avoid is downshifting too early from 5th to 2nd, instead of 5th to 4th for instance. There is no protection for that and will result in higher range over revs and possibly engine damage.

 

The ECU has a rev limiter, what you felt is perfectly normal. What you really want to watch out for is downshifting, there’s nothing to stop an over rev then.

....oops, should have read all comments before replying

 

Yup you just bounced off the rev limiter and hit the fuel cutoff. No big deal. Not the same as a mechanical over rev “money shift”.