Not lifting off the throttle when shifting will most significantly wear the clutch!

If you want to save your clutch, rev match when up-shifting, down-shifting, or after coasting (in other words: all the time!)

Having driven stick my entire life (save 6 months when younger), I've never had to replace a clutch (even buying all used cars).

Randy

 

I disagree personally. With proper maintenance you cannot void your warranty this way. Otherwise, we would all have to get our oil changed at Honda with Honda oil (or whatever they use) else risk voiding our warranties. Otherwise, I think all of your advice is great.

Nix

 

When upshifting, I do what we used to call speed shifting. A quick and closely synchronized lift and clutch in, shift up, back on the gas and clutch out. ABC had a foot-cam on Mark Martin at Watkins Glenn which was very instructive. He was (in one quick closely synchronized movement), off the gas and on the clutch, quick shift, back on gas and off the clutch. The whole process looks like it takes about a second. Timing and coordination between the shifting hand and feet is close and so if you are off by a milli-second you grind the gears.

When downshifting, I push the clutch in, blip the throttle to rev match, shift and let the clutch out. This is less hurried but still fairly quick. I am getting better at rev matching with practice but, for me, this is more difficult to do correctly than upshifting smoothly.

Given what I understand about the heel-toe and double clutching techniques, I did not observe Mark Martin using these, although I associate these techniques with competitive driving. Did anyone else see this. Comments?

 

Granted, my car has only 2000 miles on it (so far), but I've noticed a few things.

Shifts become smoother as everything heats up, not as smooth when the engine/transmission are cold. I've also found shifts to be smoother at moderate to high rpm than the are at low rpm (parking lot shifts, etc.)

To weigh in on the main subject, I've NEVER had to stay on the gas for an upshift, even when racing. Just quickly shift to the next gear and get off the clutch before the rpms fall below the matching rev point. If you can't do it that fast, work on it.

If you're ever coasting (clutch in) and need to release the clutch, a quick throttle blip is more than sufficient to match rpms.

My $.02

Jeff

 

This isn't what I think of when I hear speed shifting. This is how you should be driving a manual, period. And it takes much less than a second. In normal driving, have done this for as long as I can remember, and yes, if you're out of synch, you'll grind (usually because you come off the clutch too fast). I've always understood speed shifting to specifically refer to standing on the pedal during shifts.

There was an Autoweek article a few years ago comparing manual shifting to tiptronic/automanuals. They claimed that the average Joe can shift a manual in 1 second. The average proficient manual operator can do it in about .5 sec, and a professional (race) driver could shift in .2 seconds or less.

Jeff

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by JohnnyG
[B]

You're kidding, right?

 

That would be an awesome view to catch. Unfortunately, I believe many of the top line race cars now-a-days have so much advanced technology on them that some don't even have clutches in the same manner as we are accustomed to (eg. F1 ). I would suppose that some sort of computer controlled rev matching was used if Mark Martin wasn't heel-toeing at Watkins Unless that is the reason these guys can't beat Gordon there

As far as upshifting I have heard of people not using the clutch but I haven't heard of people staying on the gas all the way. When I was in an F2000 car we didn't use the clutch on the upshift but we did lift off on the gas slightly.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Nixlimited
[B]

 

Randy's right, rev-match in all situations if you can.

In adjusting to the S2000 from my previous stick shift cars (99 Honda Civic Si & 88 Pontiac Fiero), in order to be smooth AND preserve the life of the clutch, I found that I needed to be a lot quicker with my shifting. In particular, other than 1st gear starts from a standstill, all clutch action is very fast -- no more stopping for the "engagement point" for a little bit to make things smooth. This preserves the clutch, but to preserve the drivetrain's tightness I had to start rev-matching on upshifts. Rev-matching on upshifts means I have to wait that extra lil bit of time for the engine rpms to fall to the right level. However, after getting used to this, I tried driving a 95 NSX and my first glaring impression was that the rpms took FOREVER to freefall when the clutch was in. I think most cars take longer to freefall in neutral, and so maybe the whole thing where people say they need to stay on the gas is because the rpms fall faster than they're used to and have to rev the engine back up (or keep on the gas a lil bit) so that they are rev-matched to the next gear.

On a related note... lately I'm finally really getting the hang of double-clutching quickly and without missing the right rpms -- it's done wonders for my shifting smoothly, and I feel really good that I'm taking better care of the car that way. The good thing about double-clutching is.... if I turn the A/C on, the consequent drop in power makes it very difficult to shift smoothly -- I find that I have to give it less gas when upshifting (it can't translate the extra throttle into power), and in some cases when I'm not getting it smooth enough (hot days suck), then double-clutching comes to the rescue.

 

Professional drivers can upshift without lifting because the ECU does the cutback to throttle/ignition timing in order to save the tranny/clutch. Don't confuse this operation with a standard manual transmission with clutch.