{"id":6867,"date":"2017-10-23T04:35:33","date_gmt":"2017-10-23T11:35:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/?p=6867"},"modified":"2017-09-03T11:41:07","modified_gmt":"2017-09-03T18:41:07","slug":"should-i-skip-gears-when-downshifting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/should-i-skip-gears-when-downshifting\/","title":{"rendered":"Q: Should I skip gears when downshifting?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Q<\/strong>: “Following up with a question on Heel & Toe that was asked recently. My question is about downshifting through a corner and the correct timing. My example is a corner where you begin braking from 5th<\/sup> gear and want to exit in 3rd<\/sup>.\u00a0 My current method is brake, clutch, shift into 3rd<\/sup>, release braking, blip, release clutch and accelerate out of the corner, never having used 4th<\/sup> gear.\u00a0I have noticed in car videos of drivers, in the same corner, rowing through 4th<\/sup> gear and finally into 3rd<\/sup>.\u00a0There are also multiple blips involved.\u00a0You can also hear multiple blips listening to cars while standing as a spectator at the same corner.\u00a0This seems to me a lot of extra work when a lot of concentration is need for cornering.”<\/p>\n

A<\/strong>: The quick and short answer is you\u2019re \u201cskip shifting,\u201d and it\u2019s something I recommend – once someone is good enough with heel & toe and timing downshifts. Some drivers don\u2019t like to do this because it\u2019s harder for them to get the right timing and rhythm. Also, some cars make this more difficult, as well.<\/p>\n

Obviously, a car with a sequential gearbox does not allow this, because you have to go through all the gears in sequence. Depending on the video or the cars you\u2019re watching from the side of the track, that might be the case.<\/p>\n

Now, I want to go back to how you described your approach to the corner, and specifically what you\u2019re doing with the brakes, clutch and throttle. You said, \u201c\u2026brake, clutch, shift into 3rd<\/sup>, release braking<\/em>, blip, release clutch and accelerate out of the corner\u2026\u201d I italicized the \u201crelease braking\u201d in your statement. If that description is accurate, then you\u2019re not heel & toeing, and what you\u2019re doing is braking, releasing the brakes to blip the throttle, and letting the clutch out while turning into the corner. That can be dangerous. If you release the clutch and engage the lower gear while turning, and the matching of revs is not perfect, you\u2019ll upset the balance of the car \u2013 exactly when it needs to be balanced (while entering the corner). If you\u2019ve ever popped your foot off the clutch while turning and had the car lurch into a spin (or near spin), then you know what I\u2019m talking about.<\/p>\n

You would be waaaaaaaay better off heel & toeing through the brake zone, releasing the clutch before every turning into the corner. That means working the brake and gas pedals at the same time to blip the throttle while maintaining accurate pressure on the brakes. In fact, that is what heel & toe is.<\/p>\n

You make a good point about concentrating on cornering as you enter the corner, and that\u2019s why we heel & toe \u2013 to get the car into the proper gear for the corner before we turn in. And that means having that downshift completed entirely, with the gear engaged with the foot off the clutch before ever turning the steering wheel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Q: “Following up with a question on Heel & Toe that was asked recently. My question is about downshifting through a corner and the correct timing. My example is a corner where you begin braking from 5th gear and want to exit in 3rd.\u00a0 My current method is brake, clutch, shift into 3rd, release braking, blip, release clutch and accelerate out of the corner, never having used 4th gear.\u00a0I have noticed in car videos of drivers, in the same corner, rowing through 4th gear and finally into 3rd.\u00a0There are also multiple blips involved.\u00a0You can also hear multiple blips listening to cars while standing as a spectator at the same corner.\u00a0This seems to me a lot of extra work when a lot of concentration is need for cornering.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ask-ross"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6867","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6867"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6867\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6871,"href":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6867\/revisions\/6871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/speedsecrets.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}