When you install KooKs Headers and Corsa exhaust you will never use the breaks you will like to downshift every time to hear the song I`m doing it daily and more than breaking just not to save ! to ..

 

This isn't the 1940s. Brakes are for slowing the car, not clutches. "Down shifters" should read a good book on high performance driving.

 

I use downshifting not so much for engine braking, but to hear the burble from my Borlas. I don't downshift all the time, just when I'm in the mood. I'm not sure why, but for some reason I'm always in the mood to downshift when I see a rear wing and coffee can exhaust.

 

I blip throttle when downshifting to rev-match to minimize/eliminate clutch wear. The amount of downshifting depends on the traffic and the driving mood I'm in.

I coast down IN GEAR as much as possible (watch your mpg meter when you do this). Which gear I use to coast down also varies due to traffic/distance to light/traffic light stats.

I avoid coasting in neutral. Highly unlikely I coast down in neutral. I save more gas coasting down in gear (usually in a higher gear).

The rule of thumb is rather complex.

 

Well, I guess I am just an old Fuddy Duddy.

No question though that it saves gas since your engine is at 500RPM instead of 1-2K. More RPM's = more gas. You can even test this by comparing avg mpg doing it both ways at the same place and resetting in between. I do it to save the earth.....that is my story and I am sticking to it.......especially when I take Al for a ride. ........................................ ..NOT..........................

 

I don't think i saw anyone mention another reason to downshift (and perhaps even avoid the rev match). If you are barrel-@**ing into a turn where you have to break hard and then hit hard out of it, downshifting through that (with breaks) gives the car a completely different handling characteristic. The revs of the engine and the nature of the tire deceleration have the car better planted.

I always think of it like that gyroscope feeling. Ever spin a gyroscope or top and then move it around? The thing wants to stay upright; and the faster it spins, the more it demands to stay poised. I get that kind of feeling going through the turn using the gears as a partial break. Not to mention, you're already in a lower gear to gas the heck out of the turn right as the car is past the apex.

(speaking of which, I'm curious how folks gas through a turn. I slow before. Entering the turn i start to accelerate through it very moderately (feeling how I'm doing on grip), and when I feel I get around the apex, I start hitting it more. Not sure that's right, that's just the way I naturally have come to do it--I need to take one of those vette race driving classes that look like so much fun)

I'm not a professional driver by any stretch, but I suspect there is some more polished explanation for the enhanced stability of the engine revving higher through the turn as part of the slow down.

As for why do it all the time? If you do, it becomes second nature. Then when you *need* to do it, you don't think, your hand and foot just automagically do the right thing.

The problem with doing it with the vette is there is so much damn power, that if you go down to too low a gear you're can easily over power the turn when you hit it past the apex and then your tail is all over the place. It takes way more practice and concentration to do it when, when you're really hauling through a turn, with that much power on tap.

 

You never downshift to decelerate. That's one of the all-time street driver bad habits. Want to brake? Use the brakes.

When you watch F1 racing on TV and you hear the engine blipping as the cars downshift through the gears into corners, what you're not noticing is that the hydraulic brakes are doing all the actual deceleration. Otherwise the cars would be 1) entering corners 50mph too fast and with their rear wheels locked, or 2) getting lapped by other drivers who know how to slow down a car properly. The dramatic-sounding downshifting is to simply keep the motor from lugging.

There is no scenario where using gear selection to increase deceleration is better: if you need to slow down in a hurry, downshifting is insane: it's slow, difficult to control, and acts on the wrong set of wheels (i.e. greatly increases braking distance and upsets the car). So you're left with downshifting to gently increase deceleration - where even the imaginary "save the brakes" advantage is tossed out the window.

Brakes can be modulated and act on all four wheels. These reasons alone should be sufficient, but they're also faster to actuate, last longer, and are much cheaper to replace.

Downshifting is for selecting the gear appropriate for the speed you want to go. If you wish to accelerate hard, maintain speed on a grade, or prevent the motor from lugging as you slow down, you may need to downshift. If you want to increase the rate of deceleration, use the brakes.

 

Using F1 as a model is questionable. Rally drivers will use the downshifting to tune in the balance of the car into a turn as part of the deceleration. Now you're right in that they dont use JUST the gearing to brake. They use it in conjunction with the brakes. But the gearing lets them control the turn outs and entry a bit more and brake a bit later if needed.

F1 is amazing, but so far removed from reality that I question the applicability of many of the driving techniques in the real world.

 

Downshift with the Paddles all of the time, my car doesn't know what D is for. Love to hear the AR headers with high flow cats and fuse pulled on the NPP's. Life is too short, I waited my whole life to get a Vette and now I am going to enjoy it the way I like and too damn old to care what others think. Grew up in the 60's and the sound takes me back.

 

Right arm dude ! I do likewise, or perhaps a blend of methods. I almost always grab a gear or two slowing down, not only to hear that sound, but also to be in the right gear before you get off the brakes. If you are off the brakes and hunting for a gear, you're late. While I agree brakes should be used to scrub speed, at the instant the brake is released and the throttle is on , the appropriate gear should all ready be there, IMHO.

 

 

Left foot braking is the way to go with any auto. I am 100% left foot braking with the A6, much more control.