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This is basically how I taught my son to drive a manual. I used a low-torque Toyota Corolla with a 5-speed manual. I found a large, flat area—a mega-church park
by Wistar 4y ago
This is basically how I taught my son to drive a manual. I used a low-torque Toyota Corolla with a 5-speed manual. I found a large, flat area—a mega-church parking lot—and, in first gear, told him he can do whatever he wants, as long as he doesn't touch the throttle. He quickly discovered the point at which the clutch bit—began to engage—and learned to get the car rolling without killing the engine.
After an hour or so, he had mastered the engaging the clutch and I began to add the next steps. A couple sessions and he had the whole thing down.
Eventually I taught him how to double-clutch, rev-match when downshifting, and even how to float the shift with no clutch at all.
Today he owns a manual trans performance car (Z06) and has a great fondness for manuals.
- AlbertCory 4y agoHeel-and-toe: a totally lost art. Not comfortable or even possible in a lot of cars.
- spike021 4y agoIt's honestly not really necessary unless you're on the track. I will say I blip rev-match downshift on the street almost all the time, that's definitely useful for smooth driving in most scenarios.
- hallway_monitor 4y agoI hope every manual driver does this. Forcing your clutch to rev match for you on every downshift seems like unnecessary wear. Plus it's so satisfying to just give a little blip and slip it in.
- tempestn 4y agoAnd fun to practice getting them just right on the street anyway. It's something to do, if nothing else.
- tempestn 4y agoMy first car was a manual, but my parents never taught me about rev matching (probably didn't know themselves), so I had no idea. (This was in the 90s, before the modern internet!) Drove for years like that, until stumbling upon this "heel toe" thing online about 15 years ago. So I started just practicing on the street every time I drove. Which ended up being awesome, because around 5 years I got into track days, autocross, and time attack, and it ended up being an extremely useful skill. Once the muscle memory's there, it's almost easier on the track than on the street since you're deeper into the brakes. (Good on the street too though, to make your clutch last though.)
- AlbertCory 4y agowhat do you guys mean by "blip"? I'm not familiar with that term.
- joecool1029 4y agoit means, in this context, to tap the accelerator (gas) pedal briefly to increase engine rpm's.
- pindab0ter 4y agoWith the clutch pedal pressed to match RPMs on a downshift.
- spike021 4y agoA quick stab of the accelerator to get the revs up to match the gear you're shifting into. The closer your "blip" gets your engine rpm into the right range for the gear you're shifting into, the smoother your shift will be.
- NikolaNovak 4y agoOn most cars I drove it's possible to toe and toe. So it's not a lost art, and many performance oriented drivers learn it, though it's certainly not necessary on daily basis.
- AlbertCory 4y agoI had a very old BMW once, and the pedals were close enough that you could brake and blip with different sides of your foot, not really heel and toe.
- Wistar 4y agoThis is correct. "Left bit of your right foot and right bit of your right foot." https://www.topgear.com/car-news/top-gear-advice/top-gears-guide-driving-well-how-heel-and-toe https://www.topgear.com/car-news/top-gear-advice/top-gears-g...
- NikolaNovak 4y agoYes - that's what I meant by "Toe and Toe" :) Most modern cars I do different sides of my top foot rather than heel and toe.
- dtgriscom 4y agoMandatory reference to the Audi unintended acceleration, probably caused by the brake and accelerator being closer together than naive drivers expected. [0]: https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/history/the-audi-500-unintended-acceleration-debacle/ https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/history/the-audi-500-un...
- VBprogrammer 4y ago> Eventually I taught him how to double-clutch, rev-match when downshifting, and even how to float the shift with no clutch at all. Most of these things are unnecessary and damaging to a synchronised manual. They aren't saving wear on any part of the transmission. About the only useful application of changing gear without using the clutch when the clutch cable fails. Unless you are in a manual American truck or a very old British one (the European trucks had synchros). Those are rapidly going to automated transmissions these days in any case.
- rzzzt 4y agoFirst gear and reverse are occasionally unsynchronized on old cars. And should you ever get into a Trabant: in 4th gear you get no engine brake, it's freewheeling!
- VBprogrammer 4y agoI originally said modern manual car but that felt like an oxymoron.
- mauvehaus 4y agoThat's common on cars with 2-stroke engines that are lubricated by oil in the fuel (like a chainsaw). If you don't freewheel it, there's not enough oil coming through the fuel system to lubricate the engine properly. Old Saabs with 2-stroke engines were like that too.
- mauvehaus 4y agoAs I understand it, matching revs makes for smoother shifting and reduces wear on the clutch plate. It also prevents a weight transfer from shifting, which is why Nissan did it in software on the 370Z. If you're about to fling a car into a corner, it behooves you to not upset the balance by shifting carelessly. Again, AIUI. I don't track anything. Double-clutching reduces the speed difference between the shafts that the synchros have to absorb, thereby reducing wear. It also lets you shift faster on track, or at all in a car with cranky synchros. The '86 BRAT I used to own was very leisurely about the 3-2 downshift without double clutching, and downright lethargic from 2-1. If you wanted to be ready to pull away from a stop sign promptly, double clutching it into 1st as you rolled to a stop was necessary. I can see shifting without the clutch adding wear to the synchros, but I've definitely had to do that too when the clutch went out on the '76 TR6 I used to own. Which admittedly had a very forgiving transmission, thank goodness. Meanwhile, I haven't put enough miles in our '47 CJ-2A to master a smooth 2-1 downshift without grinding the gears, even with double clutching. That promises to take some practice. Practice that'll have to wait until the steering is sorted well enough to get it inspected, plated, and get it up to 3rd on a paved road. 2nd gets it moving quite quickly enough, thank you very much. Rereading this before posting makes it sound like I've owned only terrible cars. I assert that they have character, and that's what matters. And only the BRAT was a daily driver. Apart from it, my daily drivers have all been pretty reliable and sensible cars.