Joshboody

Curious about the different techniques. I do H/T on the street sometimes, but not so easy for me unless I’m braking hard… light braking and rev matching is fairly difficult… so I have limited experience and will prob not attempt during my first HPDE this Sat. So if not H/T how do you take a turn…

1. Do you let the clutch out during straight line braking? And maybe during turn sometimes?
2. Clutch out once accelerate from turn… I prefer to be in gear while turning, so I don’t like this option
3. Rev match before brake… this seems to be the smoothest, but slowest. And overall gear choice to fit this technique would put you down on power.

To me #3 is best stepping up your game over time adding H/T to lower your overall gearing. #1 prob best for fastest novice (or lazy) driving but not good if wanting to improve. What ya think?

t.renz791

1. Always, ALWAYS perform your downshift before your turn, or do not downshift at all. If you let the clutch out while turning, even if smooth, you will upset the rear end, and potentially spin.
2. I don't understand your question really, you want to be in the right gear, and roll into the throttle just after the apex. If you are tracking a Miata, you can usually put the gas to the floor right at the apex, in a higher powered car like a corvette, be gentle and roll in the throttle as you unwind the wheel/track out.
3. Again, I don't really understand your question, if you downshift before you brake, you will have a mechanical over rev situation. You need to slown down enough so that when you downshift into the next lowest gear you will not over rev the engine. So instead you brake, blip, shift and turn in. I typically trail brake to help the car around and plant the front end, and release to about 25% braking and fully off the brake just a bit before the apex before the apex.

VetteDrmr

Brake, THEN downshift. RPM difference is minimized, chassis upset is minimized, etc. NEVER downshift THEN brake; good way to over-rev and hurt something.

HTH, and have a good one,
Mike

z06801

I think you'll find it's easier on track under hard braking, just make sure you keep it in a straight line while your figuring it out so you don't upset the car. I'm not sure how you would do your #3.

Joshboody

well #2 is like many street drive. you brake clutch in, gear down and clutch out/throttle simultaneously when accelerating.
#3 I was confusing... I see 2 methods... brake, lift to down shift which you are referring to. Or don't drive in the upper rpm so can downshift without over-rev. Thinking more smooth to begin.

Yeah I'm thinking H/T will be easier once I get out there... we'll see... excited, but a little nervous.

acroy

For your first HPDE I'd suggest focus on the correct line& learning what the car feels like when pushed

I left mine in a single gear for the first few HPDE's I attended.

There's a lot going on, but it's all about corners! Focus on hitting the right braking point (newbies usually brake soft and way too early), turning in correctly, hitting the apex, back on the gas. You can probably leave it in 3rd or 4th for the whole thing. Start adding gear changes once you're comfortable & consistent with the track.

Just my 2c. Have fun!!

troyguitar

Brake, downshift, turn, accelerate.

mikeCsix

For first hpde,
Listen to your instructor! Check your ego at the entrance to the paddock and have fun.

I also did mine first hpde in a single gear - 3rd, and speed limited the front straight. Our cars are torque monsters so this isn't an issue. The first thing to learn is brake points and the line. Most likely the will teach the "school line" which is a late apex turn. This is so you won't run out of track at track-out.

When you start shifting, while you are learning, you should do all of your braking and shifting before turn-in, getting the right gear and the right speed prior to turning in for the apex. Don't worry about being lightning fast, it takes some time to get it all down.

If you want to practice heel-toe, if you can find a clover leaf freeway/expressway, its a good place to practice.

If you are not familiar with the seat belt locks, put your seat back all the way, pull the belt all the way out and as you feed it back in, you'll hear it ratchet - that's the lock. Pull it up tight and then move your seat forward to tighten it more. You'll be locked in pretty good. Don't forget to show your instructor how this works if he hasn't been in a Corvette before.

I hope you have a great time!

StKnoWhere

Practice heal toe on the street until it become muscle memory.

While learning, when safe, coming to a stop sign/light or even clutch in while you brake and practice blipping the throttle until it is smooth and automatic..

sdurg24

Or get a new C7 with rev matching. (Oh my God, that's heresy.)

