Manual Transmissions 101 (Part 3)

From someone who has been driving sticks for quite a bit of time, I have a few words of warning for you. If you master these next steps, it’s highly unlikely you’ll ever buy a performance car again with an automatic. Having earned the right to be in the elite company of manual transmission pro’s, you will not want to step down. Some think it is because you can now extract all of the performance potential out of the car, and don’t need the car to think for you. For me, it’s just plain fun to do it myself, and know that I’ve perfected the frantic Swing Dance that exists between a steering wheel, three pedals, a shifter, and my body. Exerting control, instinctively acting, and reaching motoring heaven make all of the practice worth it.

1. What do you mean double clutch? There is only one clutch pedal!
Inside your transmission are components called synchronizer (synchros for short). Their job is to match gear speeds, so when you shift from first to second for instance, the difference in gear RPM doesn’t cause the gears to grind. While this is a very simplified way to explain their function, it is all that is needed to know why we double clutch. Each time you shift, you move synchros around, and like any mechanical part, the more work you make them do, the quicker the wear out.

So why the transmission lesson? In the days before synchros, double clutching was the only way to shift a transmission down without grinding gears. Now that we have synchros, double clutching isn’t anywhere near as important as it once was, but it is still useful. When selecting first gear from a roll (not common, but it happens), there is usually along pause as you push the shifter into first before it goes in. This is because the synchro is working to match the speeds of the gears. When you double clutch correctly, you match the gear speeds, so the synchro has no work to do. End result is that the transmission selects the gear the second you want it to. While it’s not really a deal breaking skill, it falls in line with being able to exert total control and dominance over your car, and hey, who doesn’t like that?

Double clutching is like rev matching, except that you rev the engine while the shifter is in neutral and the clutch is out. By doing this, increasing engine RPM’s also increases the RPM’s internally in the transmission, thus reducing the work the synchro has to do. Combining the classroom with the car, here are the steps.

Back on our fictional road going 40mph in 5th gear, clutch in, select neutral, clutch out, blip the throttle for 3,000 RPM, select 3rd, clutch out. I highly recommend sitting in your driveway with the car off, and practice the motion quite a few times. That extra step of releasing the clutch in neutral takes some time in ingrain in your muscle memory. The first time you nail a downshift and the shifter slots into gear without a pause, hesitation and with lower effort, you’ll smile. Or, if you are nursing an old gearbox with work out synchros, you can downshift again without a huge CCCRRRRUUUNCH.

2. Heel and toeing? What ancient Shaolin magic makes that possible?

Traditional way to heel and toe, with the right foot operating both pedals

Traditional way to heel and toe. This way is quite difficult.

Heel and toeing is the art of braking, while rev matching or double clutching. That’s right, stepping on the brake, slowing down, then downshifting. This requires you to use all three pedals at the same time. Being proficient at this allows you to come up to a turn at a higher rate of speed, brake, and then select a lower gear that is appropriate for laying down the most power on corner exit. Sounds pretty boy racer, but it’s also nice when exiting the freeway, and turning onto city streets.

It’s all about footwork here, but the payoff is worth all of the frustration. In the pure sense of heel and toeing (or the manner you’ll be forced with if you have narrow or small feet), you’ll use the brake pedal with the ball of your right foot, then swing your heel over to the right, and then push your heel down to blip the RPM’s up for your downshift. This method takes a large amount of people to perfect, as the second they swing their heel over to the gas, they change the brake pressure, either increasing or decreasing their stopping distance.

With this method, just rock your foot to the right, and you'll blip the gas.

With this method, just rock your foot to the right, and you'll blip the gas.

Many people prefer the second method. Place your big toe and second toe on the brake pedal, and then rock your foot over so your pinkie toe makes contact with the gas pedal. As long as you can rock your foot over to blip the RPM’s up, mission accomplished.

ProTip: When heel and toeing, the blip you need to get the RPM’s in the right spot for the gear are going to be lower than if you were simply rev matching without being on the brakes. Think it through fully. Bingo. You’re on the brakes, slowing the car down, so simply saying “I’m going 40mph and I want 3rd gears, that’s 3,000RPM,” wont work. Unless you blip to 3,000 RPM and pull the clutch out as you are braking through 40mph, you’ll over shoot. Practice practice practice, and it will become a lot more intuitive. Drivers who have good feel and instinct, and rely less on the tachometer and more on sensation will get this down sooner.

Final Notes:
Welcome to the club! If you master all the skills I’ve described in parts one, two and three, you’re in rare company. Unless you friends with a lot of car enthusiasts, it’s doubtful you’ll come across another manual driver who knows how to do half of what you can. You should be proud of yourself, as that’s a lot of hard work and practice!

I still remember the first time I came at a turn, climbed on the brakes, and heel and toe’d down two gears, ran a perfect driving line, and powered out. That sense of satisfaction doesn’t come along easily at all, but it’s always the high hanging fruit that is the sweetest reward. Let 95% of other drivers take the low hanging fruit of automatic transmissions, while you practice how to heel and toe on your morning commute. Trust me, driving will become fun again.

-KF

April 20, 2009 | Brendan Dolan | Tags: , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Manual Transmissions 101 (Part 2)

Well look at you! If you are back for more, that’s because you’ve learned the basics of how to get around in a stick, and you want to do better. Like any challenge in life, mastering the art brings a lot of personal satisfaction, and by time you learn the skills here, you’ll be impressed with yourself.

