[NickCats]

In my quest to become a better driver, I am about half way through Skip Barber’s “Going Faster – Mastering the Art of Race Driving”. I am currently reading the chapter about downshifting, and the book mentioned that in a race car you should put the clutch in, shift to neutral, let the clutch out, blip the throttle, put the clutch in, shift into gear, and let the clutch out when downshifting ( double clutching ).

It then goes on to discuss not shifting into neutral between shifts, and blipping the gas while the clutch is depressed between gears. It mentions that the blip is more effective if you shift into neutral and release the clutch rather then just depressing the clutch.

I am sure they are talking about race cars, but I would like to practice this during daily driving to be more adept when and if I ever get the chance to race. My question is with our cars is there any advantage to letting the clutch out in neutral when blipping the gas or is simply blipping the gas with the clutch depressed sufficient ?

From page 97 :

When the engine isn’t directly connected to the input shaft of the transmission, which would be the case if you let the clutch out, the blip isn’t as effective at speeding up the input shaft. There is some drag going on between the motor and the input shaft, and a blip, even with the clutch depressed, will speed up the shaft some. The blip is much more effective, however, if you positively connect the engine and input shaft by letting the clutch back out in neutral.

Hope this makes sense…

Thanks !

Nick