This past Friday at the track I am coming into a turn in 5th gear and breaking hard and move to third gear. The car does not take this, so I go to fourth and take the turn on fourth at this time.

Then I realize I do not have traction, on to second, on to third, nothing, the car would not engage in gear after letting the clutch out.

Then this smell, I never burned a clutch so I imagine this is what it is like. but then, just about when I am going to lose all speed, I move to the right side of the track, engage second again and the car goes now.

It changes gears fine, but I pit anyway. Tried a few gears in the pit area and then go out again. The car seemed to run fine the rest of the day.

Questions:
What happened? Is this what smoking the clutch is?
Should I be concerned? Now I am more paranoid and the notchy feel of the transmission makes me think the clutch is going. What are the tell tell signs for clutch wear?

 

It does not take too much to get the OEM clutch very hot and slipping.

A possible scenario is that on this particular lap you failed to get a good rev match from 5 to 3 and with the distraction of heavy braking got the clutch slipping with a hesitation on the pedal, momentarily riding the clutch during deceleration. The worn disk once slipping kept slipping as you tried the gears with heavy application of gas until it got a chance to cool and grip.

No guarantee this was what happened, but given you description I think it is possible. I slipped the original clutch under several conditions, in high gears and low. I have since replaced it with something better suited to this engine and my driving.

 

I watched an interview long time ago with the man who took the prototype S2k to Nurburgring for testing (retired racer, now as a journalist and performs overseas testing for Honda). He commented that a newbie racer goes faster downshifting w/out double clutching and skip gears (like 5th to 3rd). Said its easier to maintain threshold breaking and stability going into corners. I heard the same from a couple instructors at Summit as well.

But, when he and the other test drivers (accomplished racers) races on the track, all of them performs toe/heel downshifting (rev matching) into corners and shifts down gear by gear (BM sets up cameras to watch drivers feet actions). I suppose thats the mature or the correct way to downshift and enter corners???

 

I bet most of these racers are used to sequential gear boxes where you have to shift down gear by gear. I find that when I skip gears when downshifting, I have more trouble rev matching than if I go gear by gear.

 

There are turns that are slower than a one gear difference. Coming off a straight at over 120mph into a turn that is taken at maybe 80mph could be done with a 5 to 4 shift but if you need to be in third to pull through the turn and setup for the next it may not be fastest to make two shifts. The statement about always going through the gears may be a generalization, or just an individual style, but I do not think it is something to necessarily strive for.

 

Yeah, it's just a comment on personal style and what people are used to. I do it both ways depending on how comfortable I am with the turn.

 

I did the EXACT same thing except I was trying to come off the line
to race a hot accord. I tried to feather the clutch at high RPM and let it out
and went nowhere. I was in gear, and wasn't moving. The I smelt this burning
smell, which I thought was my clutch. I let it cool down and it eventually went away.
I thought I burnt up my clutch also.
I did this from a stand-still.

 

Skipping gears when downshifting - adds no stress or additional wear to the drivetrain/clutch?

Are these pros just being consistent?? Or is there a reason behind to ensure the mechanical longetivity?? Lot of times cars cant even make the checker flag, so I am wondering if what they do gives the car a higher surviving rate.

What do you think?

 

A gear is a gear.. makes no difference which one it is as long as you are smooth enough with rev matching when you get off the clutch. IMO is has nothing to do with mechanical stress.

 

Hate to get off topic with you guys but yes, reston, I do think you probably glazed your clutch real good. If you notice a smell like that for a couple days but not after, that's probably what it is. Noting major to worry about.

cd