I want to improve my time at the tracks and what I am curious about is, how do you guys shift durning a race? Do you push the clutch to the floor, take right foot off all of the gas? Or, somewhere in-between? I watched some race videos on youtube, and a guy barely depresses the clutch pedal to shift. I have kind of tried that, not in a race, and it works without grinding the gears, but wonder if it is hard on the clutch or gears.

Im interested in learning the best way to shift when hitting the tracks or even on an auto cross course. Thanks for the help. smile.gif banana.gif

 

Not race related, but: If the clutch disengages, it doesn't matter how far you push the pedal.

 

In the vast majority of autox events, you only shift once each run.

IMO shifting is more about being consistent and having everything happen automatically and as quickly as possible. The last thing you'll want to do is be thinking about how far you depress the clutch when racing.

 

Let off the gas quickly, THEN depress the clutch to make sure the engine is in a decreasing RPM state, then shift and give it gas, then releast the clutch. This is the way to shift the quickest and avoid grinding the synchros. RPM Matching, or at least somewhere around the right RPM will be the biggest time saver. Those synchros only work so quickly, and if you force them, they grind and you miss a shift. So you gotta make sure you don't have the foot on the gas when moving the shift lever.

 

Is auto x only run over there? I've never heard of it. Over here it's 1/4 miles either on the strip/road or ring racing, which is finding a ring road that runs around the outskirts of a town and running a lap.
As far as a fast shift goes a quick dip on the clutch, without full depression, shift(I have a short shifter, I modified my original), and crack on the gas. Like the saying goes practice makes perfect.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (WRC_Accent @ Sep 23 2010, 03:53 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>I want to improve my time at the tracks and what I am curious about is, how do you guys shift durning a race? Do you push the clutch to the floor, take right foot off all of the gas? Or, somewhere in-between? I watched some race videos on youtube, and a guy barely depresses the clutch pedal to shift. I have kind of tried that, not in a race, and it works without grinding the gears, but wonder if it is hard on the clutch or gears.

Im interested in learning the best way to shift when hitting the tracks or even on an auto cross course. Thanks for the help. smile.gif banana.gif</div>

First question I need to ask is, what <u>kind</u> of race are we talking about here? Circuit, drag? In different cases, the shifting might need to be different to either preserve the car or to get as much as possible out of it in a short time.