Flaviono's post got me thinking. When I down shift, I ride the brake a little and feather the clutch until the speed of the car matches/catches up to the RPMs. Is this wrong or bad for the car? I always see videos of people just throwing the car into a lower gear. When I do it, my head feels like it's going to snap off! Are they bringing the RPMs up or what?

I'd like to know what the community thinks/has to offer on this topic. After reading the above mentioned post, I've caught myself changing my driving habits.

Thanks for your input!

Liveoneva

There's no two ways about it. You just GOTTA love the Z.

 

Dont "ride" the clutch, just do it slower than normal. You can also double clutch if your not trying to slow down.

 

Hey! It's Mark, isn't it?

I *AlWAYS* rev-match/heel&toe when I downshift.

You should give the gas a quick pulse between a high gear and a lower gear. That way when you let the clutch out, the Engine revs are already up in the range for the lower gear and you don't have to feather/strain the clutch in the opposite direction from a feathered upshift. How do you hit the gas when your right foot is on the brake? Heel and Toe. With H&T, I brake with the ball of my right foot, and with the outside edge of my right foot, I can blip the gas pedal as I'm between gears and while I'm applying brake pressure so that when I let the clutch out I can do it quickly and not worry about any jerkiness.

I really recommend you learn to do this. Simply letting the clutch out slowly until the transmission drags the engine up to a matching RPM is very hard on the car and will significantly shorten the life of both your syncros and your clutch.

Hopefully I'll have my car back next Friday and maybe we can meet up at Ferrari again. If I didn't explain this well, I can show you what I'm talking about. It makes for very smooth (and very quick) braking/downshifting.



When I get my car back, we'll have to go for a drive and I'll show you what I'm talking about.

 

Ditto, it's the only way to drive. Not only does it place less stress on your clutch and tranny, it sounds cool as hell (when done at full speed - ie 130 to 60), it impresses passengers too.

Good writeup. Only thing I have to add is that it takes awhile to get the hang of it. Once you do, it's second nature.

 

Kelly, I have to agree with John. Your explanation was perfect. I know exactly what you're talking about. I could hear it being put to use when I was following you to Chick-Fil-a! Sounds great! I also agee with John in that it sounds like something that takes much practice.

Thanks for the offer. I'll definately take you up on that. Hopefully the weather will be better next Friday and we can hook up.

Thanks for the input.

 

It does take some getting used to, simply because it's a new set of motions that your brain has to put together, but as John said, once you get to doing it habitually, you'll never drive any other way. Additionally, once you get used to doing it, it makes driving automatic cars that much more boring.

I'll get in touch with you when I get my car back. Hopefully (barring any delays, I'll get it back on Friday morning...

 

when slowing down/stopping, is there any real reason to downshift (except maybe to save the brakes some)?? I understand downshifting to accelerate faster but I never really understood the point of doing it to slow down when you have brakes.

 

One reason for doing so is to end up in the proper gear for exiting a corner. The other reason, especially in racing is that using the engine as a brake helps to keep brake temperatures down and prolong pad life.

John, being a frequent track-day attendee can probably either add to this list or elaborate on the above thoughts.

John?

 

Doesnt HT wear down the synchros a lot faster than double clutching all the time?

 

Nope. It's important to differentiate between rev-matching and double clutching.

Rev-matching is a method of lining up the Engine RPMs and the RPM's of the OUTPUT shaft of the transmission. Because normal rev-matching does not engage the engine to the transmission during the 'gas-blip', the input shaft of the transmission is still spinning slower than the engine and output shaft will be once the lower gear is selected and clutch released. It is the job of the syncros to spin the input shaft up to a speed that will allow the lower gear to be selected without grinding (which is the result of a mismatch of input/output shaft speeds)

Double-clutching, on the other hand, is a sequence of pushing the clutch in once to get from (for example) 4th gear to neutral, then letting the clutch out, blipping the gas, then pushing the clutch in again and going into 3rd and letting the clutch out. *This* process (done properly and quickly) lines up the RPMS of the engine with the input AND output shafts of the transmission.

The process of double clutching combined with H&T does the syncros' job, as well as some of the clutches job because if you don't H&T/rev-match, the clutch would have to take the brunt of syncronizing the engine and tranny RPMs.



Back in the day, many race cars didn't have syncros, thus the driver HAD to double clutch to be able to downshift/engine brake. Ever since the introduction of syncros, double-clutching is a dying art. It also takes LOTS of practice to be really good at it without looking like an epileptic retard doing it.

 

I took my car out this evening to see if I could Heel and Toe. Are you kidding me? I think I need bigger feet! I can't wait to see how you manage that. But I did practice rev matching. I'm getting used to that at least. Once I get down into second, I just get her in neutral and then start to brake.

Kcobean, thanks for all of your explanations. They've been a great help.

 

The day I picked up my Z from the dealership lot, I knew it would be very difficult (for me at least) to HT because the "height" of the brake pedal with respect to the accelerator was too big. The very first second my Z was all broken in, I gave it a try and I just couldn't do it very smoothly cuz of the pedal height difference. Now that I hear that some people can actually do it right, I might just start practicing again.

 

I had the same problem... the brake pedal is too high its hard to get your foot on the gas and brake at the same time. I guess it is possible I just need more practice

 

He he....I wear a 12 wide or 13 shoe, so I it's not a big issue for me. I still use the outside of my right foot (as in the side of the shoe, not the bottom). I literally roll my ankle so that the outside of my shoe hits the gas pedal.

The thing is that once you get comfortable with where the RPM's need to be for the downshift, it doesn't take a great deal of precision to hit the gas pedal, you just roll your ankle, nudge the pedal, then roll back. It all happens very quickly

Like John said, it takes some practice, but hey, is there anything else you'd rather be doing than practicing driving your Z?

 

Silverstone350 - That's what I noticed as well. The brake pedal seemed way too high for me to even attempt HT. I'll have to let everyone know how my driving school goes with kcobean if we ever hook up!

 

it's hard for me to HT without shoes on (i drive w/o shoes when I wear sandles)....

 

When you HT, can you skip a gear? Say, from 5th to 3rd??

 

Sure theres no problem in doing that. It just all depends on how fast you are going at the time

 

Just watch RPMs, downshifting is the best way to brake and you will not cause any damage or extensive wear. Just watch RPMs.

 

sure, no problem, do it all the time.....just blip the gas more....