DescentBB

Last weekend I was racing on the Spa-Francorchamps track, and I took the opportunity to train myself in heel-and-toe downshifting. I got it pretty nicely at the end, you're welcome to check out a little vid showing my feet in action

http://tricord.be/heel-and-toe.avi (~63MB )

This downshifting technique has several advantages, it prevents wheel lifting due to underspin when letting go of the clutch, it prevents synchromesh wear in the gearbox and if done right is faster than a 'regular' downshift. This is the procedure:

1) start braking
2) without clutch, go from gear to neutral
3) without stopping to brake, tap the gas with your heel
4) engage the clutch
5) downshift from neutral
6) release the clutch
7) floor the gas as you come out of the curve

There is a more complicated but easier-to-do version which involves the clutch before and after step 2). I do it this way though, it's even faster and has the same effect if you time step 2) exactly right. See vid for how I do it.

Needless to say, it was a blast. We got rain during the sunday afternoon so we got pretty good at drifting as well

Why are you pulling the car out of gear without the clutch? It may be quicker, but I like my transmission in one piece.

I'm not really into manual.

This is how I drive naturally. And taking the car OUT of gear without the clutch won't hurt it at all Carter. It's when you try to jam the car IN to gear without the clutch you start to mess up the synchros.

I don't really "heel-toe" it, more like I figured out how to use the left side of my right foot seperately from the right side. Brake with right foot, tap the accelerator with the right foot, release the accelerator with the.. etc. I can't do it if I think about it.

That's basically how you would work the gear train w/o a clutch -- spinning up the motor will bring the in/out gear speeds close to each other so the sync-rings have less work to do. Not really neccessary w/ a modern train tho, unless you are good enough to skip the clutch part (requires that you know & hold the right rpm on the engine while shifting down -- I used to drive my mountain racer that way )

you think that's good? try shifting up without a clutch. of course you have to nail the RPM dead-on for it to work though.

this is nothing short of applying big rig truck driving to racing.

Granted it's tons easier with a diesel motor and non synchro'd tranny.. but it only takes 1 or 2 tries to figure out the rmp to tranny syncro in a gas motor.

Would I do this in a race? hell no.. but at least I know I can drive a manual with a clutch gone totally bad

Yeah, upshifting without clutch can be done as well... (not in first gear from standstill though) In fact, it's not too hard with older gearboxes.. It's excellent practise to get to know the car and it's engine/gearbox, but it's too much of the good thing on a track. After all, only the lap time counts and you're still faster doing a regular upshift with clutch than one without. Furthermore, when upshifting you're usually not braking either, so it's a non-issue.

Downshifting is more complicated since you're doing many things at the same time: turning or initiating a turn, braking, and changing gear fast in a way that doesn't lock your rear wheels under road speed (otherwise there goes the oversteer).

I still haven't seen the video -- crap. Got busy last night. I still wouldn't ever put the car in gear or pull it out of gear without the clutch. It's there for a reason, imo I know it can be done..but why even try? I personally don't have the $$ to fix the repairs if I start screwing up the tranny.

yeah, but Carter, your car is a brand new, state of the art machine, not an old, stripped down BMW. I dont think I'd try it either if I owned your car, man. Besides, I dont see it being of significant advantage anyway.

Well it can be faster if you know what you are doing ..but man that is can be so hard on the tranny ...oof. Hey to each their own. I need to see this video tonight.

I can't recall -- did Tri go to Nurburgring? (Sp)? Well did he run "The Ring?"

Naw, he went to Spa-francorchamps, based in Belgium. Nice track.

Ferno wrote:Naw, he went to Spa-francorchamps, based in Belgium. Nice track.

One of the best tracks in the world. He's lucky to live 10 min from it.

CDN_Merlin wrote:One of the best tracks in the world. He's lucky to live 10 min from it.

The first part I agree with.. The second part.. Well it's more like two hours
But still, it's not far. I wore my brake pads to the metal so I had to go home get new ones.. It was a bit of driving but I would have been sitting in a car anyway

Tricord wrote:1) start braking
2) without clutch, go from gear to neutral
3) without stopping to brake, tap the gas with your heel
4) engage the clutch
5) downshift from neutral
6) release the clutch
7) floor the gas as you come out of the curve

You didn't explian that very well tricord! Tell me again where and when you actually use the BRAKE PEDAL! LOL.

I've been driving this way for years. Initially because the synchromesh on my RX7 was shagged and H&Ting was the only way you could change down if engine revs were over around 3000.

HTing is a great technique and you didn't explain the real reason for it either! It's so you can brake at 100% while changing down when close to the redline without locking the rear wheels.

Mobius wrote:

Tricord wrote:1) start braking
2) without clutch, go from gear to neutral
3) without stopping to brake, tap the gas with your heel
4) engage the clutch
5) downshift from neutral
6) release the clutch
7) floor the gas as you come out of the curve

You didn't explian that very well tricord! Tell me again where and when you actually use the BRAKE PEDAL! LOL.

Um, look at #1, START BRAKING.

Mobi, read before you post. And you spelled "explian" wrong.

I almost never use the clutch in my car and haven't from day one. Obviously I do to take off and park, but under normal driving conditions you can up/downshift with absolutely no harm to the syncro's or tranny. It's an art. Once you learn the engagement points you can shift(up/down) with very little effort. It doesn't translate to fast track times, but on the street it's not about track time.

Mobi you troll.. I said it was about preventing wheel underspin in my first post, among other things

Whatever Mobi is smoking he needs to put it down.


Shawn you are a crazy, christmas tree towing with family members in the car, mustang racing SHO owner...what more could one expect?