Oh boy now I feel stupid Guess I'll have to work on that heel-toeing...I've had a friend show it to me, but I never tried it myself yet. Since I come from driving an auto, I'm not used to the idea of having all the braking done before the turn.

 

I have a friend that had a brief discussion with Bob Bondorant years ago after attending a weekend driving school he put on. His thoughts were logical and simple. Try to be smooth or leave the track, willingly or unwillingly. If you aren't smooth you will be no competition first of all, and secondly will end up in the sand. End of story.
So, how does this apply to engine braking he asked (since he abused this little trick frequently in the rain...so fun). The reply...you can do it, and probably should do it to some extent, but it should be used as a tool just like anything else, and should be done smooth, and only for slight reductions in speed. You should always be able to apply max power to the wheels, in any given situation...and at any given moment. This is the fundamental reason for the heal-and-toe technique, as well as "slight" engine braking. I think to anyone who spends even an afternoon on a track this will ring true.
Yes you will be harder on your driveline, but if you like to do it...just do it smooth and you shouldn't have any excessive wear problem.
One more thing, I do it all the time, albeit to a slight extent, and I heal-and-toe with my heal blipping the throttle...hehe.

Andrew

 

Hmmm...

Slightly off topic, but what the heck...

How to heel/toe (the physical right leg actions)-

It depends on the car, and your foot size. I have size 8 1/2, narrow width feet, and with footwells with LOTS of space I would pivot the heel up to the throttle pedal and blip it with the heel fully, while the ball of my foot remained on the brake.

With the S2000 and smaller cars where footwell space is more of a premium, I plant the heel of my foot at the base of the throttle pedal, rotate my right knee inward (towards my left knee) to pivot the ball of my foot on to the brake pedal, apply the brake, and then blip the throttle with the outside of foot.

Sequence of events...

brake... clutch in... throttle blip w/shift (softly, like it's an egg, only three fingers necessary including the thumb, follow the gate pattern and don't shift diagonally- it's not any faster and it's actually VERY bad for the longevity of the trans), clutch out... ease off the brake and slowly ease on the throttle...

The speed and force of the braking/throttle actions are relative to the speed of the car. For those who are very confused about the sequence, try this out-

when driving in a straight line, hold the throttle constant. clutch in (the rpms should go up to a certain point, about 2-2500 rpm higher, then hold)... shift down ONE gear... clutch out. If you are not getting smooth engagement (jerky trans/tire chirp, rpms going higher/lower when letting clutch out, etc...) then you need to modulate your thottle better. Once you get this step, try downshifting with braking, using the heel/toe technique described above. FYI- this is how I taught Greg Stevens to downshift properly, and ScarlettII loves him SO much more now.

Of course, all this is academic if you don't have a good seating position. You won't be able to alot of things properly, which is why everything starts with the seating position.

 

Hmm...on that note of not shifting "diagonally", does anyone else find that shifting from 4th to 5th takes longer than any of the other shifts?

 

Well, I didn't have the time yesterday, but today's my day off, so here goes:

This is my understanding of why it's called "double clutching":

1. brake
2. engage (depress) the clutch
3. shift into neutral
- RPM drops
4. disengage clutch
5. blip throttle with side of foot or heel to match revs
**important that clutch is disengaged at this point
6. engage clutch again (hence, "double clutch")
7. downshift into next gear before RPMs drop
8. disengage clutch and accelerate!

The reason why double clutching WAS necessary and WAS used in racing is because of the lack of good synchros, and to save wear and tear as mentioned in the above posts, and of course to be smooth. In the "old days," the clutch needed to be disengaged so that the driveshaft (not 100% sure that I'm using the right term here) RPMs could be matched to the next gear's ratio. Without synchros, if the clutch was engaged, the engine revs would not be transferred to the appropriate driveshaft/transmission components. But in today's manual transmissions, some people believe that the "double clutch" is unnecessary, and only a single clutch is needed as described a couple posts earlier. I had a friend go to Bondurant a couple weeks ago, and he asked the instructor why the clutch was pressed twice, and the instructor had no idea what my friend was talking about.

I still double clutch, it may be stupid to do so, probably out of habit from driving the Alfa. But it's very rewarding to get it all right, nothing is so sweet as the perfect downshift!

 

I agree with Nick.....I was about to say that it does depend on the car and the driver. You can use your heel, but if the pedal placement is suitable, then I prefer to use the side of my foot, whilst pivoting pfrom the floor.

Try and brake (and maintain excellent control) while you have your foot completely off the floor. Not as easy as when you foot is on the floor, is it? Now, try and get smooth accelleration when your foot is completely off the floor.....that's even harder isn't it?

I find that if you modulate your pedal effort while pivoting from the floor, you can make more gentle (re: smooth) and precise movements. That's my opinion anyway.

But, it's up to you. Whatever works I say! There is no right or wrong way. But Nick IS right about seating position. You can't drive a car when you are sitting in the back seat like some guys do. I can't understand how they:

1. can see over the dash because they are sitting so low and far back,and;
2. how they can control the car at all?

Rauno Altonnen (sp.?) a very famous Finnish rally driver said this in order to attain the perfect seating position:

"To sit correctly in the car, you should have the seat placed so that with both arms extended and your shoulders SQUARE in the back of the seat, your wrists should be able to fall limply over the back of the top of the steering wheel. In other words, your wrists should sit on top of the wheel while your shoulders do not 'come out' of the seatback, or you have to lean forward out of your seat to reach the wheel.

Have look at all the Nascar, Rally, F1 and Endurance racers. Look how close they sit to the wheel. It really says something.........

 

vmb-

Good stuff about the DDC. ALmost nobody uses this technique anymore, but Skip Barber still teaches it to save their straight cut dogboxes that don't have synchros in their jalopy Formula Dodges. It's their "Holy Grail" and they beat it into my head last year. I remember talking to the instructors and off record they told me that it was pretty much a pointless skill in today's cars and racecars. However, if you have a very troublesome transmission I can see how this would help you limp to the nearest garage...

Sime-

Now we're going REALLY off topic. Haha! A friend of mine who races occasionally for Mitsu and Suzuki (depending on who gives him the car...) told me that the best position, relative to the steering wheel, is the one that allows you to use more of your body to steer instead of just relying on your arms. For him, that meant seating very close to the wheel- far too close for modern airbag equipped cars. Even with a 3" harness he said it lowered his fatigue significantly...

 

Staying off topic, VMB described double clutching exactly the way they try to teach it in performance driving classes. My last instructor showed me a shortcutt, sort of; when you are off the throttle, you can shift into neutral WITHOUT depressing the clutch. It will not hurt the tranny! Then blip the throttle, engage clutch, downshift and accelerate. Actually, this post is not too far off topic in that we should all learn and practice good downshifting and breaking techniques, which means that you don't downshift to decelerate. Besides, that little throttle blip just sounds cool!

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by GTRPower
[B]

 

TEX_S2K-

You can do that, but the point of using the clutch is to minimise wear on the transmission. By not declutching in the first step, the gears are still loaded when you shift to neutral, which will produce premature wear.

Another simple rule to follow- only have your hand on the shifter to shift, and when you have your hand on the shifter, your foot should also be on the clutch.

cdelena-

I didn't mean to imply that my seating position is anything like my friend's, but it works for me.

Get used to it. I drive with the same basic position whether I'm on the track or on the street, with some leeway for BIG meals. Now that the S2000 has the Mugen buckets from the Type R I don't even have that...