is it ok to skip down more than 1 gear doing heel toe or do you have to rev match and downshift for every gear? like there is a turn and youre in 5th gear and the turn calls for a 3rd gear downshift, what do you do? what about from 5th to 2nd gear?

 

I always wait til the last part of the braking to h/t down, so yes, I skip gears.

Brakes are more effective at stopping than the engine is.

Warren

 

skipping gears is fine. Some like to downshift twice, some just put it in the gear they need and rev-match. Personal preference, see what works best for you.

 

its not that i use h/t to slow down my car, doing that makes the rev match part worthless. i dont get any lurch forward when i do my downshift because i use the brake hard when i do it. im just checking if what im doing is ok because it feels awkward downshifting from 5th to 2nd when i do it.

how about tips, anybody have any tips or tricks on how they do it?

 

http://www.turnfast.com/tech_driving..._heeltoe.lasso

 

Not that I'm some master but I usually go down through the gears (if I have time).I guess It kinda keeps me in rhythm . I also feel more confident about not missing a gear.

< wouldn't listen to me anyway because I'm a noob at this.

 

been there hundreds of times. thats where i use to refer to when i was starting out with h/t.

 

I go through each gear. It just feels better and I guess I'm not yet good enough to skip around the gate. Also, it seems easier on the synchros to gradually go down the gears, although if you're good enough you can probably match just fine.
-Adam

 

Skipping gears requires more thought and allows more room for error(overrevving if you don't wait long enough), but other than that I don't see any downsides. Only reason to be in gear is to make the car accelerate, so if it's a 3rd gear turn and your in 5th at the start of braking, 4th gear is totally worthless to you, just skip it. Problem I had when I first started doing it was not waiting long enough, but this was easily solved by just downshifting later into the braking...where it should be anyway.

One thing I do when skipping gears is double clutch though, probably shouldn't but it just feels better...not sure if it's my tired tranny or if it just gives me a little extra pause to think about what I'm doing or what but it seems to make the 5th to 3rd shift more comfortable/natural.


[Modified by DSC240sx, 10:08 AM 3/10/2003]

 

This is a great question. My instructor last year at Sebring taught me a great technique. At the hairpin, it requires going from the very top of 4th to 2nd gear. What I used to do was heel toe into 3rd, then heel toe into 2nd. There is no question that this method is easiest and smoothest, yet puts quite a bit more stress on the clutch.
The new method (Ill explain going from 4th-2nd):
1. Stand on brakes.
2. Depress clutch.
3. Move shifter into 3rd; blip throttle... Dont engage clutch.
4. Move shifter into 2nd; blip throttle again,, engage clutch.

This makes it so the "work" of the downshift is spread out between the 3rd and 2nd syncros rather than the 2nd syncro doing all of the work. This method takes a lot of practice to get smooth, mainly timing and spacing the blips so you dont need a HUGE blip before you engage 2nd. It takes a lot of practice! But, your tranny and clutch will like you a lot more.

 

You might as well double-clutch if you're going to all that trouble.

 

Yes, double clutching would save the syncros more than the method I described, but what about rhythm?

 

The only reason to go down through all the gears is for additional engine braking. That's it. It doesn't make things any smoother if you get the one heel/toe correct. It should just feel like additional smooth braking.

Jacob, when you can, skip the gear or double clutch. You're just putting additional wear on the synchros w/o the double clutch and extra shift. I don't understand why he wants you to go to 3rd if you're not doing anything with it!

Warren

 

Because it is splitting the work up between the 3rd and 2nd syncro instead of all the work being taken out by the 2nd syncro.

I understand that virtually no work is needed by the syncros if you double clutch, but I find it hard to get the rhythm down.

 

Yes, this is good too. I try to wait as long as possible to engage the clutch to attempt the lowest RPM downshift. I just like to add that much more to think about at turn-in

 

I actually do a little of both. I will skip gears most of the time except the 5th to 3rd downshift. I have put the car in 1st a couple of times when skipping 4th, so as an extra buffer, I will H/T into 4th, keep the clutch in, and then H/T 3rd.

 

This the technique I've always used.

 

Thats the method I use. I don't engage the clutch on each gear except the one I need (of course). My engine isn't used for any braking at all. My method is just purely for rhythm.