71corv

My first HPDE (VIR),I was told by the instructor to leave the car(02 Z06) in 4th gear. Said the car had enough get up and go to get around the track without shifting. Worked find , learned the correct line and had a little practice downshifting later in the event. It's a lot to learn track wise and removing the shifting at the start was very helpful in learning the brake points, turn ins, apexes, etc.

Gene

Bill Dearborn

All good advice. There are very few tracks where you need to downshift from 4th gear.

Bill

jaa1992

Since its not muscle memory yet you can try what I did in my Rustang (heel toe was not happening because of pedal spacing even with my big feet)

Get 80% of braking done, downshift quickly, finish braking

Its not as fast as heel toe, but the engine revs are close enough and you can use two feet. For HPDE it works until the heel toe is muscle memory

Han Solo

This can be fixed. The very first thing I did to my Mustang was fabricate stops and spacers to fix the relative pedal positions.

If I remember the old NASA introduction to HPDE it said to have your car safe and comfortable and to practice heel and toe before you arrive. Having been an autocrosser for many years prior to my first HPDE I was use to that already but IMHO heel and toe is a required skill for track driving. Even if you use left foot braking at times you need to be able to brake, rev match, and downshift before you turn the steering wheel.

Doesn't matter if you are in a miata or a corvette. You need to be on the gas when you start your turn in. With one you can be full throttle sooner than the other but you need to be on it.

jtmck

I disagree.
You are still slowing the car down almost to the apex.
Does anyone else not heel and toe?
Does anyone else left foot brake?

bdanyluk

This is what I did on my first HPDE day and I highly recommend it.....

Just keep the car in 4th gear the entire time...no shifting.

Learn the track first, you will have 1,000 things to look at, think about, turn in points, apex, track out points, debris, lighting changes, traffic, etc.

It's not like driving on the street at all.

I didn't do any shifting until my 2nd HPDE. You will learn a lot this way on carrying momentum around the track.

Supercharged111

As others have stated, listen to your instructor. It may feel like he's holding you back in some areas at first, but being your first HPDE I can assure you you have MUCH to learn. You shouldn't need to downshift much at all, at the local tracks here I just used 3rd on the infield and 4th on the straights. Typically, if you're ginger, you can downshift without heel/toe after you're halfway done with the braking as you likely won't be braking late anyway. As you get faster, it'll become a hindrance and heel/toe will become more important but for now there's a lot of information to process and getting the car in the right gear occupies some of that bandwidth. You need a lot of other things to be muscle memory other than just downshifting. Though I can heel/toe, I don't always do it because to this day I feel I have more braking resolution when I don't heel/toe. For a 5-4 downshift, I just grab and go quick and early, those gears are close together and I'm typically not too far into 5th anyway. For 4-3, it's a big gap to jump so you want to wait as long as you feasibly can to minimize the RPM differential, but not so long that you're turning into the corner. You want enough distance so that, if you screw up, the car still has time to settle before turning in.

Joshboody

Thanks guys for the advice. I don’t have any “fast” expectations… more hoping to gain some comfort the first time so I can advance/learn going forward. I did download a lap timer… I wasn’t going to… but curiosity is strong.

Main worry is the car (95k mi)… pretty ragged out when purchased, but should be good now after refreshing a bunch of stuff. Only aftermarket added is oil cooler and tuned for 50% E85.

In the intro email from the club they mentioned:
“We recommend that you inflate your tires to the maximum pressure allowed.”
This doesn’t seem like a good idea since psi will rise with heat… plus in AZ mid-day temp will be 30deg hotter than in the morning. I have street tires (FK452) and planning cold 32psi.

Joshboody

Also, I'll be alone at the track and I'm sure there's a bunch of good guys but I may not feel comfortable leaving my stuff unattended. I'm planning to pack the rear cargo wells with my tools and stuff. Bad idea? Weights not a concern since fast is not the goal.

argonaut

You won't be allowed to do that. Everything must be out of the car - including floor mats. Lug nut covers need to be off the wheels. I've never had an issue at track with thievery but I'm sure it happens occasionally. You could seek out your instructor (who will typically be there with buddies) and park near them - thereby having someone around the area most of the time.