Hey guys

This is a rather off-the-wall question, but I've been seeing lately in films the way the drivers shift and in the cockpit cam of some of the races on SPEED TV, the driver just seems to smack the clutch, shift, and take off. If I tried this with my Mach 1, I'm pretty sure it'd smack me back lol. Does this have anything to do with the throw on the clutch? I noticed this in my friend's WRX also, he just seemed to smack the clutch and shift. Maybe this being my first manual car it's just going to take time for me to adjust and learn how to shift faster? Thanks guys, know this probably sounds stupid to all of ya.

Regards,

JG

 

Are you talking about shifting without letting off the gas? Or just the same process at a really high rate of speed?

 

Hmm, it seems they let off the gas, but they just punch the clutch and shift real fast instead of pushing and slowly letting off of it. As far as not letting off the gas while shifting, that's something the dealer told me to NOT do. What's the downside?

 

The downside to "power shifting" or shifting while not letting off of the gas is that you cause severe damage to your car when you're doing it. You have to be precise and extremely fast to even pull it off succesfully, and if you're not a seasoned driver, I wouldn't even try it.

As far as what you're seeing, it's just all in how quick your feet are and how coordinated you are. The speed that you can let the clutch out is related to how much gas youre giving it. Obviously dont be gassing her while you're nowhere near out, but it's just all speed.

Clutch in - Shift - Clutch Out - Gas; in a matter of a few a second or two.

It's all practice!

 

Powershifting is one way to quicken your et's but I'm not sure hows todays cars will handle it. I still remember the first time I ever attempted to powershift. It was in a 1970 Road Runner with a Pistol Grip 4spd. Boy does your heart rate go up when you know your about to try it but once you figure it out it sure is fun. I got pretty good at it but 2/3 was tricky with such a long throw in those old cars. Also I was shifting at 5000rpm, not 6500 so it probably was abit easier then. That was in 1979.... Not sure I'd try or need to try it today in these cars... Those days are over. I never broke anything doing that but if you miss a gear, look out!!!!![sm=smiley3.gif]

 

You guys think powershifting is tough with todays short throw shifters, try shifting with one of these. I found this pick and thought it is cool to show how far shifters have come.....Yes I manged to powershift with that shifter....




[IMG]local://upfiles/64453/9B8906A07F7C40B4B85841E50F4FCD3C.jpg[/IMG]

 

I power shift by keeping my rpms, I dont go higher.

Powershifting and going much higher in the rpms instantly managed to wreck a transmission or two, though I was fast it cost me $$$

This was a 95' V6 with 145hp. I beat my fair share of GT's (94-98) and 1 girl in Sacramento with a Red 99+ GT 3 out of 5 times, her name is Lisa [8D]<=== She hates me ^_^

Its amazing how a good drive and a good aftermarket clutch can do. Now im not gloating that im the best there ever was, I got beat many times before too. There was one 01' V6 guy that I could never beat, he was even quicker than I was with shifting. He did miss a gear once while powershifting and it sounded BAD!!!

 

Some of these race trannys are quite complex.

Have a video somwhere of this guy driving a wicked car and simply batting at his shifter, up one, down one, down one...

The car was super-fast and there was a ultra high pitched whine from the tranny.

Someone mentioned it was "air" driven or something.

In the little clip he passes 38 other cars as he laps the field.

I'll have to find that vid.

Wild.

SOHC

 

How fast you can work the clutch is more in relation with how well you know your car. For example, after a half a year of having my mustang, I know exactly where my clutch engages, so I subconciously kick it to exactly where it needs to be, while starting to shift before it even gets there, so that just as it disengages im pulling it out of gear and into the next, and then dump it while flooring. Its hard to properly explain because all of this is happening in a half a second. You need to watch someone doing it to properly understand.

I do not powershift my T45. However, I shift fast enough and dont let off all the way, that my RPM's do not drop when I floor it as the clutch is coming back out.

 

Some of these guys that seem to be slapping, or just pushing the shifters in race cars, have sequential gearboxes(some of which are air shifted). It has a tumbler or drum inside in some of them, and by simply pushing up or down on the stick, it causes the tranny to shift up or down, depending on which way you push it, they're VERY fast shifting gears, and they are also VERY expensive trannys. They generally don't require the use of a clutch to shift gears, as it's handled inside the tranny quite rapidly, so the driver simply keeps the pedal down and taps the shifter, though they will often use the clutch and let out on the gas downshifting to reduce the amount of abuse the tranny takes. What use is it to shift 0.3 seconds quicker than everyone else, if your tranny breaks and you can't finish the race?