substance

im pretty much a n00b when it comes to driving stick and i was wondering if there was any tips that experienced racers could give me

i've only driven stick a total of ONCE and i was too careful and slow (i was driving in a parking lot) and id hold the clutch for too long and "coast" the car b4 switching

i've studied numerous racing videos (my only source of racing knowledge) and ive studied how they shift but its just not the same because i cant ask any questions
so heres mine:

do any of you guys have any manual transmission tips for me?

(this question may have been posted in other threads so forgive the redundancy of my posts and just lemme know what you can)

thx in advance

Ben Davis

No matter what anyone say NEVER leave you foot on the gas between shifts unless oyu are prepared to buy a new tranny today and potentially a new motor!

Clutching/off gas
Shift
Clutch out/stomp gas

Not really hard.....

Ben

Enron Exec

uhhhh, can u tell us exactly why?

Im sure you can still give it a littel gas in between shifts IMO w/o worry of damage to the tranny and of course the engine.

substance

doesnt the clutch "give" a little gas when it is depressed?
cuz i mean if ur totally neutral and u hold the clutch down then the car moves forward

but yeah i understand not gas+clutch =

how about shifting gears in a tight turn?
is it best to brake and then shift or shift down then brake?

i know it depends on the turn but say it was very tight and u were going too fast to make it by braking alone (in other words you'd come out of the turn in too high a gear to accel properly)

Enron Exec

Are you sure? Better try that again and on a more even surface.

This is how I have been shifting for about 7 years under normal driving conditions. I begin to lift off the gas. Once my right foot is about 1/2 way up from where it was depressed, my left foot depresses the clutch almost the full length or all the way. By then, my right foot is just almost off the gas, but is still keeping about 10% to 20% of what it was when it was depressed on the gas. Also, when the clutch was about 80% to 100% depressed, I have begun to shift, leaving the gate. The stick enters the next gear. Then I give it a lil more gas to match the rev I would be in at the next gear, and the clutch is still fully depressed. Finally, I release the clutch progresively more while giving more gas to keep the rev in place until the clutch is fully released.

If anyone can read that jumble and still understand it, pls give me some feed back.

Enron Exec

During normal driving, I would brake first and then shift a lil after the apex.

For a race, id have to practice the turn a bit and use some heal-toeing.

90260Z

I think you should learn how to clutch and gas on the hills without using any brake first.

350zroadster

iTrader: (1)

"The Run" dvd has a feature where the stunt/pro driver's shifting and pedaling can be viewed while the car is racing around the city. It is a great reference.

Ben Davis

You are really going to advise a guy who has driven a stick ONCE in his life to try power shifting?!?!?

[sarcasm on]

Ben's list of **** that can go wrong in any shift but is particularly disastarous in a power shift:

Hung up in the gate: at 5500 RPM the grinding is bad enough, but hey we're POWER SHIFTING CAUSE WE ARE MEN!!! let's grind em at 7000 rpm and see what happens!!!! WOOO HOOOO

Mis shift: normally this results in a bog, the rpm's kept dropping while WE were trying to find that dam gear ARRRRGH!!! but hey we're POWER SHIFTING CAUSE WE ARE MEN!!! so while we sit and look for the friggin gear lets bounce off the rev limiter and sound like idiots (and while there may not be any horrid damage, why risk it?!?!) while we grind our way through.

Poor Clutch: I normally shift faster than the RPM's can drop anyways so I am a lil over-revved when I enguage the clutch anyways, prolly not great on a stocker, but why not REALLLLLY ovver-reve and kill the clutch faster?!?!?

[sarcasm off]

I think that a lil gas is safe once you KNOW how to drive a stick, but I would never tell anyone to try it until they are competnet at driving stick! I figure by the time this guy can drive a stick well that he will prolly have forgotten most of this thread and at that point if he wants to power shift then it is his car, his experiance, his cash.... I have seen too many kids F up cars trying to power shift in the forst month fo driving.... I will not let it happen on a 350!!!


Look at this link and examin the picture of the diaphragm clutch
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/clutch2.htm
The blue side is connected to your motor, the other side is connected to your drive wheels through the transmission, it may give you an idea, if you are moving with the clutch in, you're on a hill.
Ben

substance

hey thx for all the help