1). First method of downshifting is heel to toe technique. Now, no stick shift driver ever uses this (or barely uses it) during daily driving, or day to day driving. Only track racers use this technique to not lose any speed and to gain speed coming out of a corner. What you do is..say ur traveling at 50 and approaching a corner. You have to slow down right? Of course you do. What you do is as your approaching the corner, start stepping on the brakes with the top half of your foot. As your going through the turn, step in on the clutch, then rev match by stepping on the gas pedal using the bottom half of your foot. As you are doing this, shift down to the appropriate gear to go through the corner and exit out of the corner without losing speed and easily gaining speed afterwards. I haven't tried this yet because my car's brakes and gas pedal are too far from each other so I am unable to do this braking technique. Now onto the second method of downshifting.
2). The second method of downshifting is the double clutch technique. Now, SOME manual transmission drivers use this type of braking technique, but not everyone though. What you do is basically the same thing from when you start the heel to toe technique, as you approach the corner, start stepping on the brakes. After you get to the appropriate speed, step in on the clutch, move the shifter into neutral, let off the clutch. Immediately after you let off the clutch, rev match, then step in on the clutch again and this time, shift down a gear and then let off the clutch. I've successfully learned how to do this a few times (the car still lurches when I do it sometimes so I haven't fully mastered the technique yet and this technique strains my upper left leg because the clutch pedal is so high). By the time your done with the entire process, you should be able to go through the corner smoothly and accelerate out of the corner with ease. Now onto the third method of downshifting.
3). Almost everyone does this technique, the single clutch technique, to slow down to a red light about to turn green or to just simply go down a gear before coming to a complete stop. What you do is basically the same thing as the double clutch technique except it's literally half the amount of steps. What you do is whether you're coming into a turn or just stoping at a red light/stop sign, step on the brakes to the appropriate speed. After you do that, step on the clutch, and then rev match and downshift at the same time. That's it. Usually it's easier for me to do this going from 4th gear to 3rd gear than from 3rd gear to 2nd gear because from 4th to 3rdit's just moving the shifter upwards as for 3rd to 2nd you're moving the shifter from top middle to bottom left, which is harder of course. You also have to be careful not to over rev the engine or rev too little because both mistakes will cause the car to still lurch forward and it won't be a smooth transition.
Ok, so now that I've covered the different techniques for downshifting, let's go over the different types of acceleration you can execute.
1). First type of acceleration is a normal launch. It's the most simple one and of course the safest, meaning without involving any wheel spin. Basically all you want to do is slowly let off the clutch in first gear, then when you start feeling that the clutch has engaged the engine (when the car starts to vibrate/move), start adding a little bit of gas also to give the car gas and to make the engine match up to the speed you're moving at. Then as your car is moving, slowly let off the clutch for a smooth transition on moving/coasting in first gear. This is a normal launch. Now, I'm going to talk about a medium powered launch.
2). The second type of acceleration is a medium powered launch (at least it's what I call it). What you do is basically when you're in first gear, rev the engine to about at least 2000 RPMs, then completely dump the clutch and as soon as the tachometer hits it's peak point, quickly upshift. You want to upshift as quick as you can because you don't want to burn out your clutch. Now, when you launch, your wheels might spin a tiny bit but not as much as when you do a hard launch which is what I'm going to talk about next.
3). Now, a hard launch is absolutely unnecessary unless you are going to just randomly screw around with someone on the road (which I don't recommend unless you are SURE you can keep good control of your car) or...you're at a drag strip because that's the only place where you actually can do a legit peel out prior to a power launch. A hard launch is also pretty simple. What you do is basically rev your engine to at least 2500 RPMs or even go 3000 RPMs if you want (the RPM value depends on what type of car you have as well as how strong your engine is). For me it's between 2500-3000 RPMs so all I do is rev the engine that high and then dump the clutch. After I dump the clutch, I do a peel out (it's to get better traction on the road) and then launch forward at fast speed and have to immediately shift into 2nd gear or else I'll redline the car. I haven't done this before but taking experience from doing medium powered launches (I've done a few, my wheels did spin a bit and I had to immediately shift into 2nd gear). Ok, so now that I am done talking about the different forms of acceleration, let's go onto the different ways of upshifting.
1). The first method of upshifting is quick shifting. What quick shifting is, put into simple terms, it's shifting within a half a second to a full second. It's pretty much like 5x the speed of how a normal upshift is supposed to take. For me, if I quick shift correctly, I shift within half a second, and that's from first to second gear and from third to fourth gear since it's just moving the gear shifter from the top to the bottom. Second gear to third gear takes longer but only by a little. That's all there is to quick shifting, now onto power shifting which is a bit more complicated but it can be done with practice.
2). The second form of upshifting is called power shifting. This damages your transmission overall in the long run but it'll damage your transmission even more if you do it wrong. Basically what you do is, floor the gas pedal, then when it comes time to shift you don't let go of the gas pedal but instead, step in on the clutch, upshift as quick as you can (recommended between half as second to a second to avoid excessively damaging the transmission), and then let go of the clutch. The one benefit to power shifting is that you will not get a lag and you won't lose speed. The one bad part about power shifting is that like I mentioned just above, it'll damage your transmission overall.
Now that I'm done talking about the different forms of upshifting, let's talk about the different ways of how you can drift (YES, the FUN part ^^).
1). The first drifting technique is called faint drifting. With faint drifting, you don't even need the clutch. All that is required for this drifting technique is weight transfer of the car. I've only seen this done with a '11 or '12 V6 mustang/GT mustang but if this car can do it, that means it can be done. What you do is as you're entering the turn, shift the entire car's weight away from the turn and then once you do that immediately steer the car in the direction of the turn. The result of this should make the back wheels to skid which means when you start counter steering, this will result in a drift, but that's IF you did it correctly. Ok, now onto the second technique for drifting, the clutch kick technique.
2). The second technique for drifting is the clutch kick technique. This is pretty easy too but it takes time to perfect. What you do is, right when you enter the turn, you dump the clutch, but then as you release the clutch, floor the gas pedal. This results in the rear wheels losing traction, therefore starting to slide. After that happens, begin to counter steer. If you did this right, you should now be drifting by just dumping the clutch and flooring the gas pedal. Now, onto the real form of drifting.
3). The third and final technique of drifting are only for those who already know how to do 90 degree turns, 180 degree turns, 360 degree turns, 90 degree turns including pulling the handbrake, etc. What you do is, before you enter the turn, step on the brakes, then perform a heel-to-toe to downshift into a lower gear. Then, after you are in the lower gear, pull the handbrake, and start going onto the turn. When you are going into the turn, perform the clutch kick technique, which is like I mentioned above, dumping the clutch but as you let off the clutch, floor the gas pedal and let off the handbrake. Finally, you just start counter steering and if everything goes as expected, you should be successfully drifting. Also, if you want to do a continuous drift, remember to just step in on the clutch if you find yourself start to straighten out of the drift.
One thing I would like to add. The reason why I know how to explain how to drift verbally and not know how to actually do it is because I've seen Tokyo Drift tons of times and have closely examined how they go into a drift all the way through how they come out of a drift. Also, I have watched youtube videos on how Drift King drifted with an eight six.
No comments:
Post a Comment