58 replies to this topic

[holmesy]

i heal and toe quite a lot, dont really try to double de-clutch. its just a nak i picked up from the race car round the track

[86mayfair]

[this is a good video; Colin McRae on left foot braking:

I love that clip, how he can so casually have a chat while still driving hard through the forest

[Joseph-C]

Well even with a dog box you still need to rev match but you don't need to be quite so careful, you will still get the odd crunch here and there though.

And the reason for left foot braking is to shift the weight balance around in the car, for example at at speed at the entry to a corner on gravel a little dab of the brakes will shift the weight to the front wheels to counter understeer on turn in while keeping on the power. You can also use it to try and rescue yourself if you go into a corner too quickly on gravel. If you brake fairly hard while keeping your foot on the throttle it will lock the rear wheels, bring the tail out and act a bit like traction control for the front wheels so you can hopefully drive out of the corner



Timo comes on at about 1:45. As you can see he uses the clutch most of the time to save the gearbox unnecessary stress but when he needs to left foot brake he doesn't use it

That's a great video

[Ethel]

Ain't got time to read it all so apologies if it's been explained already...

When you a change gear you are locking it onto the main shaft with a sort of clutch, there are synchros that use friction to help match the rpm of the gear with the shaft, but it'll be smoother, and there'll be less wear, if the speed of the shaft and gear are more matched to start. By double-declutching you change into neutral so you can use the engine to alter the speed of the gears to better match the speed the shaft is being turned by the road wheels.

Since Minis have transfer (drop) gears adding weight to the engine side of the setup, there's more weight for the syncros to slow so it saves more wear than on other cars.

Besides, it enhances your Paddy Hopkirk impersonations

[Joseph-C]

[this is a good video; Colin McRae on left foot braking:

I love that clip, how he can so casually have a chat while still driving hard through the forest

I know, real talent, I don't think I would be able to even have a conversation with him if I was in the passenger seat

[CMXCVIII]

what Effel sed!

Double declutching is a means of equalising engine and road speed when changing down. Before the days of synchromesh gears it was the only way of equalising engine and road speed. Indeed, I have a pre-war Bentley and on very many vintage cars, if you get it wrong when changing gear, the gear lever comes back and breaks your hand!

Ethel only didn't mention one thing, and I don't think anybody else did either.

You press the clutch and move the lever to neutral [single declutching, you see]. THEN you bring the clutch up and you blip the throttle to equate the revs with the gears in neutral and the clutch engaged. That way you're speeding up the whole drive assembly. Then in the second movement, you depress the clutch again - the double declutch - and move the lever to the lower gear.

Edited by CMXCVIII, 10 May 2012 - 05:20 PM.

[zengrapefruit]

The synchro/baulk ring has gone on my third gear so I have to double-clutch.

This is one of the best videos I've seen to explain how to do it:

[zengrapefruit]

Who stole the edit button?! :S

Oh, and his truck sounds gorgeous. Crank up your bass!!

[Mini_Magic]

[Jake Didsbury]

I tend to give the engine a little blip of throttle while i engage the clutch seems to go in gear better, an engineer once told me its good practice to learn to change with out the clutch just incase it ever packs up on you you can still get home

[Jon937]

Roughly what sort of rpm to change gear clutchless? I've been able to do it a few times but found sometimes I take too long trying to engage the next gear so drop the clutch to engage.

[Guess-Works.com]

 

Think you'll be needing this... ;)

[monkey]

Haha this thread could drum up a load of business for you! If you ever get quiet start a thread "clutchless shifting is a great idea" :-P

[mab01uk]

 

 

(clutchless shifting) - Not recommended !

Edited by mab01uk, 15 August 2015 - 08:51 AM.