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eslai · 06-20-2005, 03:46 PM

Matching Revs:

When downshifting, the idea is to match your engine's RPMs with the tranny's, so to speak. This avoids the situation where you downshift and get a bunch of engine braking, which upsets the car's balance, which is not good when you're on the limits of tire adhesion and/or setting up for a turn.

It also puts less wear on your tranny if you do it right.

In order to do this, you have to give the car some gas while you're downshifting. This is done by tapping, or "blipping" the throttle.

When you're first starting to learn how to heel-toe downshift, you should first practice rev-matched downshifts. This keeps the brake pedal out of the whole equation. Basically, you'd be coasting along in a high gear, you'd take it into neutral, leave your foot on the clutch and immediately blip the throttle to get the engine RPMs up to speed, then put it into the lower gear and release the clutch.

Eventually you get that all smooth and quick, then you can start worrying about doing it under braking.

A couple of resources I found on the web just now:

http://www.edmunds.com/ownership/howto/articles/45792/article.html
http://www.ferrariclub.com/faq/heeltoe.html

You want to be careful when doing this as you don't want to over-rev the engine, of course. if you're just dorking around and don't really need to race the car, be gentle while learning. Well, be gentle regardless, I guess what I mean is don't go all crazy thinking you have to learn this stuff and get into second gear at 70 MPH or anything.

Learn as best as you can what RPM equates to what speed in each gear. For instance, on my 987 six-speed, second-gear is pretty easy to work out--the most significant digit is the same for RPM and MPH, pretty much. At 40 MPH, I know I need to be around 4000 RPM when I downshift, etc.

06-20-2005, 03:46 PM	#11
eslai Registered User Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: San Diego, CA Posts: 1,052	Matching Revs: When downshifting, the idea is to match your engine's RPMs with the tranny's, so to speak. This avoids the situation where you downshift and get a bunch of engine braking, which upsets the car's balance, which is not good when you're on the limits of tire adhesion and/or setting up for a turn. It also puts less wear on your tranny if you do it right. In order to do this, you have to give the car some gas while you're downshifting. This is done by tapping, or "blipping" the throttle. When you're first starting to learn how to heel-toe downshift, you should first practice rev-matched downshifts. This keeps the brake pedal out of the whole equation. Basically, you'd be coasting along in a high gear, you'd take it into neutral, leave your foot on the clutch and immediately blip the throttle to get the engine RPMs up to speed, then put it into the lower gear and release the clutch. Eventually you get that all smooth and quick, then you can start worrying about doing it under braking. A couple of resources I found on the web just now: http://www.edmunds.com/ownership/howto/articles/45792/article.html http://www.ferrariclub.com/faq/heeltoe.html You want to be careful when doing this as you don't want to over-rev the engine, of course. if you're just dorking around and don't really need to race the car, be gentle while learning. Well, be gentle regardless, I guess what I mean is don't go all crazy thinking you have to learn this stuff and get into second gear at 70 MPH or anything. Learn as best as you can what RPM equates to what speed in each gear. For instance, on my 987 six-speed, second-gear is pretty easy to work out--the most significant digit is the same for RPM and MPH, pretty much. At 40 MPH, I know I need to be around 4000 RPM when I downshift, etc. Last edited by eslai; 06-20-2005 at 03:48 PM.