This is probably a really stupid question, but I'll risk the laughter and ridicule anyway...

How should I handle the clutch and accelerator if I ever race someone?

In the two-plus years I've owned a Z I've been challenged exactly ONCE , and even then I didn't pull the trigger because my V1 was chirping merrily (I still ended up getting pulled over but that's a different story).

And to be honest, I'm not sure I would have known what to do if I actually had taken the bait. As far as I know the max torque from the engine comes at around 4800RPM. So I'm guessing that ideally I want to keep the tachy needle as close to that until I'm in 6th and just keep winding up from there.

Beyond that, I really have no idea how to massage the clutch and accelerator during a race to push the Z most effectively. Whether from a dead stop or a rolling start I'm just not confident about knowing what to do.

I know... I'm a noob, but if you were to walk a guy like me through a race what would you try to teach me?

 

you had an 05 in 2003? :P

 

I'm a newb at racing, but this is what I would do:

STEP 1 TURN OFF TCS/VDC!!!

From a roll, let's say you're going 40mph in 3rd gear...

clutch in, neutral, clutch out, blip the throttle to bring up the revs a bit (increase of ~1500-2000), clutch in, downshift to 2nd, pop the clutch (should be smooth if your RPMs are correct) and floor the throttle. At redline, keep your foot flooring the accelerator (don't worry, the rev limiter will protect you), upshift to 3rd, pop the clutch...etc.


From a stand still, with the clutch in just past the point of engagement, shift into 1st. Bring revs up to 2800-3200 (somewhere in there) and let the clutch out quickly (do not pop it out), so as to partially slip the clutch, and partially spin the wheels. Momentarily once the wheels begin to gain traction, let the clutch out the rest of the way while increasing the throttle to full. If you did it right, the RPMs will not drop at all, they will steadily increase as you accelerate. Again, keep the accelerator floored when you shift from 1 -> 2, and pop the clutch out. You will most likely get a slight touch of wheelspin unless you have heavy or pretty wide rims.

 

OH Noes! Back to teh Futar!

 

Hey,

Redline the car every gear. Close your eyes doing the shift (j/k).


Tony

 

Yup. I found the thread about installing a flux capacitor and hitting 88mph.

Or I traded in an '03 for the '05. Can't really think straight at the moment... Time travel really screws me up.

 

Yeah! That's what I'm looking for! Thanks very much for the advice.

I'm assuming that practicing this in the driveway isn't recommended... like, on my way to work each morning? And what's the purpose of double clutching during a rolling start?

 

how do you know when the clutch is past the point of engagement?

 

The purpose is that you are the one controlling the engine revs, not the synchros. Plus, with practice you can shift much faster this way than the synchro way. Plus, if you pop the clutch out when you downshift, the car will jerk really badly in some cases, which could cause your launch to be sub-par (or worse).

I almost never downshift without double clutching... it just feels like it's hurting the tranny if you don't (I'd rather the synchros just do their job *if* I need them rather than relying on them all the time.)

 

Just past the point of engagement, meaning your foot is on the clutch but not all the way down to the floor. If you rev the engine at this point, the car won't move. If you let the clutch pedal up a tiny bit from this point, then the clutch will start to grab. Makes sense?

 

Are you serious about not lifting your foot off the gas pedal when shifting?

 

Yes... when you shift it will feel like a slight thump. From 1 -> 2 the wheels will usually spin a little bit, but you don't get a huge jolt out of it because you're already shifting at redline. This way, the preloaded input of the tranny helps pull the wheels along when you shift.

 

I still can chirp my 275 series tires with popping my clutch in third gear but I'll give this other way a try. Do you think a person who lifts to shift against a person who never lifts to shift will win or will it be entirely on the shift itself?

 

Your lack of agressors is due to your color. I have the same problem.

My friend has a RED one and never is left alone.

 

I'm a newb at racing, I don't really know. To me it definitely seems like if both people can shift reasonably quickly, the power shift will be slightly faster. I think the ECU also has an open-loop response to wide open throttle, meaning it does not rely on feedback from O2 sensors to control fuel ratio?

Anyone who is not an utter newb like myself care to chime in here?

One more thing: I find that it is easier to concentrate on shifting when you don't lift your foot... it's just one less thing to think about.

 

Can you explain what you mean by double clutching and how this can be faster than a standard shift? My understanding of double clutching is to let the clutch out in nuetral then push it back in before entering the next gear vs. simply shifting into the next gear and letting out the clutch during a normal shift (letting the synchros do their job). Double clutching adds another step to each shift so I can't see how it would be faster...not being arguementative, just wondering if we are talking about the same process.

 

Double clutching takes place in a pretty short period of time once you have it down. When you get the revs right, the shift is uber-smooth, the shifter practically gets sucked into the gear you want.

Double clutching seems pretty useless when upshifting (because of the extra step). But when downshifting, you need to bring the engine RPMs up. To "double clutch" you want to shift to neutral, let the clutch out, press the accelerator briefly to bring up the engine revs (this pre-loads the input to the transmission), then shift.

When you double clutch the real idea is you are controlling the input speed to the transmission (the output speed remains the same at the instant that you shift) using the throttle.

You are going from low revs -> high revs, so in the case of simply downshifting and popping the clutch out, the gears have to actually control the engine speed.

I'm definitely not an expert, but I have given it some serious thought... when the gears are controlling the engine speed, isn't that bound to be a slower shift than if you were controlling the engine speed with the throttle?

I beg of someone more knowledgable to chime in here.

 

What I always do when I down shift is first press the clutch, downshift to the desired gear, blip the throttle to bring the RPM up to match the speed and the gear that I'm in, then pop the clutch. Cars with synchro don't need to double clutch when downshift really, but it won't hurt your tranny if you double clutch. it just takes one more step that's all.

 

Hmmm about double-clutching, i do it except it's during a single clutch. I clutch in, shift down and while i'm shifting down I hit the gas to bring the revs to match so the car won't jerk around. Now is this gonna damage anything that way?

 

The way I understand it is:

the way Dildorado and kewlii are describing it, you guys are "rev-matching" but you are not pre-loading the input to the transmission.

When you're truly double clutching, you rev match the engine, flywheel, clutch disc, and along with it, the input to the transmission by engaging neutral (clutch pedal out at neutral) and blipping the throttle.

If you don't engage at neutral, you are bumping up the speed of the flywheel, but it will be spinning faster than the input to the transmission so the synchros still have to do some work.

In other words, I believe there's a huge difference between being "engaged in neutral" versus being in "neutral via clutch pedal."

I'm not 100% certain about all of this, I could be wrong ...