I've been reading some stuff on standardshift.com (I visit that site once in a while; it helped me learn to drive my car), and I would say I'm pretty good at driving my car. But on that site there are all these posts about double-clutching when downshifting and upshifting, "blipping the throttle", some heel and toe technique, & rev matching. I tried double-clutching, and can do it now,but what exactly is the point of it? Also, am I messing up my clutch or other components by not using these techniques?

 

double clutching was required to be used before the invention of synchros.

it is not required and is not needed. nor will it hurt if you do so.

if you need further details on why double clutching was used back then.. or why some people still do it.. just ask, but you can usually find that information online.

 

To further explain, double clutching was used to force your transmission to match the speed of the engine. Nowadays the synchros speed up the transmission for you.

DOUBLE CLUTCHING IS BAD. You dont need it and you will wear out your clutch system twice as fast because you are using it twice per shift instead of once.

You should rev-match to as that causes less wear, and heel-toeing is a way to rev-match while braking. (Race technique) Heel-toeing will eventually be a natural evolution to rev-matching and its not that hard once you get the hang of it.

 

For a beginner, you do not need to know heel-toe shifting, double clutching, or rev-matching. (in the sense where you blip the throttle before releasing the clutch to bring it up the 200-300 rpm it fell during shift).

The only time I double clutch, is when I drive our 81 Ford Bronco. I actually triple even quadruple clutch on that baby

 

When I lost my second and third syncro in my 94 turbo civic, i double clutched. Then I put a new tranny in.. but it was fun tryin to race double clutching those gears. =D

--Dennis

 

To expound on this, DOUBLE CLUCHING IS BAD FOR ANOTHER REASON TOO, which is that when most folks are learning, they nail their syncros pretty hard a few times, often tearing them up badly. I learned how to double cluch correctly because it was necessary way long ago when I had an old british car with a crashbox. Today there is simply no point whatsoever for the double clutch. Rev matching is good though.

 

I wouldn't try to learn heel-toe braking/shifting either unless you're somewhere with light or no traffic. Since you're essentially using the brake and throttle with the same foot at the same time, there's lots of potential for screw ups while figuring it out!

Most of the techniques you described are race/advanced driving techniques which are more use on the track than the road.

 

Agree on the above heel/toe comment too, now that i think about it. Lots of potential for screw-up and bad things happening. If you have an old beater (or someone elses car), and a twisty mountain road with zero traffic, have at it. Otherwise don't worry about it or go take a racing course -- you'll find it the best money you ever spent in your life.

 

Heel-toe? You're watching too much Initial D. Just kidding. If you wanna heel-toe in action, watch those japanese racing videos on youtube, like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2O7rlLLKX8U search some exotic card and "battle." heel toe is mainly a racing thing though so you don't need to know unless you're actually planning on using it. just like "drafting."

I only thing I find useful are blipping the throttle and rev matching. Well you're actually blipping the throttle TO rev match so your car will shift smoothly when you go down a gear instead of letting the tranny catch and having a clunky ride.

 

you should double clutch instead of granny shifting or dom toretto will make fun of you in front of the crowd

 

rofl, I was waiting for someone to say that :D

 

So...heel toe isn't the same as camel toe?

 

While double clutching is not technically necessary, once you learn how to do it perfectly it can get the transmission going faster than the synchros. It's basically more of a racing technique. It may seem like it will take more time to do a double-clutch downshift, but like I said, once you master it, it's really fast. When you see someone who knows how to do it right, you hardly even notice that they're doing it.

EDIT: A couple of vids to illustrate my point.

http://www.teamsmr.com/movies/Footbox%20Small.wmv

http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...&q=walter+rohl

 

...

 

double clutching is a sure fire way to increase your 1/4 mile time.