I also just wanted to thank all the info this thread alone has offered. I too am a newbie S owner, only been to one autocross this summer with it (DID HORRIBLY BTW!!) and also came from an underpowered FWD integra Ls.

Thank you all for the useful information provided here!!

 

1. Don't brake in the middle of a curve because it's sharper than you expected!

2. Go easy on the throttle when making U-turns, especially in the rain. The same applies to any turn. If you floor it in 1st gear while turning you are probably going to break the back end loose.

3. The summer tires grip terrible in cold weather. Learn to compensate for this by driving like a grandma in when it's chilly out.

4. Practice the grip limits in a deserted parking lot if you can without getting arrested! lol.

5. Enjoy! It's a great car and a world of difference from a automatic civic!

 

"Gear rowing" isn't hard either.

 

At the end of the day most people will use a mixture of techniques whether its box/gate shifting or going up and down through all the gears. This all becomes instinctive with the more experience you gain of driving.

It will depend on so many variables with speed, how agressively you are driving, road & weather conditions its very hard to give a 'perfect' example.

Having lived and driven for a considerable amount of time in both the US (SoCal & VT) as well as the UK with manual and auto transmissions, the roads are so different its even harder again.

The only thing which is a big no, no is coasting, where you are on the brakes with the clutch held in until you reach the speed you want to achieve. This should never be done.

As Foxy has said though, its not a faberge egg so the most important thing is just enjoy it! Generally in the States, if you lose the back end it's likely to be far more of a forgiving experience than the majority of our narrower UK roads. You'll probably just spin it, have a 'brown pants' moment and drive off

Here's a link (if you can be bothered to read it though) with some info from a driving school on changing gear and there is a fair bit of info on 'block gear changing' at the bottom of the page:

http://www.drivertrainingtoday.co.uk/learn...ging_gears.html

All I would say to contradict this is I often drive my car like I stole it so will go up and down through the box fully without missing gears, just like you would see watching a vid of someone driving on a track.

 

Are you seriously telling me that you can get through ALL the gears while I double clutch once? And that even if you could, that's somehow better for the car than double clutching? Perhaps you shouldn't have posted the rolleyes smiley.

 

What are you talking about double clutching for? Double-clutching is an old technique used to synchronize transmission speed to engine speed before engaging a gear (on a downshift). This technique is effectively useless on a syncro-equipped transmission like the S2000's. Rev-matching downshifts and up shifts is all you need to do.

 

personally i've never rev-match absolutely never ever dever, and never had a problem, i let the engine catch up by releasing the clutch normally, for normal driving that's fine, it's probably a better technique to learn if you track the car.

 

you guys got it all wrong. This is the proper way to do it. Watch the pros drive and you'll see.

Ex: 5th gear to 2nd gear

Clutch in
5th gear--->4th gear
Clutch out
Clutch in
4th gear--->3rd gear
Clutch out
Clutch in
3rd gear--->2nd gear
Clutch out.

My style of driving...Correct me if i am wrong

 

man this is so complicated now! i tried rolling through the gears on a turn today and it took forever...

 

OP, i came from a AT 03 AWD Vibe so i know how oyur feeling. First manual RWD car i won/driven (alot at least).

Threads like these helped alot on nto doing anything stupid (small things i had no idea about liek lifting mid turn)

My only advice is just learn the car, its pretty hard to resist the urge of a nice powerslide or a race ect.

Would you look stupider driving out a parking lot at speed limit? Or spinning tires hitting a tree?

Basically smooth inputs, practice, you, and your S, should be good to go