Hi, I seem to have mastered this technique in the uncle jack TR-4 race car
(which is a loose recreation of one of the factory rallye cars). The setup is
not entirely stock. We've got a TR-6 power brake master cylinder and booster
to get a dual brake system that is easily compatible with the car. I think
we're using the brake pedal out of a TR-6 as well (maybe uncle jack can
enlighten us). The gas pedal has been widened with the addition of a plate
welded to the side next to the brake pedal. My legs are shorter than uncle
jack's, so they are straight enough to be able to press the brake and then roll
my foot to the right to blip the gas. Uncle jack's legs are long enough that
they are splayed out too much for this to work for him. I have to pump the
brakes once or twice before most corners to get the brake pedal high enough for
this to work. In a previous race car, uncle jack made a gas pedal that
actually "hooked" under the brake. It looked like the letter J. This allowed
him to actually use his heel to do the blip.
It took me a while to get good at this. The key for me was practice, practice,
practice. I do this in every street car with a manual transmission that I
can. I did this in my beetle, my RX-7, and now my Miata. I do this for two
reasons: 1. Once you get used to doing this, it is REALLY fun! 2. I want to
keep in practice for racing. I started out without the brake, just trying it
on downshifts. Actually, under braking I usually don't do a double clutch, I
shift with the clutch pushed in (thanks for those synchros) and then blip the
gas as I'm letting out the clutch. Especially in racing, I don't take the time
for the blip in neutral.
Here's my suggestion on how to learn this technique. I'm no expert, so there
are probably better ways. Start out doing this on the street, NOT under racing
conditions. Work on doing this on downshifts without the brake. On the
downshift, push in the clutch, put the car in neutral between the gears you are
shifting to (ie - between 4th and 3rd or 3rd and 2nd), release the clutch and
stab the gas, push the clutch back in, put the car in the lower gear, and
release the clutch. If you've done it right, it shouldn't jerk the car. It
takes a while to get this smooth, but once you get the feel for this it is
pretty fun. This is definitely a "feel" thing, but once you master it in one
car the next one is pretty quick. Another thing you can try after you've got
this pretty much down is skip the clutch. Drop it in neutral (you need to let
off the gas some but not completely for it to let you drop it to neutral), blip
the gas, and if you've got the revs right, it will drop right into the lower
gear. You need to put slight pressure on the gear shift lever pushing it
toward the lower gear.
Once you are comfortable with this, try it while you are braking for
stoplights. You need for your brake pedal to be higher than your gas pedal
while depressed. When pushing the brake, you want your foot offset to the
right or turned so that your toe is pointed toward the gas (either
position...). While pushing the brake, roll your foot to the right (flexing
your ankle) to blip the gas. The clutching is as described above. You'll find
that after you've got the feel for doing this without the brake, you'll pick up
on doing this while braking pretty quickly. In a racing situation, I consider
it most important to be able to downshift while braking without upsetting the
car. This requires a blip of the throttle during the downshift, but with
synchros does NOT require the blip in neutral. Even though I'm not really that
fast on the track, I feel like Superman when I can downshift under agressive
braking and not screw anything up.
Good luck!
- Tony Drews
John Cowan wrote:
> Anyone on the list comfortable and smooth with double clutching and heel
> and toe braking/shifting in a TR 2,3,4A? Did you have to modify the
> pedals? Was it difficult to learn and get smooth?
> Thanks.
> John Cowan
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