rev matching or heel and toe is the only way to drive. if done correctly this technque will not hurt the trans eng or clutch and is a little bit better for the brakes, you will also be in the correct gear if you take off again before stopping. I also agree with slowing down while the car is still in 5th or 6th gear and then pushing in the clutch at about 20 mph then letting the brakes do the rest.

 

The laws of physics always applies.

If you coast in neutral and stop using brakes only, the brakes will absorb 99% of the energy to stop the car. The other 1% is absorbed through drag, tire friction, etc.

If you downshift, rev-matching or whatever, the engine has to absorb the energy of slowing down, thus causing wear. Energy has to be absorbed some way, either the brakes/clutch/or engine. Rev-matched downshifting minimizes clutch wear only, not engine wear.

You cant beat the laws of physics. Energy is neither created nor destroyed. It is merely transferred.

 

TB, music to my ears, 3rd paragraph "The simplest answer is usually the correct one", Sir William Occam from "Occams Razor" a few hundred years back.

Boomer

 

Just drive the way you are used to driving, the transmission has a chip or module which adapts to your driving style. I plan to see how accurately the AT can adapt after I get it broken in.

Boomer

 

How slowly or smoothly do you cycle the clutch... depends on whats hapening around you... I would think. I worry about being too slow releasing the clutch in 1st to 2nd.

explain heel toeing.....

for a monkey.. me monkey...

EZ

 

I usually downshift one or two gears right away, then engine brake to the point where I can hit 2nd and coast down the rest of the way. I never downshift as far as first.

 

Same here. With rev-matching. I never coast in neutral, and I only coast with the clutch in for short periods at very low speeds. That's the way my daddy taught me, and engines and trannys and clutches have lasted very well.

 

OK, monkey, I'll try to summarize the link I gave you an hour ago.

rev-matching: just before you let out the clutch in a lower gear you goose the gas pedal so that your engine speed matches your car speed in the lower (higher-revving) gear. If you rev-match perfectly you could let the clutch out infinitely fast (like just take your foot off it) and the car wouldn't jolt or surge or burn the clutch at all. Near-perfect rev-matching comes after long practice and experience with the car. If you pay attention to someone who's doing it well, it can seem like magic.

heel-and-toe: A refinement of rev-matching. You put your right-foot big toe and the ball of the foot on the brake pedal. You put the right side and middle of your right heel on the gas pedal, usually near the floor. It feels awkward at first and takes a lot of practice, but when you master it you can brake the car and goose the gas for rev-matching at the same time.

Once you get really good at heel-and-toe rev matching, everything smooths out. No more jerks, much less wear on the clutch, and wear and tear on the engine and tranny is reduced also.

 

Ok, i have a video of heel-toeing. If someone can host it, i'll send it to them. It's an AWESOME example of what to do. Trust Me.

P.S. I'm on a 56K. The file is 40 megs. So it might take awhile for me to send it to someone.

dan

 

40 meg at 56k? Wow! You are committed!

I would love to see it, though. Isn't it already on the web somewhere?

The moderators of this forum can host your files:

http://www.350zfiles.com/

 

ck out crawfordzcar.com in the racing section there is a video of a race at road Atlanta and you should here the heel and toe down shifts, it takes a minute to load so be patience. got a real bad start that year

 

I'd recommend http://howstuffworks.com. Just type "manual transmission" into the seach box, and you'll get all kinds of good info and even animated diagrams.

 

Hey, if you do it perfectly, why are you using the clutch at all? Smooth upshifts aren't too difficult without the clutch, but I've never tried it with downshifts.

Disclaimer - Do not try this at home, or on your new car!

-TB

 

Heal and Toe / Double Clutching Techniques

 

how the hell do you do smooth upshifts without the clutch?

 

Early pro racers often drove cars with straight cut gears and they could shift without using the clutch, just by matching the revs and up or downshifts were almost instinctual for them. Some of the car mag guys can do it and probably most professional racers would find it easy. They have to be aware of almost every thing that is going on with the car; man melds w/machine. Its kind of an arcane art now because of sequential transmissions in a lot of racing. I've driven MTs for 45 yrs and I've never had the guts to try it because replacing or repairing transmissions is really expensive! Some of our members race, maybe someone has explained it already earlier in this thread, I was just skimming my e-mails.

Boomer

 

The one thing which really disturbed me about this thread was how many drivers put their trans in neutral and coast to the stop. You have the least control of your car than any other time, all you have left is steering and brakes, if there's an emergency you have to throw the trans into a gear to try to manuever out of it. What if you miss the shift? You are are in serious trouble then; hopefully the damage is only to your car, not your person. I NEVER coast to a stop over 20mph and I keep the trans in gear always.

I know this is a technique drivers used to use to get better gas mileage but it isn't worth a few pennies saved to risk my life and limb; and maybe someone else's also.

Boomer--use or lose it, I don't care.