Enough about launching, now to the shifting.

How much throttle are you folks that consider yourself successful and "fast" giving during the shift? Are you letting off completely as you shift? freezing your throttle position for the shift? flooring it?

I ask because I'm certain my strip times were hurt by the stock clutch being very worn. I just caught rubber going into 2nd gear for the first time ever - and that's since the new clutch. I wasn't flooring it or anything, but it was a damned aggressive shift - shocked me it was so new to me.

Any advice/input/ideas on shifting technique appreciated here!

 

I always release the throttle during a shift. But at one time I used to keep it WOT during the races. Bad thing is that just one slow shift and you can say bye bye to the valvetrain. Your shift is only as fast as the slowest moving part. Train yourself to bump the clutch enough to get it into gear, be able to start your gear shift move right as you start to push the clutch pedal. Learn to use different elbow/hand positions to get a set routing for each different gear. If you want a quicker shift try sitting in a position that allows you to hit the end of the pedal movement without having to use your ankle. Less moving parts is a key. Also try to keep your elbow lower then your hand. This means you will move your elbow down instead of just your whole arm backwards.

Only other tip I can give you is, just relax and dont try too hard during a shift. That is when you mess up.

 

good advice. It you try to shift fast, you will mess up.

 

A few tips:

1. Know exactly where to shift in each gear. Not every gear will have the same shift point. You'll need a dyno readout as well as your gear ratio to calculate the precise shift point for each gear, but this seems to be outside the scope of this question. So just pick your shift point.

2. When you hit the shift point, you can hit the clutch and leave the throttle floored, lift off the throttle some, or lift off the throttle completely. If you floor the throttle, you'll most likely bounce into the rev limiter. This is not good, and try to avoid it. If you lift off the throttle completely, the revs may drop too much for the next gear. You'll have to keep a little pressure on the throttle, or if you do lift completely, you have to do it very quickly. It's like you're pumping the throttle. You'll have to experiment with what works for you.

3. Make sure that the clutch is depressed all the way before you start moving the gearshift. Doing so is a good way to fry your synchronizers.

4. Likewise, make sure you're in gear and stop moving the shifter before you engage the clutch. Doing so is also not good for the synchros.

5. How your throttle is and how quickly you release the clutch will affect your ability to power down. Ideally, you want to hold the revs where when you release the clutch, the motor will not bounce up or down. This is where the revs would be if you were in gear. Doing this will help the clutch engagement and with the weight distribution.

If you rev too high and dump the clutch, you'll spin or experience wheelp hop. If you rev too low, the motor will bog after the shift as the motor drags the tyres. You have to get it just right.

6. After you have released the clutch, you can open the throttle wide smoothly and progressively. Some people prefer to slip the clutch and opening the throttle at the same time. It's good, but it's also hard on your clutch.


In practise, shifting is a whole lot easier than launching. You do it quickly, but smoothly. Remember that smooth is fast. Also, don't force the shifter into gear. Slide it in the way it's meant to go in. Smooth is fast. Fast is smooth.

A good tip for practising your shifting:

a) Put both hands on the steering wheel while in gear.
b) Push the clutch all the way to the floor while still keeping both hands on the wheel.
c) Now shift.
d) Put your hand back on the steering wheel.
e) Now release the clutch and ease on the throttle.

This is a good way to make sure that you don't grind gears. Only one body move at any given time, and the other part won't start moving you've completed the previous movement.

It's also good practise. You should try to maximise the time that you have both hands on the wheel for steering corrections.

 

just powershift. Do IT!

 

Actually this is wrong. If your at WOT and you over rev the rpms will just keep going because the rev limiter is only there while the motor has a load on it. If your out of gear there is NO LOAD at all which means you can send the rpms thru the roof and end up floating the valves.

I have seen guys do this with the VW/Audi, one of them missed the gear during a WOT shift. I have also seen a vw down shift into 2nd gear at 105 mph and end up putting the valves thru the pistons.

So dont count on the rev limiter from saving your *** when you miss that WOT power shift. The results are not so pretty and dont expect any one to warranty it since the ecu will record the rpms.

 

WTF - is this true? No fuel-cut w/o load???

 

I wrote up a long post, but my ISP ate it

So here's the recap:

* There are 2 types of overrev:

1. fuel-fed - give the motor a lot of fuel and it will rev itself to infinity. Eventually the pistons will meet the valves and all that internal friction and cylinder pressure will do the motor in.

2. mechanical - this is the type that Audi2ptzero was talking about. The motor isn't getting any fuel because the fuel cutoff will kick in, but the inertia of the moving car will turn the gears, which in turn turns the motor. The motor isn't powerful enough to stop the car, so the motor must rev up to match engine speed to road speed, even devoid of fuel.

So #2 will destroy your motor. You can fix #1 by putting a fuel cutoff on it. It will only let you rev up so high. But if you throw it into too low a gear, nothing will save you.


And it's very difficult for the computer to sense how much of a load the engine has on it. It can be only be approximated. Yo can measure boost pressure, and fuel consumption, and throttle position, but you won't be able to measure exactly the load that is demanded of the engine.

If you want to test it out, it's very easy. Put the car in neutral, and put a brick on the accelerator. See if it has a fuel cutoff when there's no load on it or not

I've done the brick test before; not on my Evo though

 

try to grab the shift knob like an egg shell to perform a smooth shift.

 

Nice work, dolphin...only 3 years late!

I powershift at the drag strip and auto-x but do normal full-lift quick shifts on the road course.

 

The evo does have a no load rev limit.

 

so if i powershift, and keep the throttle on the floor, it'll still bounce off my rev limiter for example at 8000 while i kick the clutch? cuz if it doesn't hit the rev limiter and goes straight through to 9000...then i dont feel so safe lol

 

No, it should not hit your rev limiter unless you shift at the rev limiter. When you powershift, it's lightning fast, so the revs do not have time to rise - that's the whole point...

 

I powershift at the dragstrip. If you are fast enought at it, it feels like butter! Most cars will do it without hesitating if you are very "positive" with it. I have driven numerous cars that drivers shifted normally, and was able to pick up consistent .25 seconds off the quarter mile time.

 

Ya it does, I tried it to make sure