Rallycross Downshifting

[Smrtpunk]

Can any of the Rallycross experts give me a little advise on downshifting from 3rd to 2nd?

What happens is, I'll be in 3rd gear braking for a corner, at the same time I'm clutching in and pulling the car out of 3rd and trying to find 2nd so that when I get into a safe spot to re-accelerate so that I can be in the powerband again.

WHat the car is doing is it's not leting me get into second. I'm finding that sometimes I can get it after a little bit of re-trying but on my last run of the day the car would'nt grab the gear after a severe amount of trying. In fact the car just about ground to a halt at which point I managed to get it into 1st and continued on... no doubt loosing a good 4-5 seconds on the run.

I'm going to top up the tranny fluid before the next event and I'll try to get a little bit more practice in. When I'm on the street performing the same manouver I never have problems.

One possibility I've been entertaining is that the car is usually getting bounced around pretty hard when I'm attempting this manouver, maybe a good set of solid mounts could be the solution?

Ian

[nando]

are you revmatching? just forcing it into gear isn't going to work because the synchros and input shaft will have a big difference in speed.

[ThatOneEuroE30]

Yea don't just throw it into 2nd. It's like learning stick. Clutch in rev match and then release.

[jalopi]

I remember the first time I drove a standard.... lol.

The worst part is that kids these days won't even know about rev shifting; I figure it won't take too many more years for every stick sporty car to have that automatic rev shifter.

[Smrtpunk]

So the consensus is that I'll have better luck getting it into gear if I revmatch. Usually when it comes to rev matching, I'll clutch the car, drop to the gear I want, rev match and realease the clutch.

Normally, I won't clutch in, rev up, select my lower gear and then release the clutch... Is that how you guys are doing it?

Ian

[nando]

you have to rev match before pushing the shift lever into gear. rev matching helps the clutch but mostly it's to align the input shaft speed with the synchros. it's why you can shift without even using the clutch pedal.

[ThatOneEuroE30]

I remember the first time I drove a standard.... lol.

The worst part is that kids these days won't even know about rev shifting; I figure it won't take too many more years for every stick sporty car to have that automatic rev shifter.

I've been trying to teach my self to rev shift. It's not that easy.

[jalopi]

rev shift or heel toe? i gave up on heel toeing years ago, that shit is way too complicated for a guy who can't dance worth two fucks.

rev shifting really just takes practice with the car you're doing it with, everything's got different gear ratios & throttle responses.

but yeah, OP, clutch in -> blip throttle (maybe for a 1/2 second or so) -> move down a gear. you will notice an immediate difference, guaranteed. try practicing by getting off the highway onto slow offramps, you'll get the hang of if pretty quick that way

[nando]

heel toe isn't that tough, it just takes practice. I can't dance for shit either, but I heel toe on every downshift. after a while you don't even think about it.

[BraveUlysses]

^+1 to that, seems natural now, even though i have huge feet it's easy for me

However, if you're heel-toeing and still having trouble getting into 2nd it could be a different problem

[ThatOneEuroE30]

Rev shifting. What's heel toe I got an idea of what it is but probably just need explained

[ForcedFirebird]

Rev shifting. What's heel toe I got an idea of what it is but probably just need explained

[ForcedFirebird]

There's a few other techniques, but the video should give you an idea. I use the ball of my foot to brake, then roll my foot over and tap the gas with the other side of my foot.

[ELVA164]

As another tip, don't blip the throttle until AFTER you've disengaged the first gear or shifted into neutral in other words. If you blip as soon as you disengage the first gear, chances are the RPM will drop too far by the time you engage the lower gear. So:

1. Clutch in
2. Lever to neutral
3. Blip throttle
4. Engage lower gear
5. Release clutch

If this doesn't work after you've ensured your technique is correct, there's always double-declutching....


What's rev shifting? Clutchless rev-matched shifts?

[Smrtpunk]

Got it!
I'll give this tecnique a try,

1. Clutch in
2. Lever to neutral
3. Blip throttle
4. Engage lower gear
5. Release clutch

Thanks everyone,
Ian