I'm going back to the track in a couple days and I can't wait. My last time went pretty well, but I've been thinking about some of the problems I had. Any input you pros can give would be great.

I have a hard time staying smooth when I downshift while I'm braking before a turn. It's not so bad going from 4 -> 3, but 3 -> 2 is brutal. If I let clutch out too quickly while doing this the car lurches, but if I let it out slowly I feel like i'm riding the clutch. Any suggestions? I've been practicing my heel-toeing but I'm not quite comfortable enough to try it on the track yet - I have trouble keeping the brake steady while I do it.

Any help would be great...

 

Pretty much you're just going to have to keep practicing the heel toe or blip method. Try it on the street, just be careful.

Or just can follow the methodology that says don't downshift until your exit.

Or depending on where in the rpm band you are don't upshift to the next gear before the turn. If you're close to the braking point just ride out that gear a little longer.

I wear size 14 shoe and even with my simpson competition shoes on I can't heal/toe shift. I just DS at apex or as soon as I finish braking.

If you continue practicing on the track be careful with that downshift when practicing the heal/toe. Engine braking can be a ***** and send you for a little off road cruise.

 

What track are you on? Are you sure you need to go down to second gear? It would have to be a really slow turn to require second. On the five tracks I've run (none in the Northwest), I never shift down to second unless there's really slow traffic in front of me. Try staying in third.

But keep working on the heel-toeing. You definitely need to be able to do that to be smooth and fast on track.

Huh?!? Sorry, but neither of these statements makes any sense. You must downshift before you finish braking so that you can begin accelerating at or before the apex.

 

You are blipping the throttle when you downshift, right? From your description it sounds like you're not.

After you engage the clutch, as you shift down, tap the throttle to rev the engine just before you release the clutch. The idea is to have the engine at the correct higher revs for the lower gear as you release the clutch. If you do it right, you can pretty much dump the clutch with no lurch. With a little practice, your body gets almost magically good at giving just the right blip to match the revs. This is one of the main pleasures of driving a clutch; it just feels right.

 

Well, that's the problem - you don't exactly want to left your foot off the brake to blip the throttle when you're supposed to be steady on the brake. This particular corner is especially bad, because it's on a steep incline and as soon as I take my foot off I'll accelerate.

I actually ended up taking the above advice and just staying in 3rd...everything went much smoother and I had a blast. I did practice my heel-toeing and I think next time back I'll try to do it exclusively.

 

Sounds to me like you should leave it in 3rd for this particular corner... with as much torque as the 350z has, it shouldn't be a problem...

On the heel-toe thing - the few times I've driven a 350z, I've found the pedal placement very poor for MY style of heel-toe (rolling my right foot over to blip the throttle). It sounds like you may have to actually use your heel to do the blipping, leaving the ball of your foot on the brake pedal.

And yes... you really should have your braking done before starting your turn, especially if you're new at the track thing. I'll ask again too - what track are you at? Is there a website? Maybe one of us can check out a track map and help out even more?

Stacy King
Track Events Coordinator
Triangle Z Club

 

If you're doing the heel-toe thing properly, you don't lift your foot off the brake while blipping the throttle. My feet are big enough that I can use the right side of my right foot to engage the left edge of the gas pedal while keeping my toes on the brake pedal. If you have smaller feet, you may have to figure out a different technique, possibly actually using the heel of the right foot, or get some pedal plates that narrow the space between the pedals.

Not that it really matters, but WHAT TRACK ARE YOU RUNNING ON??? (We've asked three times already!)

 

commasense... I re-read his second post and it looks like he took your advice on the 3rd gear thing - I'm still curious though about what track he was on.

-Stacy