Hey guys, i have been driving manual for about 1 and a half months. I got rev matching down, and I can heel toe fairly well. I learned how to drive manual from my dad but he didn't even know what rev matching was so I'm learning this stuff on my own. My question is, how do you downshift to make a right turn or to get to a stop? What I do is for a stop, I will either heel toe all the way to 2nd going through each gear and then neutral before the stop, and i do the same for 90 degree right turns except I don't put it in neutral obviously. Sometimes for a stop I'll leave it in gear and put it in neutral before stalling. I searched on google amd saw a lot of people dowm shift to a stop, and say they always use rev matching (i do as well). However I dont understand what they are doing. Do you brake, downshift revmatch, brake, downshift revmatch?

 

I've driving manual transmissions for over 40 years from big trucks to racing motocross and evos.

If you're going to downshift for a turn you defiantly want to do it before you enter it not during or after. As far as downshifting at a red light or for traffic look far enough ahead to figure out if you actually will need to stop. If you can just coast in gear and not stop it's more efficient and you can get into the proper gear as the light changes or traffic starts moving. As far as downshifting when you know your going to stop there's no need to do it. You're not driving a tractor trailer and in general you should be using the engine to accelerate not to brake, I just leave it in the gear I'm in then disengage the clutch and go into neutral when I get close to idle RPM.

 

If you know you're coming to a complete stop use your brakes. If you want to heel-toe you can but only if you want the extra practice. Just be aware this my get you extra unwanted attention from the officer that may be at the intersection too. If you're coming up to a light that you think will change by the time you get there rev matching is fine. Rev-matching is used to keep the car balanced while braking (not locking up the tires) as you're downshifting to the correct gear for maximum acceleration for the exit of a corner. For performance driving/ racing you should never use the engine to slow the car. There are always exceptions to this rule for daily driving like if you are worried you'll over heat your brakes for whatever reason (towing, descending a mountain and not wanting a ticket). By the way great job on teaching yourself to heel-toe! I know too many people that think they can drive stick fast and don't know or want to heel-toe.
As far as how to do it there are many driving books out there one of the best I've read is called "Speed Secrets" By Ross Bentley Book one has a great illustration on the correct way to heel-toe. Other than that Racing schools or High Performance Driving Education, HPDE at your local track will be a great way for you to learn in a controlled environment. Good luck to you!

 

Curious: true heel-and-toe or side-of-foot/side-of-foot?

 

I always look at it like this... Brake pads are much cheaper than syncros or rebuilds... I can downshift and i have been doing it for years, but I really need to stop when it comes to everyday driving..

 

Rule of thumb: no pedals in a turn. You want to do all of your braking before your enter a turn, and don't get on the gas until you're coming out of the turn.

As far as stopping goes... personally, I just put the car in neutral and coast in to a stop until I need to gently push the brakes. Some people would argue that I can't move forward fast enough if someone is coming up to me too fast. So, what this means is that if you do this you need to be aware of whats behind you, and be ready to put the car back in gear if needed.

 

Awesome! Thanks for all the replies, now I'm sure I've been doing this right. And I always have my gear engaged before turning and power through the turn. Another quick question, do you guys go though all the gears before going to a turn. Say you are in 5th gear taking a 2nd gear turn. Go though all the gears, or brake and skip. I keep hearing that it saves syncros to go though each but that it doesn't really matter.

I personally use side of foot.

 

For you guys that coast all the time; we're you taught to do this or do you just choose to do it? I'm from the UK and I pretty sure that coasting is an immediate driving test fail.

 

I have big feet so it really all depends on the car I'm driving on how I need to rev-match. The main thing on the track is to be able to threshold brake as consistently and smoothly as possible. The blip itself is just done however its most comfortable for you to get in to gear without upsetting the balance of the car or loosing needed brake pressure. Its rare but sometimes I even left-foot brake and downshift without the clutch yet I still blip the throttle between neutral and whatever gear I need.

 

Unfortunately that is part of the reason I think average driver in Europe is better trained in my opinion than the average driver in the states. In the racing schools I've taken I've learned that you should either be accelerating, decelerating, or maintaining your speed, but never coasting. I've always enjoyed driving go karts and dune buggies so I passed my driving test very easily. It was so long ago I don't even remember it being mentioned. I do know a lot of people that coast so I don't think the subject is covered here.

 

When you say coast do you mean putting it in neutral and then braking? Is leaving it in gear and putting it in neutral before stalling considered coasting?

 

you do not downshift while turning.
stop complicating your driving.

you're not going faster.
you are only giving yourself errors and killing your car.

 

Well if I'm going at 45mph take a turn at 15mph, into a street that is 50mph, how is downshifting not necessary? You are trying to go faster after the turn. And I don't downshift during the turn I do it before the turn. The reason I made this is because I don't know what is right and what is wrong. My parents showed me to drive but they didn't learn about rev matching or about being in gear when you take a turn. Basically the only information I use my parents taught me was getting it out of first.

 

When I'm tootling around on the street, being lazy, or in the mood to lose, I agree.

When I'm trail-braking deep, I shift while turning quite often.

YMMV

 

Does that mean you take sharp turns in 4th and 5th gear? I still consider myself new to manual so I can't say I get it 100% and the point for me is to have good driving habits and doing things right. Last time I was going trying to accelerate slowly while in 5th gear the car didn't really like it, so I'm not understanding how you guys are turning without downshifting. If i try that the car starts to shake unless i put it in a lower gear.