View Single Post
      08-31-2012, 12:03 PM   #8
The HACK
Midlife Crises Racing Silent but Deadly Class
The HACK's Avatar
1817
Rep
5,337
Posts

Drives: 2006 MZ4C, 2021 Tesla Model 3
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Welcome to Jamaica have a nice day

iTrader: (1)

Quote:
Originally Posted by DSC_OFF View Post
Maybe I'm over thinking this but I thought H/T's main purpose was to put you in the right gear as you enter the turn. My last CCA instructor told us coming off a long straight, instead of going from 5 -> 4 -> 3, better to skip 4, hold 5th till the end of braking zone and then H/T into 3rd... whereas I typically went sequentially through the gears since I wouldn't then have to revmatch as much (and making it easier on me).

I feel like if I downshift/blip earlier or the beginning of the braking zone, I'm still carrying too much speed and wouldn't be able to go into 3rd. I'd have to still go through 4th first, and then downshift again into 3rd as I enter the turn. Do you guys complete your downshifts during the middle of the braking zone and then carry that speed into the turn? Or do you guys complete your downshift RIGHT before you're about to make the turn?


Everyone will have different preferences. Whatever works best for you and make it the easiest to accomplish what you need to do should be what you do. At this point in your driving career you should be able to tell what works better and what doesn't, and be able to give your instructor(s) feedback regarding those.

All I know is, when coming into the infield from the Auto Club Speedway roval, when you're going from ~125mph down to ~40mph, it sounds a lot cooler to go 5 -> 4 -> 3 -> 2 and it impresses the hell out of my passengers. But at the tracks I frequent, it is very rare (except for Auto Club Speedway) to execute a 2 gear shift more than a couple of times per lap.

And as you get faster as a driver, you'll come to find that all the rules you so hold dear that's been ingrained in your system by forced repetition from all the previous instructors, don't always hold true. So the best advice I can give you? Experiment and see which technique work best for you. But start at say, 6/10th of your max speed and try various techniques, until you find one that works best, then ramp up speed a little at a time each lap using the technique that works best for you.
__________________
Sitting on a beat-up office chair in front of a 5 year old computer in a basement floor, sipping on stale coffee watching a bunch of meaningless numbers scrolling aimlessly on a dimly lit 19” monitor.
Appreciate 0