Heck I guess a few of you don't auto-x or really know how it does handle. The car can take just about anything you can dish out, enjoy it.

 

I heel-toe and double-clutch downshift everywhere I go. In anticipation of a track day once I tried to see if I could blip without double-clutching and decided it is too ingrained a habit to stop. I'd mess up worse by trying to change than if I just downshifted as usual.

Matching revs before releasing the clutch provides identical engine braking - it just removes the clutch braking that burns up clutches fast. Double-clutching helps reduce tranny wear, or at least that's what I tell myself cuz I think it's .

Only downside was when I had my accident last year and my (now instinctive) heel-toe braking position made it so the bottom right corner of the brake pedal on the ball of my foot concentrated the impact on a small area and shattered three bones in my foot.

Oh yeah, and it also means brakes last longer but rear tires are used up quicker. This messed up my so-called tires for life program, since all 4 have to be worn equally to get them replaced. This is just not fair on a car where you can't rotate, but the dealer suggested I'd been doing too many burnouts to have rears at 2/32 and fronts still with 6/32 (OEM GYs). I bought some Kumhos for the rear and saved the worn ones, so when the fronts are done I'm re-mounting them and we'll see who's laughing then!!



Jim

 

ey??? . . . What did that whipper-snapper say? . . . Can't hear a dang thing over that thar rumblin and pop'n after I just down-shifted!

I may not be using the clutch/engine to brake, but I'm going into that corner 4500rpm and comming out at 5000rpm like a slingshot -- That's what these things are made to do! And it gets the Geritol pumping through the veins pretty good, too.

 

Wrong and Wrong again....
Young Kids these days don't know a thing about a sports car

Well I am no race guru but Downshifting Is very importand if you are on a track taking corners like your dodging a bullet.

See I use best of both worlds... When I drive my ride around with my permagrin I use my brakes becouse there will be no need for pushing my motor/clutch/tranny etc. well on the other side when I go out to highway 9 or the track its very importand to revmatch (blip throtle to equalize clutch &engine Rpms) Letting the engine do the breaking for you will help alot on those tight corners.

I actually tested this... I tried running my car with breakes only and keeping it in higher gear through turns (3rd) after 20 min or so
after pulling over I noticed smoke comming out of my tires and brake calipers and my rotors wobble everytime i brake ! :o

 

englandgreen, what's going on here? how do you downshift the AUTO? this topic is for the m6 drivers, i do like the "drive it like you stole it" i put down a nice 40 foot strip leaving work and used a little brake pressure after the initial roll to make a nice smokey burnout, i also like to side step the clutch in 2nd around 50mph to get the car going sideways

 

Using the engine to brake instead of the brakes is NOT the same thing as downshifting. Downshifting is obviously necessary. Doing it while you are braking is a wonderful skill. Using the engine to slow and risking an overrev or upsetting your balance in a corner is just plain dumb. I suggest taking a driving course such as the Spring Mountain course to really learn how to drive around a track and have tons of fun as well. You'll practice you heel and toe downshifting until you are sick of it. I enjoyed the course so much I took both the Level 1 and Level 2 within a few months of each other. Check out the may11th times on their website for my times

 

Umm... Just clerify this for me brother... when you downshift your engine is slowing down your car alot more then staying up in higher gear right? How else do you think a big semi slows on a real steep hill using only brake!?!?! heh...

Now I am not saying "use downshift for ONLY breaking I mean It keeps the car in a powerband therfor you don't use "as much" breaking as you normaly would which will upset your cars balance in a turn if you did !!... I have never taken a course so I wouldn't know but I did race bikes and even though i got twice as many rpms I belive the concept is the same also mastered the heel and toe on an 87' Toyota Tercel 4 speed manual couple years back! Lol I got it almost down in the vette the first 2 days so its not that hard.

 

Basically, if you can afford to replace the clutch perhaps a little sooner, downshift and have fun. Its part of driving the car--listen to the sound and enjoy the feeling of downshifting. Rev match as much as you can but if you don't have time or don't want to, just let the clutch out gently and don't be dismayed. Its fun. Enjoy your car. Sometimes I like downshifting just to see if I can match the revs just right so that you can't tell that you downshifted until you goose the gas.

For braking, you can downshift while rev matching and then let your foot off the gas--it will help you slow down.

 

Everone needs to get on the same page understanding the definition of words being used here. I see a confusion of downshifting and engine braking.and rev matching.

Old school..And I was there back then,,,was to AID the brakes by simoltaniously applying the brakes as hard as you could and additionally add some braking force from off throttle engine compression. The trick was the footwork running both the brake and the throttle with the right foot. AS you decelerate the engine goes to lower RPM, and needs to be down shifted. This is when the clutch is pressed, and the throttle is blipped just enough to being up the revs to match the speed of the drivetrain in the lower gear and clutch re-engaged, then off throttle for more compression braking, repeat as needed.......Today we have HUGE brakes that work much better and can be adjusted for perfect front-rear balance, and that resist fade like was impossible 30 years ago. It is actually faster to decelarate today's cars with just the brakes and down shift/rev match to match the gear and RPM needed for power-on as you pass the apex and get the go juice flowing. It's similar to the old ways, except there is NO engine compression drag applied to the rear wheels. When I got my first Lotus Europa in 1973, it had small brakes and the norm on the race track and brisk street was to use compression braking. By the late 70s huge rotors and calipers were generally availalble and it was found that consistant and reliable 'tuned' braking with optimal front and rear bias would get the lowest lap times and the compression aided braking was phased out of preference. You still had to MATCH REVS when DOWN SHIFTING but it was not to aid the brakes, in fact it would upset proper optimal brake bias/balance, causing the rears to lock up, ...which will make you spin out.

Either way, old school or new.....have FUN!!!

 

BOATBOATBOAT..........."ain't that just truth".......19 coats of Zaino, no rain, <5000RPM.........TOO FUNNY

 

CT, let's get out into the twisties out my way and allow me to demonstrate what an A4 can do

Ask the CI 6 guys how I drive with an A4

 

The only time I downshift for use as "braking" is going down steep grades with lots of twisties, although not in a Vette. The engine/trans can hold the vehicle back instead of heating up the brakes.

 

Ask any professional driver... the engine is for accelerating and the brakes are for slowing down.

 

This debate will never end. (I do believe a combination of brake and engine RPM's is healthy in traffic, and allows for resumption of speed in a nice torquey way)

 

 

 

I could not afford my Vette (hate payments) until I was 52 (this year). I'll be darned if I'm gonna baby it. Will not push it past it's limits but I WILL drive it and I mean DRIVE it!

 

So true!

 

Disagree, RW. I want to be in the right gear when I enter and exit a corner - I also do not want to change the balance of the car more than I have to going into a corner. If I can drive a circuit smoothly, I have a far better chance of hitting the apex everytime which will result in faster times.

I downshift for additional control of the vehicle also.

Use brakes = yes. Use engine =yes.

Use both = PermaGrin(tm)

 

Like me... Im 20 and drive the shyit out of my vette. Its an A4 though so I just keep it in drive. I downshifted all the time in my camaro because it was FUN. Didn't have any problems with that car, and it had almost 90k miles on it when I sold it. I did my best to rev match because it sounded better and felt better on the car. I try to have fun with all my cars. My little sunfire hasn't been washed in over 2 months, but occasionally, I'll drive it just so I can bang through the gears. It isn't fast compared to anything, but it still can be fun.