John/Tony,
Interesting perspective. I race an MGA, pedals obviously different than TR.
But I learned to double clutch/heel & toe on a Sprite, years ago. I went
through a non-sports-car period of about 10 years (don't ask), but when I
bought my MGA the technique came back immediately. It's like riding a bike
...
I race about 8 - 10 times/year, double clutch/heel & toe every downshift,
with occasional downshifts into 1st (unsynchronized in an MGA). I never
practice on the street between races. Even with a 4 - 5 month layoff in the
winter, it comes right back the first time in the spring. Literally, I
never even think about it as I do it.
Once I tried to show a new driver how to do this, by sitting in the
non-running car in the paddock and letting him watch my feet ... and guess
what, I couldn't do it at all! I mean, I just couldn't make my feet go
through the routine, I felt completely uncoordinated and foolish. I tried
for 15 minutes and had to give up.
Have always felt that it's akin to making love ... you can read all you want
about the mechanics, but you never learn until you actually do it, after a
short while it becomes very natural and you never forget how. But if you
THINK about it while you're doing it, you can't do it.
I won't extend the analogy to practicing between events ... or demonstrating
in front of an audience.
Regards,
Mark Palmer
MGA #185
>From: Tony Drews <tmccis@revealed.net>
>Reply-To: Tony Drews <tmccis@revealed.net>
>To: vintage-race@autox.team.net
>Subject: Re: TR-2,3,4A - Double clutching, heel and toe shifting.
>Date: Thu, 06 Jan 2000 20:08:30 -0600
>
>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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