[!Xoible]

Originally Posted by ho0haha

Thanks Mantis for starting this thread. Knowledge is power

oh i always add value here

Originally Posted by trauma2020

I've just started learning how to drive stick and while I have the basics down, I think my biggest problem is getting going from a stop in 1st.. I can do it slowly but I'd be pretty shaky if I had to do it on a hill or in heavy traffic.

Right now I've found the smoothest way (or only way without stalling) for me to get going so far is to release the clutch , wait for it to hit the engagement point and the car to start rolling a little bit, then i give it a little bit of gas and release the clutch all the way. Since this does take a little longer than I'd like, I was wonder if this is the correct way and I'm just not used to it yet, or if there was a better way to do it?

I watched the "gentle launch" video on page 2 of this thread and saw that the guy would give it gas and rev up to about 1000rpm and then simply just let out the clutch smoothly - kind of the opposite order of what I was doing but seems a little more straightforward. Is that a better / quicker way to get going?

Thanks

-edit: just thought of another question. I read this whole thread and a lot of the discussion was on rev matching on downshifts.... If you were slowing down to take a turn on a normal city street you wouldn't need to rev match do you? Because you are braking as you clutch in and select the lower gear, so by the time you let the clutch out you should be down to an appropriate speed for that gear at the rpms you were already going right?

but ur RPM's will be down to the idle which is less than 1k then has to go back up depending on which gear and what speed ur at. so do rev match

Originally Posted by BlueLux

I want to ask you guys for opinion about the way I downshift now:

I'm still trying to master heel-toe technique, but when I drive in the city, I tend to use my old way of shifting. Which is, for example, I'm in 4th coming to a corner, I brake, clutch in, shift into 3rd, keep braking, shift into 2nd when the speed is right, then declutch and accelerate. The reason I don't skip the 3rd is I think I reduce the work of the 2nd gear's synchro a bit, as I increase the speed of the flywheel in 3rd before going to 2nd. From 4th directly to 2nd can feel a bit rough. This way I know I'll wear off the clutch's "spring" a bit by holding it in all the time, but I guess clutching in and out of 3rd also puts a bit stress on it as well.

Do you guys think this is OK? Do I actually help the synchro at all by going into 3rd before 2nd?

hence my argument about double clutching
double clutch, u'll save ur synchros