how do you drive manual properly?

[warpz0r]

hi all

got a noob question for you all

how do you drive a turbo car?

do you downshift when stopping?

downshift to 2nd gear around corners?

in my gfs car (nissan micra) i can hear when to change gears and just feel it...

ive never been in a turbo'd car before, and am not really sure on how to do it...

so if anyone can give me a rundown on how they drive it would help

thanks

[krzysiu]

Downshift when stoping: Nuh i dont do that just leave it in the gear.

Around corners: depends how fast you are taking a corner...

You drive a turbo car as you would any other car, but much more carefully.

[Fro-Daddy]

drive it normally...think of it as a faster, longer, stronger, more stylish and slicker micra

[r33skylinegtst]

Yeah, no difference really, just a different power curve. you drive it like any other car.

[croat]

i usually downshift when stopping (depends what mood im in) but when tired just leave it in the same gear. same deal around corners...

[mcnamg]

if you wanna save brake wear downshift

if you wanna reduce gearbox wear brake

otherwise its just the same

everyone has their own driving style so just do whatever you normally do as long as it safe

[Bax]

Well, I brake and downshift, I don't think I'd ever downshift to a stop without braking unless it was an emergency.. Apparently it does damage to the engine too, which I'd believe, revs jumping up insanely..

Anyway, as for when to change gears, you'll be able to feel when your cars not powering on anymore, watch your tacho if there is one, you'll only need it for a few weeks if you don't, just until you get used to the sound/ feel of the car when its on the limit.

Downshifting, well, to tell you the truth I don't think I've downshifted into third for a while.. Most of the time I just go fourth/ second.. keep rolling if the light changes, or 1st if I stop.

Same with upshifting, if its a cruisey day I'll just go second to fourth.. Hell its easier..

[Andor]

When I see I am most likely going to have to stop up ahead, I shift into nuetral straight away. Sometimes while im still traveling at speed, is this bad? I don't think it is but just to be sure.

[performance-wise]

I believe it is bad to brake in neutral as you are limiting your traction and wearing your brakes more. You slow down safely if using your gears and brakes together. Watch any style of racing and you will see this. I believe what is practiced at high speed driving is as good for low speed driving. Our cars are designed for this even without any modifications.

You can bet ur arse that a pro driver will normally be using gears and brakes together or alternately, be it compression or steady braking.

[Kutter]

I practice heel & toe whenever I can....people think I'm crazy but there's just some sense of satisfaction in getting your rpms just right for the shift.

other than that.....if slowing down to a red light I just pop it in neutral and let it cruise with light braking.

[Kutter]

Watch any style of racing and you will see this. I believe what is practiced at high speed driving is as good for low speed driving.

huh? there's a reason for not going in neutral while braking in racing simply because....well...they're racing of course :uh-huh:

any sudden increase/decrease of traction force at the tyres will greatly screw up the car's balance while racing...hence why the heel&toe method...to match the revs...

normal day-to-day driving....the effects are negligible....I only do it because it's just smoother....be able to upshift/downshift without actually feeling the car jerk/lurch/pitch forward etc etc.....

[performance-wise]

I also agree with your heel toe methods kutter. I guess living in the country we drive higher speeds more often(less gearing down on straight stretches and more on mountains) and our traffic lights are a roo or wombat(not much warning)! LOL

finding the balance with your car and yourself is very important - knowing your revs and your limits aswell.

Naturally gearing down at slower speeds you can get away with rolling in neutral - especially if you coming into lights.

But slowing down suddenly I always use both.

[zymotic]

Heel toe? What's that?

Can someone explain to me what double clutching is and what are the benefits, if any, of doing it?

[Lukas]

Drive it like you stole it!!! :uh-huh:

[Bliksem]

I also heel and toe, i used to just do it occasionally for practice but now its kinda second nature...

zymotic: its braking and rev matching when slowing down for a corner etc, you use your toe/ball of foot to apply the brakes and rev match your down shift with your heel.

well thats what i do anyway...

[mcnamg]

braking in neutral is not the safest thing to do because if you do get into an accident and take your foot off the brake then the vehicle will roll or keep moving. same goes for being rear ended. even if you dont intend to use the gear shift it into second that way even if you slip off the brakes in an accident then the car wont move as its in gear.

a friend of mine whos a cop attended an accident where a young girl was rear ended trying to turn right across a busy two lane road and she had her car in neutral as she slowed down. the car behind her rear ended her quite hard as he didnt see her braking ( was on a mobile phone the idiot) she was pushed into the oncoming traffic and is suffered some serious injuries. The police told her later that if she had put the car into second that she would not have been pushed into the oncoming traffic and would probably only have suffered minor brusing.

[FATGTS-R]

Well the method I use is usually just keep it in the gear i was in and roll to a stop using the brakes.

Sometimes I will practice the heel/toe but not usually, I usually practice the heel/toe while gearing down for corners.

When I first had my license I would shuffle all the way down the gear box when coming to a stop all of the time.

Went for a drive with a mechanic to let him see a fault and he asked why I did that, and I said I just do it to help slow down the car.

He told me even though if I kept it in the one gear and not downshifted I would increase brake wear, it was better as opposed to causing wear on synchros and the clutch as well because I would rather replace brake pads a tiny bit more often as opposed to a clutch or rebuilding the box.

I took his advice and its now second nature.

[skyline]

I always heel and toe on downshifts(If you ppls dont know how to do this watch some of the v8supercar racing with the non syncro boxes you will soon learn--mind you it does take much practice to get right)as the mechanic said you will wear out the'box if using just the box to pull up,you must ave the brakes applied an instant before downshifting as this takes the load of the box,but also assists with the brakes as they arent doing all the work.

As for what gear to be driving in you should be able to hear the car labouring if in too higher gear when cornering, if not turn down the boom box!Typically i drive using 2500 to 3000 rpm on upshifts depending on how the traffic is flowing(and i use 5th gear in traffic if its flowing well and i can read the traffic well enough) as i usually keep fairly high corner speeds(even in the 'burbs) i generally use third gear for this and get good pull out of the corners because its in the meat of boost so usually its ok,but i rarely go down as far as second.

Ive been driving our line now for 7yrs and do an occassional track day and generally drive at the track using the same or similar principals.

Regards,

SKYLINE(Kym)....

[zymotic]

Can someone explain to me what double clutching is and what are the benefits, if any, of doing it?

:confused:

[GTR-Ben]

zymotic:

Double clutching and Heel Toe are very useful for driving a car at full potential.

For instance.. come into a corner at high speed, and jam it down a gear (engine brake) this will cause you to instantly loose traction and crash due to a huge weight shift to the front wheels.

Double clutching matches the output shaft in the gearbox to the engine crank speed before putting the car into a lower gear, doing this makes for a smooth transition.

This is achived by: coming into the corner, putting your foot on the clutch and pulling the gear into neutral, releasing the clutch, reving to match, then engage the clutch and lower gear.

Now while you are doing that.. you have no control over the brakes..

This is where Heel toe or Rolling the foot comes into play.

While doing the rev matching you will have your toe on the brake and rev match with your heel. I prefer to just have half my foot on the brake and accelerator pedal, normally I find it easier.. but it's probably a little dangerous too as you can stomp the accelerator instread of the clutch

Ok.. thats my explanation, some points are probably not 100%.. and it's really hard to explain it's just something you get with practice.

First time you see it and try and do it, you go WTF! my feet can't move that fast!