I’m going to cover a few basics about going from a student, to a competent driver. First thing to cover is how to get the car moving from a dead stop a bit quicker.

1. I’m tired of getting honked at. I want to leave stoplights faster!
Now that you’ve memorized the spot where the clutch makes the car move forward, we can add another two factors. Start by moving the clutch to the point where the car starts to move. That spot is called the friction point. Usually there is 2-3” of pedal movement till the car starts moving. Practice moving the pedal to the friction point quickly, and then as usual, move the clutch pedal nice and slowly till the car starts to roll. Trick here is only moving it quickly to the friction point, not quickly through it. If you move the pedal quickly through it, you’ll stall the car.

The next stop in moving faster is adding a little bit of gas right after the clutch passes the friction point. It’s not going to be a lot, but just a little extra juice to keep you from stalling. Take a peek at the tachometer while you are starting with a little gas. You never want to see the RPM’s higher than 1,500 when starting. Any more than that, and you’ll put more wear on your clutch.

With added gas, you can move the clutch through the friction point just a little bit more rapidly. If you move it too fast, you’ll stall, but it can cut the time you are moving the clutch pedal by half.

Note: Only start accelerating once the clutch pedal is all the way out. If you add too much gas too soon, you’ll wear the clutch out quickly.

2. I can’t start on a hill without stalling!
Don’t beat yourself up too much here. I’ve been driving stick since I was 13, and I still stall my car on a hill every now and again. It’s fairly uncommon to do so, but as anyone who has driven on Sacramento Street in San Francisco will tell you, it happens. Here are the basics to avoiding this situation.

Go to your favorite empty lot, and find an incline. It can be a driveway enterance, the front side of a speedbump, or anything that makes your car want to roll back. Once you’ve found a spot that makes your car roll back, get ready to have some fun!

Set the handbrake, and pull it up enough till the car wont roll back when you take your foot off the brake. Start the car like normal, and select first gear. With the handbrake still up, slowly pull the clutch out till you feel the car want to move. Push the release button on the handbrake and hold it in. As you slowly let the handbrake down, slowly add gas and release the clutch. This slow smooth motion should result in the handbrake releasing just as the car starts to move forward.

Since you are on a hill, you’ll need more gas to start from a stop without stalling, so it is ok to use up to 2,000 RPM while starting. Practice this until you can do it without stalling the car, or letting the engine RPM’s go over 2,000.

ProTip: If you are coming to a stop sign at the top of a steep hill, you can time everything to accomplish a start without using the handbrake. As you are rolling to a stop with the clutch in, select first before you come to a stop. Right before the car fully stops, release the clutch and add gas.

If for some reason you make a mistake doing this, just apply the brakes, put the clutch in, and come to a stop. Once you are stopped, just use the handbrake like normal.

3. I want to downshift fast and smooth!
The purpose of rev matching is to make quick, accurate, and smooth downshifts. Rather than making a slow shift, and feeling the slight jerk as you pull the clutch out, you’ll get the car in the gear you want without any fuss. This is step one in driving like a pro. Since you have been driving long enough to know what gear works at what speed, we will improve on the speed of the shift, and the accuracy of your shift. These are the fundamentals of “rev matching:”

If you are driving along at 40mph in 5th gear, you will be spinning the engine at a very low RPM. Lets say you want to accelerate up to 60mph quickly, but when you hit the gas, the car is slow to respond. What you want to do is downshift into 3rd gear. The typical way to do this is to clutch in, select 3rd, slowly let the clutch out, and then accelerate. Next time you are out driving, do this a few times to see what engine RPM climbs to. This difference in engine RPM between the two gears is what you need to start remembering, as rather than using the clutch to pull the engine RPM’s up, you’ll start using the gas pedal to do so.

Back on our fictional road, we are going 40mph in 5th gear. Engine is spinning at 1,200 RPM, and we want 3rd gear. We also know that in 3rd gear, the engine should be spinning at 3,000 RPM. Knowing this, the steps are: Clutch in, select 3rd gear, using the gas pedal, rev the engine to 3,000 RPM, let the clutch out. With enough practice, this makes the shift happen a lot quicker, and a lot smoother.

Now, revving the engine to 3,000 RPM is a lot easier than most people think. Most people want to slowly rev the engine up to get it to hold exactly at 3,000, then they release the clutch. Easiest way to do it is to quickly hit the accelerator down near the floor, release it, and then pull the clutch out when the RPM’s fall down through 3,000. With a lot of practice, you’ll learn how much and how far to hit the gas to get the RPM exactly where you want them. This action is called “blipping” the throttle; tap the gas, send the RPM’s up, and then pull the clutch as they fall down to the RPM you want.

When you are driving from now on, pay attention to how much the RPM’s change with each shift. Once you remember the difference, you know how many RPM’s to add when you want to shift down.

ProTip: Once you can comfortably shift quick, and do so comfortably, start revving the engine as you are moving the shifter. You speed the process up quite a bit, which helps when you want to pass.

Final Notes:
Mastering these techniques will put you well on your way to becoming a better driver. Most stick drivers haven’t heard about rev matching, have no clue how to accomplish it, and lack finesse. Becoming proficient not only is easier of the mechanical systems of your car, but also connects you more with the car. The feeling of control, knowing you can get the car in the gear you want perfectly gives you a sense of satisfaction that is hard to match.

Check part three for the final techniques: Double clutching, and heel and toeing.

-KF

| Brendan Dolan | Tags: , , , , | 1 Comment »